Despite an ugly start on Friday, the Toronto Blue Jays won their second straight series at home thanks to some strong pitching on Saturday and Sunday. However, it’s an understatement to say that Toronto is still having a rather wobbly start to the season. There were undoubtedly some struggles the Blue Jays couldn’t simply overcome, and that was evident when the team couldn’t aim for a sweep for either series.
Expectations were relatively high when the Blue Jays returned home to play their homestand after a long road trip. While there were concerns about facing the Seattle Mariners’ strong pitching core for the first home series, the Blue Jays successfully took away the first two games of the series. But they eventually failed to win the last game of the series as their hitters and relievers struggled to keep the game close.
As the Blue Jays came out from a loss against the Mariners, the expectations climbed higher as the team prepared to host the Colorado Rockies. Given that the Rockies had a 3-10 win-loss record coming into the series, Toronto’s insiders and fanbase expected the team to come out with a sweep or a resounding series win.
By Sunday, Toronto met the expectations. The team took two out of three games in the series again and raised its win-loss record from 6-7 to 8-8. On the surface level, this performance looks somewhat promising. However, the problem lies in that these wins were shaky rather than convincing.
Coming into this weekend, it was clear that the Rockies weren’t aiming to win their division. Colorado isn’t aiming for the playoffs either since the National League West is packed with hyper-competent playoff contenders on top of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ domination. With only three wins for the season, Toronto needed to take advantage of the Rockies to come out stronger to carry on the momentum.
Instead of fully capitalizing on the opportunity at hand, the Blue Jays gave into the pressure of living up to their potential once again on Friday. The very beginning of the game looked hopeful as Toronto jumped out in front by scoring two runs but never quite mustered up more hits to provide enough run support. To make matters worse, the Blue Jays surrendered 12 runs to the Rockies and ended Friday night on a troublesome note.
Despite the seemingly lifeless offence and rocky pitching, the Blue Jays reaped much better results on Saturday and Sunday, with a 5-3 and a 5-0 record, respectively. If this weekend proved anything, it’s that Toronto has the ability to win more games than it shows. But that doesn’t mean that everything is firing on all cylinders yet.
Notice that the Blue Jays only scored during the bottom of the first inning on Saturday while heavily depending on small balls to win on Sunday. The team may have scored just enough but didn’t offer any offensive promises or explosion in particular. A win is still a win but the Blue Jays’ scoring pattern isn’t quite convincing for a team that has bigger playoff ambitions.
Toronto hasn’t defined its offensive identity at this point in the season. Perhaps that may not be a point of concern currently since there are at least a hundred more games left in the season. However, it’s also worth noting that other teams, especially in the American League East, are starting to find and solidify their identities.
Starting Monday, the Blue Jays will face the red-hot New York Yankees for a three-game series. To Toronto’s dismay, the Yankees are off to a convincingly strong start to the season with a 12-4 record. Their recipe to success has been simple: win as many games as possible against any opponents. That strategy came out in New York’s favour as the team won a series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Miami Marlins and the Cleveland Guardians. The list also, unfortunately, includes the Blue Jays, and these wins helped New York to set itself up for a robust division lead already.
Toronto’s biggest hurdle has been winning against its division rivals. Last season, the Blue Jays had a 21-31 record against the AL East opponents. As Toronto looks to rebound this year, it must also aim to improve on its win-loss record against its own division.
The cut-throat nature of the AL East division provides a good measuring stick for how successful a team can be in a playoff environment. When Toronto couldn’t yield a winning record against its own division, it was a tell-tale sign that the team was missing the factor to make a deep playoff run. That factor, of course, was the team’s inability to put consistent, cohesive offensive performances and it came back to bite the Blue Jays when they failed to advance to the next round of the playoffs.
Toronto doesn’t have much runway to make mistakes anymore. The team’s already starting from the bottom of the division, as its four opponents all recorded an above-500 record. While early records don’t win playoffs, they are an early indication of which teams can win their division. This means that the Yankees do have the best chance to win the AL East if they can keep up their current red-hot pace.
The Blue Jays must keep up with the Yankees to have a chance at climbing up the division and making a strong case as a contender. Toronto has demonstrated flashes of brilliance so far this season. The question is whether they can use that momentum to spring forward.
Toronto’s performance has been inconsistent thus far. If there is a time to strengthen the team’s identity, the time is now. The Blue Jays can’t afford to lose a series to the Yankees, and the pressure will only continue to rise. ‘Tis the burden of a team with much-unfulfilled potential.
