The Blue Jays’ first-quarter results hint at even better dividends in a tight American League East

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This article was published 19/05/2021 (1640 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There has been so much uncertainty surrounding the Blue Jays this season that it is sometimes easy to lose track of how much success they’re having despite the hardships.

Forget about the injuries, the deficiencies in the starting rotation and the lack of a true home ballpark and even Wednesday night’s 7-3 loss to the Red Sox for just a minute to acknowledge this: The Jays reached the quarter-mark of the schedule with their best record in more than a decade.

This was a team that arrived in spring training talking a big game, and so far, those words have been backed up by performance. The Jays entered the second game of the Boston series with 23 wins, their highest total through 40 games since 2010, and until Wednesday’s minor setback they were one win away from taking over sole possession of first place in the American League East.

All this took place even though prized free-agent recruit George Springer has been limited to four games because of injuries, expected No. 2 hurler Nate Pearson has made one start and closer Kirby Yates didn’t even make it out of camp before he was lost for the year. There were also setbacks to set-up man Julian Merryweather, rookie catcher Alejandro Kirk and countless others.

Luck hasn’t been on their side anywhere except the win-loss columns, which is where it matters the most. Wednesday’s defeat dropped the Jays into a tie with the Yankees for third place in the division, with just 11/2 games separating the top four teams.

“I’m really proud of this team,” manager Charlie Montoyo said a few hours before the Blue Jays’ winning streak was snapped at three games. “Everything we’ve been through, two starters at one time, 12 different starters (overall), people getting hurt and the kids just picking each other up at different times. Hitters the same way, some guys were struggling and now they’re doing better. It has been a collective effort.”

Montoyo isn’t just giving a politically correct answer there, he’s speaking the truth. The Jays’ success hasn’t been because of one player, or even one department; almost every night there seems to be someone new stepping up. Sometimes it’s a starting pitcher, sometimes it’s the bullpen, quite often it’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette or anyone from the plethora of young offensive stars.

The Jays entered Wednesday first in the AL in homers and fourth in runs. Their offence in May is second in the majors to only the red-hot Chicago White Sox. The rotation, which was supposed to be the club’s biggest weakness, ranks a respectable seventh with a 4.31 ERA. The bullpen is third at 3.11 while assuming the fifth highest workload in the league.

What should concern the rest of the division is that the Jays are putting up those kinds of numbers despite not being anywhere close to their peak. There are reasons to believe they will only get better from here and not all of them are related to getting the injured players back, or the potentially imminent arrival of a top prospect like right-hander Alek Manoah.

According to ESPN’s strength-of-schedule metric, the Jays have had the fourth-toughest schedule in the majors behind only Tampa Bay, Baltimore and the Los Angeles Angels. The Yankees were 13th on that list while the first-place Red Sox were 25th. Even with that daunting competition, the Jays rank fourth in run differential at plus-40, trailing only the White Sox (plus-73), Houston (plus-55) and the Red Sox (plus-41).

That narrative will continue for another few weeks. Between now and June 17, the only time the Jays will play a team that currently has a record below .500 is a two-game set against the Miami Marlins early next month. What follows will seem like a breeze by comparison. From June 18 until the all-star break, there are just two series against teams above .500. In August, there are three.

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The point is the Jays have had it harder than any AL East contender except for the Rays and their schedule will be easing up around the time they start getting some key players back into the lineup. Not long after, another round of upgrades should be expected to arrive around the July 31 trade deadline. That makes this current stretch of games even more important because if the Jays separate themselves from the pack now, or at least remain within striking distance, they might never look back.

“There’s a lot of baseball left, if we didn’t have a good series with all three of them, obviously there’s a great chance we can play well in the last four months and make the playoffs,” outfielder Randal Grichuk said of his rivals. “But I think it’s a chance for us to buy in even more, or let people know what the Blue Jays are made of offensively, defensively and pitching, by playing Boston, Tampa and New York back to back to back.”

The Red Sox have been the biggest surprise in the division so far, but they’ve also had the easiest road to get here. The Yankees bounced back after a rough start but, with an aging roster and question marks on the pitching side, they can no longer be considered the unbeatable force they once were. The financially strapped Rays will be limited in what they can do at the deadline.

The division is there for the taking. One quarter down, three to go. With the toughest part of their schedule almost over, this Jays’ season could be shaping up to be something special.

Gregor Chisholm is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @GregorChisholm or reach him via email: gchisholm@thestar.ca