Last week was one of the most eventful in recent memory for the Toronto Blue Jays as general manager Alex Anthopoulos pulled the trigger on not one, but two big deals prior (and a couple more smaller moves) to Friday’s non-waiver trade deadline, bringing both Troy Tulowitzki and David Price into the fold, giving the ball club their best chance at making the playoffs in quite some time.
While expectations skyrocketed following the moves, the Jays and their fans didn’t have to wait long before getting a chance to see how the revamped roster would do against playoff-caliber competition as last year’s World Series reps and the current top team in the American League, the Kansas City Royals, rolled into Rogers Centre for a four-game set that would serves as a serious litmus test for the new-look Toronto squad.
And they passed with flying colours.
The Jays took three-of-four from Kansas City, displaying an intensity and energy that hasn’t been evident at this time of year in Toronto for a number of years. More than 40,000 people turned up for Sunday’s finale, a game that featured several hit batsmen, a couple ejections and insurance runs cashed in by Tulowitzki and fellow new addition Ben Revere in the eighth.
Coming out of the All-Star break, we said that Toronto needed to (a) make a couple moves at the deadline to improve the team and (b) had to play .600 baseball down the stretch in order to give themselves a real shot at making the playoffs. The arrivals of Tulowitzki, Price, Revere and Mark Lowe bolstered an already strong lineup and strengthened a pitching staff that needed assistance and Sunday’s 5-2 win over the Royals puts the team at 9-6 since the break, right where they need to be the rest of the way.
They’ve edged two games to the happy side of .500 after taking three from Kansas City and closed to within 1.5 games of the second Wild Card spot with one of the team’s they’re chasing, Minnesota, coming to town for four games to close out the club’s 10-game home stand. The Twins have been one of the surprise teams of the season, employing a youthful mix-and-match lineup paired with solid, yet unspectacular pitching to go from being a team that finished 70-92, 20 games back in the Central last season to a squad that is four-games above .500 as of today.
With Price taking the hill in Monday’s holiday afternoon opener, the club is going to continue getting a good look at where they stand against the best teams in the American League and right now, they have to be excited and the fans should be as well. Kansas City is as legit as they come and one of the favourites to win the World Series and even though everyone has expected the Twins to hit the wall and backslide a little, manager Paul Molitor has his club holding their own in the Central.
If they can earn a split with Minnesota and come out of this two-series, eight-game stretch with the best in the Central at 5-3, that should give everyone hope this team will remain in the thick of the chase over the final two months of the season, which is something that hasn’t happened in Toronto since the WAMCO days.
Rookie of the Year Candidate?
Provide he keeps mashing the ball the way he has since the night he got called up, Houston’s Carlos Correa will probably end up being the American League Rookie of the Year. In 46 games since arriving in the Bigs, the not-yet-21-year-old shortstop has hit .299 with 12 home runs, 32 RBI and an outstanding .916 OPS, so he’s got to be the frontrunner right now.
But Toronto has their own 20-year-old who should be in the conversation as well.
Roberto Osuna made the team out of camp and has pitched so well that he’s become the club’s closer. He’s has gone 1-4 with six saves and a 2.14 ERA. More importantly, he has 52 strikeouts and a WHIP under 1.00 through 46.1 innings and showed Sunday that he’s not going to get shook in tight spots, picking up a four-out save after giving up a two-run home run to Ben Zobrist in the top of the eighth.
If Correa drops off, Toronto catches fire and Osuna maintains his form, the 20-year-old should be in the Rookie of the Year conversation.
The Week Ahead: After the four-gamer with Minnesota at home, Toronto heads to the Bronx for three with the division-leading Yankees.
