Does Toronto Have Enough Depth to Outlast a Tough Schedule?

Getting to the top is one thing, staying there is another. That's the position the Toronto Blue Jays find themselves in as they enter the 'dog days' of the baseball season with August rolling along. At 69-50 heading into Tuesdays game, the Blue Jays have a four-and-a-half game lead in the AL East, a great spot to be in, but a lead that could shrink quickly if Toronto lets off the pedal just a little bit as the Red Sox have been playing great baseball as well for the better part of the last two months.

Getting to this point of the season has truly been a team effort as they have all shared the spotlight in one way or another this season. Whether it was George Springer jumping out of the gates and posting big numbers early in the season, to Daulton Varsho's one month cameo as Jose Bautista, to Vladimir Guerrero's dominant stretch in the second-half to Bo Bichette leading the league in hits, a number of Blue Jays have stepped up and raised the ceiling on the expectations.

Does Toronto Have Enough Depth to Outlast a Tough Schedule?

There's also been the guys who have solidified the floor of this team as well. Nathan Lukes had one career MLB home run going into 2025. He's hit ten this year and has maintained an OPS+ of 112. Addison Barger is tied for second on the team with 18 home runs. Ernie Clement is hitting .345 against left handed pitchers. Tyler Heineman has a .500 SLG as a backup catcher in 112 at-bats.

They've also got a solid five-man rotation that is about to get a jolt from a former Cy-Young award winner when Shane Bieber finishes his rehab stint. Meanwhile they added two fireballers into the bullpen at the deadline with Seranthony Dominguez and Louis Varland.

While it's hard to anoint the Blue Jays on paper as an elite team, they are a very good ball club that is getting better than expected performances from a lot of its roster. But will that be enough to hold up as the games start to mean a little bit more and the opponents become a little bit tougher?

The Blue Jays will find out one way or another as they are set up for a tough test the rest of the way. Their strength of schedule is right down the middle at .500 with some big head to head matchups on the table.

While they do get a "soft spot" coming up this month, the Blue Jays have a bevy of teams who are either in playoff positions, or trying to get into a playoff spot. It starts at home with a three game set against the Cubs who are 4.5 games up in the top Wild Card spot in the National League. That's followed by three games against the Rangers who are 61-59 and 2.5 games out of the final Wild Card spot in the AL.

Toronto then gets some bottom feeders with a road trip against the Pirates, the Marlins and then back home to play the Twins who are playing a combined .460 baseball this season. The Blue Jays end August against a team that has stormed to the top of the MLB standings, with the Brewers coming to Toronto.

One thing that will work in their favour is that the Blue Jays have actually been better against good teams this season. Going into the Dodgers series, the Blue Jays had a 569 winning percentage against teams who are more than two games above .500 this season, while they are .667 against teams who are within two games of .500.

Another factor in their favour is that the team directly behind them, the Red Sox, has just as tough of a schedule as Toronto. Their strength of schedule has them playing opponents with a .501 winning percentage.

The Red Sox are currently playing the Astros, and while they will likely get to beat up on the, Marlins, the Orioles and the Pirates, they also have to play a huge four-game series against New York at Yankee stadium. The outcome of that series could go a long way in determining the fate of not only the AL East but also the makeup of the Wild Card race.

The Blue Jays will need everyone to contributing over this three-week stretch to at the very least maintain the lead they have worked so hard to build up in the ultra tough AL East.