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On July 28, the Blue Jays were three games back of a wild card spot in the American League, behind the Rays, Orioles, Twins and the tied Astros and Angels, who were six games up on Toronto. Troy Tulowitzki would debut for the Jays the next day, and David Price would be added two days after that -- fast-forward to the morning of August 5, and Toronto not only possesses a wild card spot, but they sit just one game back of the Angels for the top one.
The narrowed gap between the Halos and the Jays has as much to do with Los Angeles’ recent incompetence as Toronto’s success -- the Angels have won just one game since Tulo debuted for the Jays, whereas Toronto has only lost one. Tulowitzki has been a major part of this surge, batting .333/.448/.667 with a pair of homers already, and Price dominated in his first start with eight one-run frames and a win. Having a wild card spot today guarantees nothing, of course, but the huge risk Toronto took in acquiring Tulowitzki and Price was that they would never quite catch up and leapfrog all the teams in front of them in the season’s remaining two months. Now, the question has changed to whether they can hold the spot they’re in.
It’s not just those two helping out, of course. Aaron Sanchez is back from the DL, and around to solidify a bullpen that needs it. Latroy Hawkins isn’t the answer for the pen by himself, but they needed more parts of the answer, and he’s one. Even so, they could probably still stand to add a starter to replace Drew Hutchison since they dealt their internal options to get Price from Detroit, but at least the rotation is four strong while led by an ace, which hasn’t been the case for Toronto in some time. The Jays are looking good, and with their lineup, have the chance to be the AL’s best the rest of the way. Things could change in a hurry, but as we can see, they might already have.
- Mike Hessman set the affiliated record for minor league homers, so let’s take a moment to praise him and his accomplishment.
- It’s not just the Blue Jays making noise of late -- the Mets are suddenly ahead of the Nationals in the NL West.
- The Tigers released Dave Dombrowski from his contract to allow him to pursue other opportunities. This gives Al Avila, Detroit’s new GM, a chance to step out from the shadows, and also surprised the industry given Dombrowski just led the Tigers to be sellers at the trade deadline.
- MLBAM might have started in baseball, but they’re a digital success story, making their mark in television with other sports as well.
- Alex Wood threw a pitch to nowhere. Well, “threw” is probably giving him too much credit.
- A Rays’ rookie hit a homer, and got the silent treatment back in the dugout. That didn’t stop him from high-fiving, though.
- Eury Perez celebrated a catch he didn’t make, while the ball rolled away from him.
- Mets fans hate Bryce Harper, but they’re enjoying hating him, because it’s no longer part of a one-sided rivalry.
- The Red Sox saw CEO and president Larry Lucchino step down, which opens up the door for Boston to add a baseball-ops-focused president to work alongside Ben Cherington. Like, hmm, I don’t know, to spitball a name, Dave Dombrowski?
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