Tuesday night’s 7-2 win over the Los Angeles was exactly what the Toronto Blue Jays needed, in several ways. Clutch hitting from the middle of the order resulted in a comfortable late-game lead, meaning the over-taxed bullpen – particularly the high-leverage trio of Joaquin Benoit, Jason Grilli and Roberto Osuna – was able to get a much-needed rest.
It’s a tone-setting win as well, as the Jays face five more home games this week against ballclubs who are out of the playoff race; two more against the Angels, and three versus the worst team in the American League, the Minnesota Twins.
A strong showing against weak competition would go a long way towards improving the Blue Jays’ playoff chances, especially with a trip to Baltimore for three against the hated-yet-still-threatening Orioles looming next week.
But looking ahead would be a mistake; the Jays must take care of business against the Angels and Twins. Fortunately, Tuesday’s win can act as a blueprint for doing just that.
Toronto cashed in five runners in scoring position against Los Angeles (six if you count the run that scored off Troy Tulowitzki’s double play in the 5th inning). Compare that to the Jays’ frustrating series against the Cleveland Indians, where they only converted on two RISP chances all series.
That trio of one-run games against the Indians could very easily have been a three-game sweep, and it’s once again brought the Jays’ struggles in tight contests into the spotlight.
Since John Gibbons came back for his second stint as Blue Jays manager in 2013, the team is 64-99 in one-run games, which is the worst record in the major leagues.
There’s been much hand-wringing on social media and around the proverbial water cooler over that number, but those sentiments are mostly misguided. The Jays have by and large been an offensive powerhouse over that stretch of time, blowing teams out of the water with home run barrages.
In fact, over that 2013-2016 period, the Jays have scored more runs than any team in the majors (2929), and boast a run differential of +314, which is the 3rd highest in all of baseball.
This is how the team has been built under Gibbons, and teams built that way will often lose tight games. If the point of the game is to score more runs than the other team, then the Jays are doing that better than any team out there, and that should be the takeaway, not a misleading statistic largely based on bad luck.
Now with Kevin Pillar back in the lineup and Jose Bautista planning to return Thursday, the Blue Jays have a glorious opportunity to win some games – and win them convincingly – this week.
Chris Suppa is a freelance writer and photographer based in Toronto. Follow him at @Suppa55for somewhat-coherent ramblings about the Blue Jays and on Instagram at@chrissuppaphotography.
