You’ll frequently hear the phrase “it’s early” in the first month of the season when talking about poor performances, either by a team or an individual player, and this is to suggest to not worry because there are still lots of games left to be played. Once the calendar flips to May, however, it stops being early, and if you’re a team or player that’s been underperforming, now is the time to start picking things up. The May long weekend is widely viewed in baseball as the first quarter-pole marker as the season is nearly two months old by this point, and when you can start to accurately evaluate a team’s strengths and weaknesses. As the sun rises on Victoria Day this year, the Blue Jays are 22-24 which has them 3rd in the AL East. Now, what exactly does this mean in the grand scope of the league and for the Jays’ postseason aspirations?
It’s no secret that this is not where the Blue Jays wanted to be at this point in the season, but not all hope is lost just yet. The Jays’ biggest issue thus far has been the lack of offense, more specifically, power. In the American League, they rank 11th in homeruns and 9th in slugging. However, they are 5th in average, but unfortunately, when the Jays get multiple hits in a game, they’re primarily singles and not when there are runners in scoring position. You can only win so many games by “singling” your opponent to death, and at some point, they will have to hit for more power if they want to seriously contend for a playoff spot. They’ve gotten good contributions from guys like Varsho and Springer, but they will need their three big boys in Bichette, Guerrero, and Santander to step it up. The power from this trio just hasn’t been there on a consistent basis, and this offense will only go as far as those three are able to take it.
On the pitching side, they have held up their end of the bargain for the most part. The big three in the rotation of Gausman, Berríos, and Bassitt have pitched well by and large, and are consistently given the team a chance to win. The bullpen, which was atrocious last year, was remade in the offseason, and has arguable been the strength of the team. One of the biggest problems with the bullpen last year was the lack of swing-and-miss, but with the emergence of Brendon Little, bringing back Yimi García, and signing Jeff Hoffman, the Jays have a borderline elite back end of the pen, and currently lead the AL in strikeouts by relievers.
The team is clearly flawed, and hasn’t been playing to its potential, especially on the offensive side, but the silver lining is that there are lots of flawed teams in the American League. Even the Yankees, who are currently first the AL East, and the only team in the division with a winning record, aren’t juggernaut. Unlike the National League, who has a multitude of really good teams, the AL feels like a pool of mediocrity. The fact that there aren’t any teams in the AL that are forcefully dominant allows the Jays to consistently hand around. They just lost a series to the Detroit Tigers who have the best record in baseball, but by no means were the Jays overmatched. Each of the three games were decided by 1 run, and the two losses could’ve been wins had the Jays come up with a big hit.
It’s way too early to really concern yourself with the standings because they can, and have changed on a weekly basis, but it’s good to see where the Jays rank compared to the playoff teams. Currently the Jays are 10th in the AL, but only 3 games back of a wildcard spot. This goes to show you that despite how poorly the Jays have played, any decent run can quickly change the complexion of the season.
Whether or not the Jays have a run in them, is a different story. The pitching is going to be there, so it will be up to the offense to follow suit. They have the talent; it’s now up to the players to live up to it and rattle off winning streaks. The back of the baseball cards for guys like Bo, Vladdy, and Santander suggest that they are better than this, so if they can produce like we’ve seen before, and the pitching continues its dominant ways, the Jays can turn things around really quickly. We’re about 25% of the way through the season, and while they haven’t lived up to expectations, there is reason to be optimistic and believe that this team still has its best baseball ahead of them.