Comparing the Blue Jays to the Yankees – who has the upper hand?

It’s already June, and the AL East has proven that it’s the monster of a division that it was supposed to be. As it stands, four of five of the teams in this gauntlet of a division are set to make the playoffs. We’re not even halfway through the season yet, so a lot can happen. Teams can always tail off at the end, or catch fire late in the year. Regardless of how it ends, the AL East has lived up to its expectations thus far and the Blue Jays are currently on pace to play October baseball.

The team leading the charge has been the New York Yankees. They have exceeded most of the expectations put on them entering this season, with most of if not all of their players competing at an above-average level. The Bronx Bombers are virtually flawless. The rotation, bullpen, and offence have all been top-tier. As of this being written, the Yankee’s team ERA sits at a godly 2.78, more than an entire point below the league average of 3.99. Their offence is dominating the leader boards as well. Their 119 OPS+ is tops in baseball, and their 100 homeruns also leads the league.

All of these numbers, along with consistently being ranked among the top three teams in baseball amongst various media outlets’ power rankings, goes to show the Yankees are for real. That being said, the Blue Jays aren’t too shabby either.

Toronto finds themselves in the top 10 in both homeruns and team ERA and has won 14 of their last 20, kicking off this hot stretch with a four-game sweep of the once high and mighty Los Angeles Angels. The pitching has been good for the entirety of the season, but it was the offence that was holding them back. Now, guys like Bo Bichette and Teoscar Hernandez are finding their stroke, backing up guys like Alejandro Kirk and Santiago Espinal who’ve been doing it all year. With Vladdy hopefully not too far behind, this is a dangerous Jays team that is on the verge of greatness.

These two juggernauts are set to meet this weekend for the first time since early May. If you don’t recall, that series was a disappointing one for the Blue Jays, as it went for their first series loss of the year and they were outscored 13-5. This weekend the Jays look to continue their scorching pace against the first-place Yankees. With both teams being two of the better clubs in the American League, how do they stack up position by position?