The six games that have defined the Blue Jays season so far

The Memorial Day weekend is typically the point of the MLB schedule where the “it’s still early” line begins to fade away. Yes, there are still around 120ish games left to be played, but, with the first third of the season in the rearview mirror, a lot of teams are starting to develop the patterns that will define their season.

The Toronto Blue Jays are a middle of the road tea. They have good, but not great pitching; they're tied for for fourth in MLB in strikeouts (424), but have a 31 team ERA, which ranks 22nd. They have also good, but not great hitting. They've only struck out 343 times (the third-lowest total in MLB, but have only scored179 runs, which is tied for the 22nd-lowest total in MLB.

Those middle of the road stats are the main reason why the Blue Jays have hovered around .500 for most fo the season. Here are six games that have defined the first two months of the Blue Jays' season.

The six games that have defined the Blue Jays season

Game One: 5-4 loss to Boston (10 innings) on April 10

It sounds silly to say a game that a game from the beginning of April could be the defining game of the season, but this loss really took the win out of the Blue Jays' sails. They entered the game with an 8-5 record and had won the first three games of the series, including a win in extra innings the day prior.

The Blue Jays had two separate one-run leads late in this game. They were up 2-1 going into the bottom of the eighth, but the Red Sox tied the game on a wild pitch from Yimi García. Toronto then took a 3-2 lead in the top of the tenth on a sacrifice fly by George Springer before Nick Sandlin allowed an RBI single to Jarren Durran to tie the game.

Sandlin then hit two of the next three batters to load the bases before Trevor Story hit a weak ground ball to second which Andrés Giménez bobbled, allowing the winning run to score.

Game Two: 4-2 win over New York on April 25

The Blue Jays limped into this series against the Yankees They had lost five straight games, and had managed just two runs in their previous series against the Houston Astros. In their first contest against New York, the Blue Jays found themselves down 2-1 in the top of the ninth.

But they took advantage of a struggling Yankees closer Devin Williams, and with two on and none out, Alejandro Kirk smashed a double to center field to take the lead. Addison Barger added an insurance run with an RBI single, and Jeff Hoffman shut the door in the bottom of the ninth to pick up the win.

It got the Blue Jays back to .500 at 13-13 and, more importantly it ended their five-game skid. It also woke up Kirk's bat; he's hitting .361 with a .371 on-base percentage.

Game Three: 7-6 Win over Boston (10 innings) on April 30

Another early-season American league East battle, this one went down to the wire and ended in the Blue Jays' first walk-off victory of the year. It also stands out as their their biggest come-from-behind win, as the Red Sox built up a 6-0 lead behind Lucas Giolito who was cruising through his first five innings.

Then the wheels started to fall off.

Daulton Varsho got things started by hitting a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth in just his second game of the year. Two pitches later, Kirk went yard to cut the lead in half. An inning later, Anthony Santander tied the game with a three-run bomb and Kirk sent everyone home happy with a game-ending single.

Game Four: 5-3 Loss to Cleveland on May 3

The Blue Jays entered this game against the Guardians on a role. They had rattled off three straight wins thanks to timely hitting, and it looked like they were turning a corner.

And the Blue Jays had a 3-2 lead and had the Guardians down to their final strike, but García walked Bo Naylor to load the bases before Daniel Schneemann hit a go-ahead grand slam.

Emmanuel Clase shut the door in the bottom of the ninth and the Blue Jays took a loss that started a four-game losing streak.

Game Five: 9-1 Win over Seattle on May 11

This 9-1 win capped off a big sweep over the Mariners that, looked like it could be a launching point for a struggling team.

Eight of the nine Toronto starters collected a hit, and the game was put out of reach, thanks to the fifth inning two-out, three run home run off the bat of Springer.

After José Ureña opened the game by allowing one run in two innings of work, Eric Lauer carved up the Seattle hitters over the next 4 2/3 innings, striking out five and allowing just one hit. This game gave the Blue Jays their second four-game win streak of the season and once again, got the Blue Jays back to .500.

Game six: 11-9 Loss to Tampa Bay on May 13

Unfortunately, the Blue Jays couldn’t keep the momentum going when they followed that win over the Mariners up with a back-and-forth loss to a division rival at home.

Toronto trailed all game but kept inching closer with some timely home runs and were only down by two in the eighth inning.

And lo and behold, up stepped Varsho, who mashed his second home run of the game to give the Blue Jays a 7-6 lead.

But Toronto couldn’t shut the door in the ninth.

The Rays got runners on the corners and one out with Hoffman on the mound, and the Rays tied the game on an RBI single from Chandler Simpson on a five-man infield.

A couple of batters later, Junior Caminero hit a grand slam to take an 11-7 lead.

While this list shows how many wins the Blue Jays have left on the table, it also showed that there have been some areas where they've improved as the season has gone on.

Regardless, they'll need to get more consistent if they want to have a chance to make the postseason.