Toronto Blue Jays predictions for the 2020 season

What could happen for the Blue Jays in the shortened 2020 season

Baseball is finally back as the Toronto Blue Jays will kick off their season with Hyun-Jin Ryu facing off against Charlie Morton and the Tampa Bay Rays.

This season will be like no other as there won’t be fans to cheer on the Blue Jays or any team across the league. What puts it in an even more awkward situation for the Jays is that they won’t have a home diamond as the Canadian government denied their request to host home games at the Rogers Center.

Originally, the Jays and Pirates came to an agreement to allow the Blue Jays to host their home games at the beautiful PNC Park but the Pennsylvania health department put a stop to this.

With their first home series set to be against the Washington Nationals on the 29th, they will play as the home team at Nationals Park. This is beneficial as the Blue Jays are in Washington as the road team beforehand but as of now, they currently don’t have a set home field for the 28 other home games.

There are rumours that they will host their home games at Camden Yards, the home of the Baltimore Orioles but that has not officially been set in stone yet. Like they are doing in Washington, they could travel to opposing teams’ home stadiums and play as the home team.

Regardless of their home ballpark situation, here is what could happen for the Blue Jays in the truncated 2020 season.

Rowdy Tellez leads team in HR

Last season, Tellez slugged .449 with 21 HR in 111 games, good for 4th best on the team. The guys ahead of him were Randal Grichuk (31), Teoscar Hernandez (26) and Justin Smoak (22). One thing to note about the guys ahead of him in home runs last season was that they all played more games than he did.

With Vladimir Guerrero Jr.set to be the primary first baseman and Travis Shaw shifting over to third base, Tellez should be the primary designated hitter which his 6’4, 255-pound frame is built for.

Assuming he can get regular playing time, which could be an issue as Charlie Montoyo may want to get Derek Fisher or even Hernandez at-bats as the designated hitter, Tellez will be the team leader in home runs. Even if he plays 75% of games, it should still give him enough time to lead the team in long balls.

Blue Jays miss the playoffs

Major League Baseball just announced that they are expanding the playoffs from 10 teams to 16 meaning eight teams from each league will reach the postseason. The top two teams in each division make it while the next two teams with the best record will also reach the postseason as well.

This seems like beneficial news for the Blue Jays and it surely is but they will still not make it this year. In the AL East, the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays are locks to be the top two teams in the division in any order as both teams possess good pitching and hitting.

This leaves the Jays to finish third or fourth in the division which I believe they will finish in third place ahead of the Boston Red Sox but they won’t have good enough of a record to be one of the two teams that don’t come top two to reach the postseason.

In the AL Central, three teams are vying for the division and a playoff spot. Whichever team doesn’t come top two between the Twins, Indians and White Sox will get one of the two extra playoff spots. The same thing goes for the Rangers who will get one of the two extra playoff spots as they should finish third behind the Astros and Athletics.

The Jays just don’t have a strong enough of a team yet as they need a bit stronger of a bullpen, a better outfield and perhaps another starter.

Do you think any of these predictions will be right? What predictions do you have for the Blue Jays this season?