Blue Jays: Some surprises among team WAR leaders

The Blue Jays have had a lot of strong performances in 2020, and some from surprising sources. Who are their bWAR leaders so far?

It’s hard to believe it, but by the time the Blue Jays finish their upcoming three-game series with the Red Sox on Thursday, they’ll be halfway through the 2020 regular season.

It’s been a strange one to say the least, with the team being without a home field for a while, rushed renovations in Buffalo to give them one, an expanded roster and playoffs, and a lot more. That said, it’s been an encouraging year for the Blue Jays, especially considering where they’re supposed to be in their current rebuild. In fact, they’ve played well enough that they’re now being given a 61.7% chance of making the post-season by Fangraphs.

How has it happened? It’s been a combination of a lot of things really, with some expected playoff contenders like the Red Sox and the Angels falling off a cliff, and major struggles for some of the NL East teams, who the Jays play in their shortened schedule this year. More importantly and to their credit, the Blue Jays have played some exciting baseball this season. Sure, there have been plenty of missed opportunities, and all kinds of signs that this young team still has learning to do, but the talent is pretty obvious, and the future is looking pretty bright.

Since we’re nearly halfway through the season, I thought it might be fun to look at who is leading the Blue Jays in WAR so far (I’ll use bWAR from baseballreference.com for the purpose of this list). It’s been a group effort for sure, but let’s have a gander at the top performers on the roster so far.