Blue Jays Control AL East with Largest Lead Since Legendary 1993 Campaign
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The American League has a new face sitting at the top — the Toronto Blue Jays. They have won 18 of their last 22 games, and taken a 6.5 game lead in the AL East.
The last time that Toronto had this big of a lead in the division was at the end of the 1993 campaign where they not only won the division, but they went on to win the World Series.
That postseason run during the 1993 season was incredible. The Jays took down the Chicago White Sox in the AL Championship Series, 4-2.
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It was the Philadelphia Phillies who the Blue Jays matched up with to fight for a World Series title. The Blue Jays were the defending champions and they came out on top with a 4-2 series victory that included Joe Carter's legendary walk-off, World Series winning home run in Game 6.
On May 25 the Jays were swept by the Tampa Bay Rays and had an embarrasing 13-0 shutout. They sat at 25-27 overall and talk of the division title were non-existent. Since that point they have gone 38-15 and have only been swept once by, oddly enough, the Phillies.
In July they are rolling over some really respectable opponents. They are 16-4 which includes sweeps of the Yankees (56-48), the Los Angeles Angels (50-55), and the San Francisco Giants (54-41).
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The Blue Jays are facing the Detroit Tigers and are set up to add another sweep to their month. They have taken the first three games of the four-game set and have outscored the Tigers, 23-7, entering Sunday's finale.
One of the Blue Jays' original struggles was their ability to perform on the road, but those issues might have been addressed.
For a long time the Jays had a record that was well below .500 when they left Canada. Now, they sit at 26-25 away from Rogers Centre and are 5-3 this month including both of their wins in Detroit.
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Their overall record of 63-42 is best in all of baseball. The New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Chicago Cubs have all reached 61 while the Tigers have not been able to win a game since they hit 60.
To finish the month off the Blue Jays will continue a road stretch with a four-game series against the Baltimore Orioles that starts on Monday.
For more Blue Jays news, head over to Blue Jays On SI.
Maddy Dickens resides in Loveland, Colorado. She grew up with two older brothers, where their lives revolved around sports. She earned a master's degree in business management from Tarleton State University while simultaneously playing basketball and competing in rodeo at the collegiate level. She successfully parlayed a reserve national championship into a professional rodeo career and now stays involved in upper-level athletics by writing for On SI on several different MLB teams' pages, along with some NCAA sites.