How Has the Toronto Blue Jays Bullpen Been Driving Team's Incredible Success?
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The Toronto Blue Jays have had a bit of a resurgence as of late, as they look to win their fourth straight game and their fourth straight series on Saturday against the Minnesota Twins. There have been plenty of contributing factors to their 34-29 record, but one of the most notable success stories for them has been their bullpen arms.
Over the course of the season, there have been impressive showings from Brendon Little, Yariel Rodriguez, Yimi Garcia when healthy and more. With Garcia and Nick Sandlin both on the injured list alongside Ryan Burr, the team has had a few injuries cut into their relief core early on this season. However, regardless of that, they have found immense success all around despite missing multiple key pieces, which makes it that much more impressive.
While Jeff Hoffman has not had too great of a season so far, he has been able to close plenty of them out, leading the team with 14 saves in 28 appearances. His 5.53 ERA is less than optimal no doubt, but over time, he should hopefully be able to find his stride once again.
How Does the Blue Jays Bullpen Stand Up to Others Around the League?
As things stand, the Blue Jays have had one of the best bullpens throughout the entire MLB this season. They rank highly in many key pitching categories and are one of, if not the most important, component to Toronto's success.
This year, they rank No. 6 in ERA (3.27), tied for No. 7 in saves (19), No. 2 in strikeouts (277), No.2 in WHIP (1.08) and No. 2 in batting average allowed (.202). One of their key falling points has been allowing substantial amounts of home runs, sitting right below league average with 25 given up. Other than that, though, they have remained consistently strong in the relief department, and that has given the offense a bit of a break as they are not being asked to produce at exceptionally high levels late in games.
Winning teams have to have a bullpen to back them up, as it not only helps the offense, but the starting pitchers as well. If a starter ends up having a bad first few innings, they know they can rely on their relief arms to come in and get the job done without giving up an extraordinary amount of runs. This will be a key to any run the Blue Jays make through the summer months, they just have to hope they haven't relied too much on those arms too early in the year.
Jeremy Trottier started his writing journey with WBLZ Media, and has worked through multiple publications with 247Sports, USA Today, Fansided, SBNation and others. He is an avid fan of motorsports and most sports in general, and has completed a degree in sports management to further understand the sports industry. During his time with sports media, he has been credentialed for coverage of Boston College sports, and can often be found attending their football and basketball games as well as expected coverage of their men’s soccer team in the near future. Sports are a large part of his life and career, as he looks to pursue a full time role within the industry someday.