On the strength of an 18-9 record in the month of June, the Toronto Blue Jays managed to fight their way back into both the American League East and Wild Card races. While the opening two months of the season brought to light just how paper-thin the pitching staff was, both the starters and bullpen rebounded nicely from their tough start.
Unfortunately, neither one has been unable to sustain it over the last week and half, and to make matters worse, it came at the exact same time that their high-powered offense went a little quiet. Not surprisingly, John Gibbons’ squad has found it rather difficult to win ball games with any sort of regularity, and the Blue Jays have limped their way into the 2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Break.
After dropping three of four to what was a struggling Boston Red Sox team at the Rogers Centre, Toronto hit the road for 10-game trip and sat just a game back of the New York Yankees for the top spot in the A.L. East. Despite coming back from a seven-run deficit against the Kansas City Royals on Sunday afternoon, the Jays still managed to end up on the wrong end of an 11-10 final score and closed out their ten-day journey with a 3-7 mark.
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Scoring Runs Isn't An Issue In Toronto
With 71 games remaining on their schedule, the Blue Jays now find themselves four and a half games behind the Yankees but also just two games clear of the last-place Red Sox. As hard as it is to accept that a team who averages 5.34 runs a game has lost more than it has won, that is what this group has accomplished through its first 91 contests.
Outside of Josh Donaldson's enjoyment of yet another MVP-caliber campaign and Chris Colabello's coming out of nowhere to produce .328/.366/.871 splits, fans would be hard-pressed to find another regular who has been playing well over his head during the first half of the season. While almost no one saw Kevin Pillar's ability to contribute at the plate with the consistency that he has or Devon Travis's big impact that he has made during his rookie season, neither one has posted crazy numbers.
Jose Bautista has been productive, but a slow-start and nagging shoulder injury has kept him from being his usual consistent self. Edwin Encarnacion is in the midst of his worst season since 2010. Russell Martin has done a nice job behind the plate, but he has been either red-hot or ice-cold at the plate. Meanwhile, Jose Reyes continues to contribute at the dish but nowhere near the level he did during his prime years with the New York Mets.
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Pitching, Pitching And More Pitching
However, the Blue Jays remain on pace to score 865 runs, which would be the highest total in baseball since 2011 when both the Red Sox (875) and Yankees (867) eclipsed the mark. That is not too shabby for a team that has not exactly been clicking on all cylinders. Yet, they sit a game under .500 with a 45-46 record. At the end of the day, a team can bash its way to only so many victories. No matter how good an offense a team has, at some point it is going to need the pitching staff to hold up its end of the bargain.
With the exception of Mark Buehrle, Marco Estrada, and -- to a lesser a degree -- Aaron Sanchez, the starting staff has been downright awful. To his credit, R.A. Dickey was terrible early on, but he has actually bounced back quite nicely and pitched effectively over the last month and a bit. Unfortunately for the veteran knuckleballer, it seems as though whenever he takes the mound, the Jays have a tough time putting runs on the board. Add to that what has arguably been the biggest disappointment of the season in Drew Hutchison and fans see the mess that is Gibbons’ starting rotation.
Contrary to popular belief, the bullpen has not been nearly as bad as some have suggested, but, at the same time, it has repeatedly come up short when called upon in tight ball games. Roberto Osuna has been fantastic from Day One while the quartet of Steve Delabar, Liam Hendricks, Bo Schultz and Ryan Tepera have been pleasant surprises. As for the rest of them, it has been a mixed bag and with a starting staff that has been unable to go deep into games on a consistent basis, so the uneven results should surprise absolutely no one.
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Anthopoulos Needs To Move Sooner Rather Than Later
While it is no secret that general manager Alex Anthopoulos has been looking to upgrade his roster for some time, he has yet to find a trade he is comfortable making. In his defense, teams rarely throw in the towel prior to the All-Star Break, so there probably has been no deal out there to be made. However, with this team currently headed in the wrong direction in the standings, waiting until the actual July 31 trade deadline to pull the trigger could prove to be disastrous.
The Blue Jays will host the Tampa Bay Rays for three games following the break and then promptly head out for a six-game trek to Oakland and Seattle. While both the A's and Mariners have underperformed during the first-half of the season, Toronto tends to struggle out West. Nine games in ten days with this pitching staff as it is currently structured and performing could possibly leave the Jays in the basement of the A.L. East.