Blue Jays Are Now American League's Best Team After Blasting Tigers
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The Toronto Blue Jays pulled off a commanding victory over the Detroit Tigers, 11-4, on Thursday night, one that put them at the top of the mountain in the American League.
With the victory, the Blue Jays are 61-42 overall, which put them percentage points ahead of the Houston Astros in the American League. Toronto also has the second-best record in baseball behind the Milwaukee Brewers, who are percentage points ahead of the Blue Jays.
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Milwaukee may be the only team in the Majors hotter than Toronto. The Brewers just went on an 11-game winning streak and have won 12 of their last 13 games.
After taking the first game of a four-game series at Comerica Park, Toronto improved to 15-4 in the month of July which is best in all of baseball and one more win than Milwaukee. Not only that, but the Blue Jays are 17-4 in their last 21.
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To start that 21-game stretch the Blue Jays faced a division rival — the New York Yankees. At that point the Yankees had a three-game lead in the AL East. The Blue Jays not only overtaken the Yankees, but they now lead the division by 4.5 games.
Seven of those 21 games came against the Yankees and New York cannot figure out how to beat the Blue Jays as they went 1-6 in that stretch at Rogers Centre. In the Yankees' defense, few have figured out how to beat Toronto at home.
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Recently the Blue Jays have posted multiple franchise records at home, including best homestand (7-0) and an 11-game winning streak.
On May 25 Toronto was at a breaking point . The Blue Jays had just been swept which included a brutal 13-0 shutout by the Tampa Bay Rays. It was time to either turn it around or slowly see their season slip away.
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Well the shutout was a clear message. The Blue Jays have gone from below .500 to a nearly .600 record.
For a long time the Tigers were an easy front runner for the title in the American League. But as of late that is a different story. They are definitely facing a downhill skid while the Jays are now the team to beat.
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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.