The Toronto Blue Jays may be the hottest team in baseball right now. They sported a 21-6 record in the month of August, and have the ability to make pitchers hide away in the bullpen when they take a glance at the Jays batting lineup. Their starting rotation is a force to be reckoned with, lead by the newly acquired David Price. At this point in the season, Canada’s only team finally has a legitimate shot at the playoffs since 1998.
Can the Toronto Blue Jays be better?
The way the Jays have been performing up to this point makes it hard to spot a piece of the club that needs improvement. The major issues that plagued Toronto 132 games ago have, for the most part, been solved. A weak starting rotation is no longer a topic of criticism, and the bats couldn’t be hotter, despite Troy Tulowitzki’s minor slump. Edwin Encarnacion had a long hit streak and was the American League player of the month for August. Ryan Goins has been on fire as of late, and looks to place a permanent grip on a spot in the Blue Jay’s batting rotation, and who can forget about the walk off home run he hit a couple nights ago? Not a problem in sight with the way Donaldson, Encarnacion, Goins, and company have been swinging.
On the pitching side, David Price has been hot to say the least, and he’s not the only one. R.A Dickey completed a phenomenol outing the other night, throwing under 100 pitches through 9 innings of work to capture a 5-1 win. Dickey now sports a 2.78 ERA, and his win last night gives him 10 wins on the season. There’s no doubt that Dickey is more consistent during the second half of the season, in which he has walked less batters and given up less runs. He continued his second half trend on Wednesday as he did not allow either a home run or a walk through the game. Dickey became the first Blue Jay since Roger Clemens in 1998 to go 7-0 out of the All-Star break. If the Jays pitching rotation and relievers continue this trend, John Gibbons will have a tough time finding any loose ends before the playoffs roll around, especially with Marcus Stroman climbing the ladder back into the big leagues.
The bottom line is, if any team could be near perfect in the MLB, its thew Toronto Blue Jays. If you want to find a problem with this club, you’ll have to wait until next season. Besides, who’s looking that far ahead anyways? The Jays are already a top pick to win the 2015 World Series.
