Blue Jays On a Roll

 Short one today, but how could I not comment on the Toronto Blue Jays who are on an 8 game winning streak while playing some really exciting games. Usually to string together 8 wins you'll have a game or two where you win in dramatic fashion, but this streak has been nearly all dramatic victories which has been really fun to watch. The city is slowly starting to buzz again about the Jays as we see them now expand their lead in the AL East to 3 games and it's about time Lohensports buzzes about them too. 

Yankees Series

Ok I really dropped the ball talking about Myles Turner instead of the first time in franchise history that the Jays swept the Yankees in 4 games at home. Not much to say other than that was awesome. Starting with the Canada Day game where the Jays in their special red uniforms exploded for 12 runs against the Yankees including 2 HRs by George Springer, one of them being a grand slam, with 7 RBIs as well. Something about slapping the Yankees at home on Canada Day with red uniforms on just warms my heart. Then in the next game the Jays get up 7-0 in the first inning. They add another in the 3rd to make it 8-0, should be an easy win right? They end up giving up 6 runs in the 5th to make it 8-6, another in the 6th to make it 8-7. They claw back 1 more to make it a 9-7 game and then Aaron Judge ties the game in the 8th with a 2 run shot. The Jays don't fold, George Springer scores on a wild pitch in the bottom of the 8th and then Addison Barger, who's quickly becoming my favorite Jay, hits an RBI single to add some breathing room and the Jays steal that one. Another wild one in the final game where the teams went back and fourth on offense but the Jays came away with the last laugh again thanks to another big game from Springer. George Springer came away from the series with 4 HRs and 11 RBIs in the series, and the Jays took over sole possession of first place. 

Angels Series

This one had lower stakes because it's not a division rival, but it was dramatic and fun to watch none the less. In game 1 the Jays didn't play their best ball, but they took a 0-0 game into the 6th inning before stringing together singles to get up 3-0. Nick Sandlin immediately gives up a 3 run home run to knot the game up at 3 again. The game goes to extra innings after the bullpen navigates a tightrope getting out of some tough situations and the Jays win it after the Angels misplayed a sacrifice bunt. A walk-off bunt in extra innings, dramatic and stupid I love it. The next game was similar where it got to extra innings tied 3-3 and Addison Barger hit a walk off single in the 11th. Shout out to Braydon Fisher who came in and pitched 2 scoreless innings in extra innings in that one to keep the Jays alive. Finally yesterday in a game I had to miss I hear the Jays took another tight one with Barger providing some more timely offense. 

City Buzzing

I was listening to the Jays post game show where callers can call in and ask questions. The first caller was a 22 year old who claimed he'd never seen the team have a run like this ever and that this is the best vibes in a Jays team he's ever witnessed. As a true fan of 2015, I still give the edge to that squad, but you can't deny how fun and likeable these guys are. Maybe some of it comes from the lack of expectations, maybe some of it is how the offense is mostly home grown guys, but I think it's the way the offense scores runs. Last season and the season before, the Jays were also a solid team but they were focused on preventing runs not scoring them. That's a boring game to watch as a casual fan, and often going to games was a snoozefest with not much to cheer for. The amount of times last year where the Jays would get down 2-3 runs and you'd just know the game is over was ridiculous. This year's team isn't the best offense in the league or anything, but they're serviceable and can string together hits. It's not just that they are capable of scoring runs, they're doing it in a really fun way. The Jays are only 17th in the league in home runs, middle of the pack. They're 12th in overall runs scored, again pretty middle of the pack. But they are 4th in the league in batting average and 3rd in on base percentage. They have a bunch of guys who are putting the ball in play and it's leading to base runners, which is exciting to watch! The Jays have struck out the fewest times in the league with just 605 total strikeouts. This offense reminds me so much of the KC Royals World Series team where they just had guy after guy who would battle and put the ball in play. With the pitching and defense they've gotten this year, it's been enough to drive wins, and it's really fun to watch. 

Run Differential? 

Even though the Jays are 52-38 now with a 3 game lead on the AL East, they have a run differential of just +12 compared to the Yankees +95, Rays +69 or even the 1 game above .500 Red Sox + 33. Could this be a cause for concern long term? Are the Jays much worse than their record suggests? The answer to those questions is a resounding maybe. The Jays struggled early before finding a groove in May. They had guys like Will Wagner and Alan Rhoden playing every day and their bullpen wasn't sorted out yet. Now they've replaced those guys with Addison Barger and Nathan Lukes and have seen their offense start to take off. They're red hot right now and they're getting a little bit of luck to help them scratch out victories for sure, but these wins count just as much as blowouts do. It's funny, the Jays have won 8 in a row but if you look at the last 9 games their run differential in that stretch is just +4 because of a 15-1 loss to the Red Sox. My take on this is stop worrying about the run differential you nerds. The Jays are winning games! They might regress to the mean and be a .500 team after the all star break, if they do that then guess what, they're still right around a 90 win team! The AL East is all beating up on each other this year making it plausible that 90-92 wins takes the division. If the Jays can swing a deal at the deadline for another starting pitcher and another leverage reliever, they are going to be in really good shape. This is also all with both Vlad and Bo not hitting all the way to their standards just yet and Daulton Varsho missing most of the season. The longest winning streak in franchise history for the Jays was 11. I still remember the Munenori Kawasaki lead 11 game stretch in 2013, pure vibes no substance. I also remember the massive 11 game streak in 2015 that helped propel them to the only division title in my lifetime. They're at 8 now with a 3 game series against the White Sox coming up, could we see history? Did I just jynx it? Should I stop asking myself questions? I can't wait to find out. 

That's that! Just a general excitement post about the Blue Jays, a team that people have had a hard time being excited about in recent years. I can't wait to get out to the ball park again this summer, there's nothing like the Rogers Center when it's sold out. Lets go Blue Jays!