Pair of Blue Jays stars named as a top lineup duo in the league

With MLB.com recently releasing their rankings of the top 10 lineup duos in the major leagues, it comes as no surprise that a pair of Blue Jays ended up on the list.

The heart of the Jays' potent offense beats along with the production of its two young superstars, Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. But how does this dynamic duo stack up against the other power couples in the league?

The list, compiled by MLB.com's Manny Randhawa, ranks Bichette and Guerrero as the seventh-best lineup duo in the majors heading into 2023.

Per Randhawa, all of these sluggers "complement one another like peanuts and Cracker Jacks, propelling their clubs to success with their prodigious production at the plate."

While Jays fans may feel they've been done a disservice seeing the two most important pieces of the team's offense ranked seventh, the duos on this list are the upper crust of superstars in the sport.

Why are Bichette and Guerrero ranked seventh?

Randhawa opens his defense of the duo's ranking by invoking the touchy subject of being eliminated by the Mariners in the Wild Card last season. Perhaps if the young Jays had managed to push their team further into the postseason, they might find themselves in better standing on this list.

While we all know that Guerrero struggled last year to reach the lofty bar he set in 2021 with his MVP-caliber performance, Randhawa astutely observes that "he's still one of the most feared sluggers in baseball."

As for Bichette, Randhawa describes him as "a hit machine" and points to his AL-leading 380 hits over the past two seasons. He also brings up Bo's career slash line of .297/.340/.491 to show his consistency over his four seasons in the bigs.

Who ranks ahead of Bichette and Guerrero?

So, who are the duos that rank ahead of the young Jays? Here's the rest of the top 10:

1. Juan Soto and Manny Machado, San Diego Padres
2. Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels
3. Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, Los Angeles Dodgers
4. Yordan Alvarez and Jose Altuve, Houston Astros
5. Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado, St. Louis Cardinals
6. Ronald Acuña Jr. and Austin Riley, Atlanta Braves
7. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, Toronto Blue Jays
8. Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, New York Yankees
9. Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton, Minnesota Twins
10. Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor, New York Mets

While you can make arguments for all of these pairings, if the Jays' duo plays to their full potential this season, they could find themselves at the top of the list heading into 2024.