Cubs and Blue Jays Bring Top Ranked Offenses Into a High Stakes Series
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The Toronto Blue Jays have been pretty difficult to beat at Rogers Centre this season, but especially as of late. They have the best winning percentage on their home field in baseball and are the only team to have fewer than 20 losses.
Their above-average play at home has been a big contributor to their rise in the power rankings and their sole ownership of the AL East, but it is safe to say they have their work cut out for them with the Chicago Cubs in their next home series.
Blue Jays at Roger Centre
Toronto is 38-19 when back in Canada and it isn't because of their pitching staff who sits No. 20 in all of baseball with an ERA over 4.00, but their offense.
Their hitters are the top team in batting average (.271) and go neck-and-neck with the Los Angeles Dodgers in a few others. The Dodgers and the Blue Jays are tied for the top on-base percentage and the Jays total OPS trails only Los Angeles.
Shortstop Bo Bichette and outfielder George Springer have found their swing at best when they are back at home. They are outperforming Vladimir Guerrero Jr. which is impressive to say the least.
This season, they have broken a few franchise records for their performance at Rogers Centre, including the longest homestand (seven games) and an 11-game win streak, which included a four-game sweep of the New York Yankees, who at the time were in possession of the AL East.
The Blue Jays' pitching staff will be facing a Cubs squad that actually performs better on the road than they do at Wrigley Field, which should make for a really good series if nothing else.
Cubs on the Road
It is hard to believe that at any professional sports team would perform better on the road than at home, but the Cubs offense is one of the best when they are on the road.
Now they have definitely won more games when the ball club is at Wrigley Field, but their hitters swing a bat better when they leave and that is going to be put to the test when they get to Toronto.
Chicago has the best OPS in baseball on the road led by their .457 slugging (also first) in the majors. They are creeping up on 100 home runs this season at opponents' stadiums tied for first with the Athletics.
This series is facing two of the best in baseball and it is quite easy to imagine this is going to turn into an offensive shootout.
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.