As the calendar turns to September, the final month of the Major League Baseball (MLB) season is here.
And with 25 games left in their regular season the Toronto Blue Jays, somehow, are still in the Wild Card conversation in the American League (AL).
But how did they get here?
Amazingly, it’s been the mediocre play of the entire league that has allowed the Blue Jays to stay competitive.
They’re still two games below .500 at (68-70) after a (16-11) month of August.
Entering play Tuesday night in Cleveland the Jays are a game and a half behind the Guardians for the third and final American League Wild Card playoff spot.
On the mound, first year Blue Jay Dylan Cease has been a stud all season long and is widely considered as a top candidate for the Cy Young Award as top pitcher in the league.
He’s second in AL strikeouts with 222 in 150.1 innings pitched. Opponents are hitting just .176 against him – again second in the AL – and he’s one of only three pitchers to throw a complete game shutout.
Recently acquired Jose Soriano provides a steady arm as a starter and Max Scherzer has all of sudden turned back the clock allowing just 13 earned runs in six starts across August including seven innings of one-hit seven-strikeout baseball on Sunday to move him into ninth place all-time on the major league strikeout list with 3,535.
Louis Varland, the Jays closer, is another pitcher that hasn’t disappointed. Varland sports the best earned run average among closers in the American League at 1.18. He’s only blown one save all season, going 31 of 32 closing games.
Offensively, the only consistent for Toronto has been the bat of Kazuma Okamoto who’s 28 home runs are a franchise rookie record and his 78 runs batted in should also eclipse Erik Hinske’s record of 84 set for first year players back in 2002.
Ernie Clement’s .276 batting average leads the club.
However, the month of August belonged to arguably the team’s most popular player in catcher Alejandro Kirk who had 30 hits, 20 RBI, five home runs, one stolen base – that led to standing ovation – and a .341 batting average.
Brett Bateman has shown great promise as a potential leadoff hitter since being acquired by general manager Ross Atkins in the Kevin Gausman trade with the Chicago Cubs.
Despite his horrendous season of hitting – just seven home runs and 48 RBI, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has the team’s best on-base percentage at .331.
Here’s the optimistic news surrounding September, the Jays (as of now) play only one opponent that currently holds a record above .500: – the Cleveland Guardians – and that three-game series begins Tuesday night.
And shockingly if, if, Toronto somehow takes at least two games from the Guardians they could be in a playoff position by Friday morning.
Enjoy the ride because no one could have predicted this just weeks ago.
Rod Mawhood is a lifelong Niagara native who has had the pleasure of working in all three mediums – Radio, Print and TV – for over 20 years. His first announcing gig was with the then St. Catharines Stompers. Since then he’s worked in radio and TV in Toronto, and currently is the announcer for the Niagara IceDogs and Niagara River Lions.
Rod also covers the Buffalo Bills for FOX Sports and the Buffalo Sabres for NBC Sports.
