6 Blue Jays players to thank for their recent winning ways

Back in May, the Toronto Blue Jays endured a horrendous stretch during the middle of the month in which they went 2-9 against their main divisional rivals. As a result of it, they went from being right in the middle of playoff contention for the first Wild Card spot all the way down to the AL East division basement. It was dire times for everyone in Jays’ land, as the team held a players-only meeting following a lacklustre defeat in the hands of the division leading Tampa Bay Rays 6-3 on May 25th, incurring their third consecutive series loss at the time.

Well, whatever happened behind those closed doors in that meeting apparently seemed to have provided the needed spark for the team. Since the meeting, the Jays have completely turned things around in quick order and have since gone on to win 10 of their past 13 games, pulling them back to within half a game of the Houston Astros for the third and final Wild Card spot, and a game behind the New York Yankees for the third in the AL East and the second Wild Card spot.

Their current winning stretch included convincing series wins against the AL Central leading Minnesota Twins, the NL Central leading Milwaukee Brewers, and the always formidable Astros team, along with sweeping a hot New York Mets team that was coming into town coming off a sweep of their own over the Philadelphia Phillies.

In doing so, many key players have stepped it up for the team during the past couple of weeks to help fuel the sudden charge up the standings. Here, we will take a closer look at six Blue Jays that have made quite the difference in contributing to the team’s recent resurgence to significance.

Kevin Gausman

Look to none other than current team ace and pitching stud Kevin Gausman as the main leader of the group that had excelled for the Jays recently during their winning streak. Ever since he was signed by the Jays during the 2021-22 offseason, Gausman has consistently been providing the team with quality and reliable starts each time out. Even when he encountered a bad game once in a while, he would always come back even stronger the very next game.

In this case, Gausman provided that inspirational boost needed for his fallen team with a solid outing on May 26th following the players-only meeting. He grinded out 5 1/3 well-fought innings against the Twins, holding them to only one run and four hits, while striking out eight, leading the Jays to the critical win to kick-start this recent successful stretch. From there, he would go on to be his usual dominant self in his next two starts, mowing down all Brewers and Astros' hitters, giving up only one earned run, nine hits, while striking out 24 in 13.2 innings pitched.

With former team ace Alek Manoah optioned to the minors to the Florida Complex League this past Tuesday to work on his game (thinning the already paper-thin starting pitching depth that the Jays currently have), Gausman will be relied upon even more heavily to help lead the Jays’ pitching staff and the team to success for the rest of the season. Without a doubt, Gausman will definitely be up for the challenge and will keep the Jays rolling as long as he can.

Lefties duo: Daulton Varsho and Brandon Belt

During the 2022-23 offseason, the Jays believed that they had significantly strengthened their hitting from the left side by making bold moves in acquiring Daulton Varsho from the Arizona Diamondbacks and signing veteran Brandon Belt via free agency. However, when the 2023 season started, both players were mired in huge slumps at the plate. As a result, it practically nullified any lefties advantage the Jays had when facing any right-handed pitcher, as they ended up depending on the likes of righties Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Matt Chapman to carry the offensive load for the team for much of April.

However, both Varsho and Belt have slowly but steadily turned things around in May, in particular during their current successful stretch of games. Varsho has been scorching the ball lately, with a 10-game hitting streak that was just snapped on Wednesday night. During the 10-game streak, he hit .290 with a .957 OPS, seven runs scored, four home runs, six RBI, two walks, four strikeouts, and a stolen base to boot. More impressively, Belt has gone from scapegoat to superhero in recent weeks as in his past 12 games, he has posted a .300 batting average with an OPS close to 1.000, to go along with four runs scored, two home runs, six RBI, 11 walks and 18 strikeouts. He has definitely become a much more effective hitter the past few weeks after striking out at an alarming rate close to 50% at the start of the season.

Together, the Jays’ lefties duo have now began to provide more consistent production from the left side of the plate, and this bodes well for the Jays for the coming months as they battle for playoff contention. Not to forget Kevin Kiermaier as well, who has also been providing solid offence from the left side for much of the season, despite his recent mini-slump. Having the lefties in the lineup contributing to balance with what the righties have done already for the Jays so far this season makes their offence super scary for any opposing pitchers looking to utilize any handedness strategies to their advantage.

Bo Bichette

To be honest, this list wouldn’t be complete without Mr. Bo Bichette himself. He has gotten it done in previous years, he has done it the whole time so far this year, so of course he has played a huge role in the Jays’ recent success in the past couple of weeks. Already having taken upon more a leadership role on the current team, Bichette has also let his play speak volumes in leading the team to victory many times so far this year. No doubt he must have had some convincing words during the players-only meeting, and even if he didn’t, he was destined to go out there and lead by example to get his team back on track.

In the past 13 games, mighty Bo has hit .309 with an OPS close to 1.000, six runs scored, one triple, five home runs, 11 RBI and a stolen base. More importantly, he has the knack for coming through with key hits at key moments, which is the main difference between a true superstar and a solid MLB professional player. And as an added bonus, his defence has been quite steady and calming recently, despite having his 25-game errorless streak snapped on Thursday night. Key point is it has stabilized to a point where it is no longer increasing the blood pressure of Jays’ fans as much as before, nor costing the team games.

The more and more we witness Bichette at his best, the more he appears to be entering the conversation as the true MVP for the team this year. Which bids the question, is there anything Bo can’t do? Well one thing’s for sure, one thing he COULD do is leave town, so it will be essential for the Jays’ brass to lock him down with a long-term contract as soon as they can to make sure “Bo flows” with the franchise for many years to come.

Overall, it is great to see that the Jays are starting to get more solid contributions recently from players that weren’t producing at the start of the season, along with star players maintaining their strong starts this deep into the season as well. One could only hope that some of the other struggling players can pick it up soon, thus making this rejuvenated Jays ballclub a frightening beast down the stretch.