At the midpoint of the Major League Baseball season, the Toronto Blue Jays face an uphill battle to secure a playoff spot for the third consecutive year.
Currently occupying last place in the American League East with a 44-52 record, the Blue Jays trail the division-leading Baltimore Orioles by a daunting 14 games. Securing a wild card spot is also a formidable challenge, as they sit 9.5 games behind the Boston Red Sox, who currently hold the final playoff berth. To complicate matters further, Toronto must leapfrog five teams – the Kansas City Royals, Houston Astros, Tampa Bay Rays, Detroit Tigers, and Texas Rangers – to clinch a postseason berth.
By contrast, at this point last season after 96 games, the Blue Jays were in a much stronger position with a 53-43 record on July 19, 2023.
FanGraphs gives Toronto a mere 1.9% chance of making the playoffs, predicting they will finish the season with a 77-85 record.
TSN Baseball Insider Steve Phillips recently evaluated the Blue Jays’ season thus far on TSN’s First Up, giving the team a grade of D+.
“I would give the players a D+ to this point. I think it’s below average. I think the players probably feel horrible about this season,” Phillips remarked.
Despite management’s expectation of internal improvements and minor roster adjustments following last season’s playoff exit, the team’s major flaw – offense – remains unresolved. The Blue Jays’ team OPS has declined annually since leading the league in 2021 (.797) and now ranks 21st at .688.
Phillips criticized the management for not intervening mid-season to salvage the campaign when existing players failed to meet expectations.
“You can’t afford to wait for internal improvements that may never come. If it’s not happening, you need to make changes to shake things up,” Phillips emphasized.
While Phillips reports that the Blue Jays plan to retool and contend next season, they do not intend to undergo a complete rebuild before the July 30 trade deadline. Instead, they are focused on trading pending free agents like Yusei Kikuchi, Danny Jansen, Kevin Kiermaier, Justin Turner, Yimi Garcia, and Trevor Richards.
To revive their playoff hopes, Toronto must address their struggles with a bottom-10 offense, a mediocre rotation ranked 15th in the majors with a 4.13 ERA, and the league’s worst bullpen by WAR (-1.7).
In 2023, the Blue Jays clinched the third wild card spot with an 89-73 record. To replicate this feat, they would need a remarkable second-half surge, going 45-21 to match last season’s record and keep their postseason aspirations alive.
GET MORE NEWS HERE