Toronto Blue Jays outmatched by Baltimore Orioles
23 days ago
Lows are too low and highs aren’t high enough. Such has been the story of the 2024 Blue Jays thus far as they chug along with a 28-31 record. Nearly 60 games into the season, Toronto has only showed a faint sign of life and nothing more.
The weekend for the Blue Jays was rocky at best despite their series win against the Pittsburgh Pirates. There weren’t convincing wins that successfully signalled the team’s ascent toward competitiveness. Five runs were the most runs they scored throughout their games against Pittsburgh, and when they underperformed, they sunk to the lowest of the lows by scoring barely any runs while giving up a copious amount of runs to the Pirates.
By winning the last game of the series against Pittsburgh on Sunday, the Blue Jays had the vibes on their side to carry on the momentum to the next series. Except they were hosting the Baltimore Orioles for a four-game series – this wasn’t going to be easy for Toronto by any means.
And Monday night proved that the Orioles will always sabotage the Blue Jays in every way possible. They were no longer the pushover that every American League could count on winning against. They’ve become a powerhouse that wrote a magical success story after long stretches of patience.
Offensive power, stellar pitching and undeniable talent helped Baltimore to emerge victorious against the Blue Jays on Monday. According to FanGraphs, the Orioles rank second in home runs, seventh in runs scored, fourth in on-base plus slugging (OPS) and ninth in batting average. Baltimore’s starting and relief pitching are also competitive as they rank fourth and 11th in earned-run average (ERA), each. The team is also exploding with young talents from infielder Gunnar Henderson to second baseman Connor Norby and future star Jackson Holliday is still in the Orioles’ system biding for the right time again.
Compared to the glitzy statistics from the Orioles, the Blue Jays’ statistics are close to mediocrity. As it stands, the Blue Jays’ offence ranks 20th in batting average, 25th in home runs and 24th in runs scored. Starting pitching is performing at an average level as it ranks 14th in ERA but relief pitching is on the brink of disaster with the overall ERA ranking coming in at 27th.
Nothing has gone Toronto’s way this season and if things don’t turn around soon, the Blue Jays may not see the light of the day. With three more games against the ever-powerful Orioles this week, Toronto’s mission is to at least split the series to avoid any further humiliation. Winning a series against a team that hits and pitches well is a tall task for a team like the Blue Jays. With all the offensive and pitching struggles on top of mounting injuries, Toronto needs a miracle to turn their fortune around.
The Blue Jays went into the season banking on internal improvements and aimed for redemption after embarrassing playoff exits in 2022 and 2023. But the danger of banking on internal improvement is all the things that went right last year have to go right again. Last year, the Blue Jays’ starting rotation and bullpen stayed remarkably healthy and reliable for practically all 162 games. Sadly, injuries are stacking up now, and the team isn’t well-equipped enough to fight through all the trials because Toronto didn’t find feasible alternatives last offseason to replace production over the offseason.
In a way, the Blue Jays’ job this offseason was creating a successful egg–drop experiment. Other than slowing down the decent speed, the secret to not breaking an egg is building robust protection around the egg while orienting it in the right direction so that the egg can properly absorb the pressure. The only problem is that the Blue Jays didn’t provide a strong cushion for its tattered roster to weather the storm.
Names like Justin Turner and Daniel Vogelbach were never meant to extend the competitive window. Reaching down to the farm system wasn’t going to be a viable option either as the Blue Jays’ system has been depleted through trades and few promotions. Not making the hard decisions over the offseason is catching up to Toronto as the team pays the price for virtually standing pat.
Things are only going to get more difficult from here on out for the Blue Jays. No rivals are easy, even on paper, and there are simply less beatable teams around the league. Even the Oakland Athletics are witnessing a mini-renaissance as their roster shows off cohesive plate appearances and surprising pitching performances. Unless the team finds a magic potion to boost the win-loss record in no time, the Blue Jays will have to fight harder to get back up to the fourth in the rough American League East.
If there is an epitome of what the Blue Jays season has been like so far, the scoreboard from Monday night game between the Orioles and Blue Jays demonstrates Toronto’s woes perfectly. The Orioles produced 10 hits and scored seven runs in this nine-inning game. In contrast, the Blue Jays produced seven hits but only managed to eke out two runs.
Inability to score, ever-growing injured list and regressing pitching. These are some of the factors that have contributed to the Blue Jays’ recent decline. That said, it’s equally important to remember that nothing in baseball is ever as good or bad as it seems. There are still chances to turn things around and lady luck may decide to be on Toronto’s side for once this season.
With 101 games left in the season, the Blue Jays are slowly running out of time to play with their fortune. There has to be a sustainable winning streak from Toronto to prove that the team is still in contention and that they aren’t just a pushover. Something has to change profoundly on and off the field before any real spark or meaningful push toward relevance happens.
Three years ago, the Blue Jays were at the top of the league for hitting home runs and were quickly climbing to playoff contention. Back then, the Baltimore Orioles weren’t mentioned in the same breath as the word contender and occupied the basement of the American League East. Fast forward to now, the Orioles are now one of the top four teams with the best win-loss records while the Blue Jays keep sinking toward the bottom of the league and contention altogether. Life comes at you fast.
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