The Blue Jays are suddenly right in the mix for a playoff spot after sweeping the Orioles
By Cam Lewis
3 years agoThings looked really, really bad on Sunday.
The Blue Jays dropped both games of their doubleheader against the Rays, one of which came in an excruciating, late-game meltdown fashion, and fell to 7-11 on the season. On top of that, Bo Bichette, who finally started heating up, got placed on the Injured List with a knee injury.
But then along came the Trash Birds and everything changed. The Jays executed their first sweep of the 2020 season (also their first series win!) and, suddenly, the team is only a half-game out of a playoff spot.
Looking at the standings, if we assume that the Yankees, Rays, A’s, Astros, Clevelanders, Twins, and White Sox make up seven of the eight playoff teams, that would leave the Jays in the mix with teams like Baltimore, who they just swept, Texas, who just had a legitimate temper tantrum about a guy hitting a home run off of them, and Detroit, who won like 30 games last year, for the eighth and final playoff spot in the American League.
As rough around the edges as the Blue Jays have been this year, coming out on top of that group is absolutely doable.
Things worth mentioning…
- We have to start off by mentioning Randal Grichuk. Yet again Grichuk carried the team offensively with his red-hot bat, smashing two homers and driving in three runs. Grichuk is up to an eye-popping 1.056 OPS for the season now. His showing against Baltimore was one of the best ever for a Blue Jay in a three-game series.
- Tanner Roark got the start for the Jays and ended up earning the win. He wasn’t sharp to start the game, as he put runners on in both the first and second, but he battled through it and ended up settling in nicely. Roark ended up going five innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on nine hits. The positive sign, though, was that Roark had just one walk. Command had been a big issue for him in his previous starts.
- After Roark, Ryan Borucki and Thomas Hatch were masterful at plowing through three innings. It was simply great stuff from two fo Toronto’s young arms, which has certainly been a major bright point this year. Charlie Montoyo opted to use Rafael Dolis to close the game, which was a bit anxiety-inducing. Dolis, who works incredibly slowly, allowed two runners to reach before finally punching out Eduardo Nunez for the final out.
- Finally, we have to mention the Wild Teoscar Experience in the outfield. In the fourth inning, Hernandez allowed what would have been a single to roll under his glove and carry all the way to the wall. It should have resulted in a first-and-third situation, but, instead, Baltimore ended up with a run scored and a guy on third. Thankfully, Hernandez made up for it shortly after, gunning out Pat Valika at home to save a run. You could see Hernandez noticeably rattled in the dugout after the inning, so it was nice to see him make a redemption play.
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