Blue Jays' Lackluster Week Changes Their Standing in Latest Power Rankings

After a .500 week, the Toronto Blue Jays were shuffled around in the power rankings.

Mar 25, 2018; Dunedin, FL, USA; A view of the Blue Jays logo on an official Majestic game jersey during a game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Toronto Blue Jays at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium. | Aaron Doster-Imagn Images

The Toronto Blue Jays are in the midst of a crucial portion of their schedule, six games in to a nine-game stretch against some of MLB's bottom feeders. The run marked a chance to put the American League East division out of reach, but instead it's shrunk by a half-game to this point.

After two of those three series, the Blue Jays sit at 3-3, meaning they've failed to capitalize on an advantageous stretch. The Pittsburgh Pirates took two of three in their series against Toronto, but the Blue Jays bounced back to take two of three contests against the Miami Marlins.

As a result, Toronto fell from the No. 3 spot to No. 4 in MLB.com's updated league-wide power rankings. It still places them among the ranks of the top contenders in the league, but it reflects last week's missed opportunity as well.

Struggling Bullpen Causes Blue Jays to Fall in Latest MLB Power Rankings

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Despite the addition of Seranthony Dominguez in a deal with the Baltimore Orioles at the MLB trade deadline, Toronto's stable of relievers has performed at a subpar level lately, even as Dominguez himself has been strong as of late. This inability to get outs is behind the their fall.

"Since July 27, the Blue Jays have the worst bullpen ERA in all of baseball at 6.21, which is not exactly what you want from your theoretical World Series contender," Will Leitch wrote in explaining the new ranking. "Though apparently they can blow leads and still end up winning: On Saturday night against the Marlins, the Blue Jays became the only MLB team in the Modern Era to blow a lead in the ninth, 10th and 11th innings but still win the game."

While the team's offense picked the bullpen up by getting the job done time after time in extra innings on Saturday, the bullpen is concerning. It's not just that the unit as a whole is faltering, it's which pitchers are behind the latest struggles.

Yariel Rodriguez, who was reliably dominant through July, held an ERA of 2.53 entering August and was a key cog in that unit. In August, he gave up eight earned runs in 7.2 innings of work, taking the loss in the opener against the Pirates while also surrendering earned runs in both of his appearances in Miami. Closer Jeff Hoffman has rounded back into form for the most part, but he was responsible for one of the blown saves on Saturday, and his ERA for the season is still above 4.00.

Shane Bieber's presence in the starting rotation seems like it will secure that unit's status as that of a World Series contender, but the bullpen needs to bounce back by the time October rolls around.