Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports
'It's Up For Anyone': Blue Jays Think AL East Is Still In Play
On June 1st, the Blue Jays sat fourth in the American League East. They were 9.5 games out of the division's top spot with coin-flip playoff odds.
Two months later, the Jays entered a four-game set against the Orioles with a real chance to make a run at the division — 5.5 games back of the lead.
The division has somehow crept back within reach for Toronto. The Jays missed an opportunity to keep climbing the East on Monday against the Orioles (and are now on Bo Bichette watch instead). There will be more chances to grab the division over the next two months, but the Jays must start seizing them.
"Everyone's kind of bunched together," manager John Schneider said. "It's up for anyone really. Everyone's kind of at the point where they want to, you know, make a run for that."
The Jays entered the 2023 season aiming for a division title. The goal wasn't just some vanity project to hang a new baby blue banner above Rogers Centre's renovated scoreboard. Winning the East provides a tangible advantage. It would give the Blue Jays a first-round playoff bye, home field in the ALDS, and just two wild-card teams in the last decade have gone on to win the World Series.
So, when the Rays kicked off the year with 13 straight wins (the longest season-starting streak in MLB history) it looked like Toronto's division dreams were dashed. On June 1st, Toronto's AL East chances were down to 5.5%. While most assumed Toronto's playoff hopes were turned back to the three-game wild-card round, GM Ross Atkins wasn't as convinced. At least he claims so, now.
"I don't think anyone felt that way, that it was wrapped up and the Rays were gonna run away with it," Atkins said. "This division is just too strong and too difficult."
In the last 30 days, the Rays have rattled off one of their worst months in franchise history. They were 7-16 in July entering Monday's contest, lost the division lead to the Orioles, and have turned a runaway into a race again.
The Jays may actually be in the AL East lead right now if they had a more respectable record against divisional opponents. Toronto entered Monday with a 4-10 record against divisional opponents, the worst win percentage of any AL East team. The four-game set that kicked off against Baltimore on Monday was a chance to start righting that sideways number and keep chipping away at the divisional table.
"I think that when the division gets so bunched up like it is now, yeah, you want to take advantage of that," Schneider said. "You want to take advantage of these four games and really have your A-game."
But, these AL East opportunities are finite. After Monday's loss, the Jays have 24 games remaining against divisional opponents. Rattle off a good record in those games (and stay healthy), and maybe the AL East pipe dream becomes a reality. Continue to struggle within the div, and the Jays will find themselves in another wild-card round thunder dome. Or worse, not even playing in October at all.
