Blue Jays survive exhausting 17 games in 17 days gauntlet to rejoin American League playoff picture

This could have, and probably should have, been the last nail in the coffin on the season for the Toronto Blue Jays. On July 31, they began a grueling 17 games in 17 days stretch that would pit them against six different teams in four different cities, with five of those teams in playoff positions when those respective series began.

The Blue Jays began that stretch with a 51-59 record, 4.5 games behind the final Wild Card spot, and needing to jump over six different teams. Somehow, they have come out on the other side of that stretch in a much better position. They are still four games below .500 at 61-65, but they went 11-6 over those two and a half weeks, the second best record in baseball over that time.

They swept the St. Louis Cardinals and took two out of three from Houston, Philadelphia, and New York, while taking three of four games from the Boston Red Sox. They've climbed back into the playoff race, and begin the week (Aug. 17) just one game behind the Baltimore Orioles for the final Wild Card spot.

But this stretch proved to be more than just a tough test on paper. The Blue Jays also went through a myriad of personnel changes over these 17 days. This stretch encompassed the trade deadline, which saw three key members of last year's World Series run get shipped out. Kevin Gausman, Daulton Varsho and Jeff Hoffman were all traded.

New faces came in with José Soriano, Jameson Taillon and Brett Bateman all putting on a Blue Jays' jersey for the first time and having very good results. But the Blue Jays biggest nemesis of the year, the injury bug, continued to lurk. Taillon went down in his first home start with Toronto. Another rotation staple, Trey Yesavage, tore his left meniscus. Luis Urias hit the 10-day IL with a right quad strain, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. got put on the 7-day concussion IL.

Yet among those down notes, the Blue Jays have somehow found a way. Alejandro Kirk has been a beast at the plate. He slashed .378/.455/.533 with two home runs and has four multi-hit games in his last eight starts. He also owns a 14.5% walk rate and dropped his strikeout rate to 9.1%.

Andrés Giménez is having one of his best offensive stretches in his Blue Jays' tenure. He's contributed a 120 wRC+, with a .375 OBP and a .405 BABIP while playing superb defense and appearend in all 17 games. Not o mention he's hit a home run and stolen five bases.

In his first nine MLB games, Bateman has given the Blue Jays a true top of the order, clutch hitter approach. He's gone 11-for-40 overall, but 6-for-13 (.462 average) with three RBIs with runners in scoring position. He doesn't really smoke the ball, with an average exit velocity of 82.9, and his hard hit percentage sits at 16.1%, but he puts a ton of balls in play and is proving to be a difficult out with his speed and contact combination.

On the pitching side, Toronto's bullpen has risen to the occasion. They've combined for a 3.15 ERA, while locking down ten saves and have covered 74.1 innings pitched over the last 17 days. That's the second most in the league over that frame, just behind the Chicago White Sox at 76.1 innings pitched.

Blue Jays have every reason to believe they can stay hot

Toronto's toughest stretch isn't over yet. They hit the road for a trip that is never easy, taking them through Tampa Bay to play the Rays three times and then they head to the Bronx for a rematch against the Yankees. But after that six game stretch, the Blue Jays don't face a single team who is over .500 for the rest of the season (as of right now).

Toronto plays Kansas City, Seattle, Cleveland, the Royals again, the Athletics, Baltimore, Detroit, Texas, the Oriols again, and Cincinnati to end the season. You never want to get to far ahead of yourself, but the way the schedule shapes up, the Blue Jays firmly have their playoff destiny back in their own hands and the schedule is largely in their favour.

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