Blue Jays Get Six-Man Rotation Underway in Upcoming Series Against Twins
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The Toronto Blue Jays are maintaining a solid lead over both the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees in the AL East. Right now, the Blue Jays have a five-game lead over the Red Sox as they attempt to finish the season on top of the division.
Toronto is returning home from a .500 road trip where they dropped a road series against the Pittsburgh Pirates but bounced back to take two out of three against the Miami Marlins. Without their superstar Vladimir Guerrero Jr. available for most of it, they'll take that result.
The Minnesota Twins are the upcoming foes for the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. The Twins sold at the trade deadline in a major way, which has ultimately led to a brutal month of August for them with an 8-14 record. Now, they have lost four consecutive series as they gear up to travel to Toronto.
Probable Pitchers
Max Scherzer is scheduled to take the mound first for the Blue Jays in the series opener. He is starting to look like his All-Star self again after missing significant time to start this season due to thumb inflammation.
In Scherzer's last seven starts, he has gone 4-2 with 40 strikeouts and nine walks. The 41-year-old has posted a 3.14 ERA in his last 43 innings of work, starting to look like a Game 1 starter when the postseason rolls around.
The Twins are scheduled to counter with Joe Ryan, arguably their best pitcher and one of the few valuable players they held onto ahead of the deadline. He made his first All-Star team this year and is posting the best numbers of his young career so far with a 2.96 ERA and 160 strikeouts.
Game 2 of this set is scheduled to be Chris Bassitt pitching opposite of Bailey Ober, while the finale features Eric Lauer -- who has returned to the rotation after being moved to the bullpen -- going up against Zebby Matthews.
The Blue Jays offense has fallen stagnant since around the time Guerrero went down with inflammation in his left hamstring. He has been missing from the starting lineup since the game against the Pirates back on Aug. 18. But Toronto is confident he's good to go after he pinch-hit on Sunday.
This is an important series for the Blue Jays as one they must win, getting back on track following a sub-par stretch for them as they head into a massive showdown against the team with the MLB's best record; the Milwaukee Brewers.
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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.