Meet The Opponent: Checking in on The Toronto Blue Jays So Far in 2022
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays, two teams expected to battle it out for American League East supremacy this season, get together for the first time this weekend, with three games at Tropicana Field.
We're 20 percent of the way through the season so far, so it is still early, but there have been some obvious things that have jumped out with the Blue Jays so far. It's a big enough sample size. Not big enough to dismiss things completely for the 17-15 Jays, but they were the betting FAVORITE to win the AL East this year before the season started, and they can't like that they are sitting in third place right now, two games behind the Rays for second place, and 6.5 games behind the red-hot New York Yankees for first.
So it is a good time to catch up with the Jays and see where they stand. They are a fun team to watch, and certainly a great barometer for the Rays, who are 19-13 and just went 7-3 on their long West Coast trip. They Rays play 12 of their next 15 games at home. The Rays-Jays series is Friday night (7:10 p.m. ET), Saturday night (6:10 p.m.) and Sunday afternoon (1:40 p.m.)
Here are three things that have been going on with the slightly underachieving Blue Jays so far:
1. They can't get timely hits
The Blue Jays, even with their solid top-to-bottom lineup, are struggling to get that big hit that can make the difference between winning and losing. They are hitting .181 with runners in scoring position, which is last in baseball. Last.
They are just 17-15 and scuffling through a four-game losing streak right now. They've lost six one-run games already, and two more by two runs with the tying run in scoring position at least once.
Wednesday was a perfect example of that. They went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position against the New York Yankees in a 5-3 loss. They had the bases loaded with no one out in the first inning — and scored just a single run on a groundout. A strikeout and foul out followed, ending the threat.
They had a one-double in the fourth but didn't score, and a two-out double in the fifth that went nowhere. They scored a run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly, but had two singles in the seventh washed away with an inning-ending double play.
And even in the ninth, they led off the inning with a double and a walk, and after a wild pitch made it 5-3 with a George Springer sacrifice fly. But Bo Bichette struck out and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. popped out to end the threat.
Sure, that's just one game, but it's a good synopsis of what's gone wrong with the Jays this season. Being dead last in any category is never good, but in such an important category like hitting with runners in scoring position, that's critical.
But it's also not a time to panic. The Jays know they aren't
“At this point in the year, we just have to slow some things down and not try to do too much,” Springer said. “Don’t try to hit the five-run homer if there’s nobody on base. Slow down and stay within ourselves, because there’s a long way to go and a lot of time to right the ship.”
2. They have had a tough schedule
The schedule-makers weren't kind to the Blue Jays early. They've played nine games with the New York Yankees already and the Yankees, at 23-8, are by far the best team in baseball so far in 2022. The Blue Jays are just 3-6 against them.
The Jays also played Houston six times. The Astros are 21-11, second in wins to the Yankees. They also caught the Cleveland Guardians in the midst of a hot streak, and lost three of four to them.
Toronto was off on Thursday, and for many of the guys with Florida homes here — the Jays train in Dunedin, as you all know — it might have been a good day to catch their breath. And after their three games in St. Petersburg against the Rays, they go home for a homestand against the Seattle Mariners (14-18) and Cincinnati Reds (8-24), so they could get hot in a hurry.
Because the Rays and Jays missed a series the first week of the season because off lockout, their head-to-head schedule is very back-loaded. They play eight times from Sept. 12 on, which will make for a great pennant/playoff chase, since there's still no doubt in my mind that both teams will be around for that.
3. Rotation issues after Gausman, Manoah
Kevin Gausman (3-1, 2.13 ERA) and Alex Manoah (4-0, 1.75 ERA) have been great for the Blue Jays so far, but the rest of their starting pitching has been very suspect so far this year.
In Gausman and Manoah's 12 combined starts, six each, they are a combined 7-1 with an ERA under two. Gausman has 46 strikeouts and just one walk, and hasn't allowed a home run yet in 38 innings. Manoah has allowed only 23 hits in 36 innings, a nifty 0.89 WHIP, fifth-best in the AL despite nine walks.
But the rest of the starters haven't been very good at all, and it started right from the beginning. Opening Day starter Jose Berrios, who didn't make it out of the first inning on April 8, has a 5.82 ERA and has given up six home runs already. The other every-day starters, Yusei Kikucki and Ross Stripling, haven't been much better. Kikucki has a 4.15 ERA and Stripling is at 4.70. And Hyiun Jim Ryu, who started twice early before getting shut down with forearm issues, has given up 11 earned runs in just 7 1/3 innings of work.
So in those 20 ''other'' starts outside of Guzman and Manoah, the numbers are brutal. In 88 1/3 innings, they've given up 55 runs, which plays out to a 5.60 ERA. For the Blue Jays to contend, that group has to be better.
The Rays will see both Gausman (Friday) and Manoah (Sunday) this weekend, and Ryu is scheduled to pitch Saturday after a rehab outing in Buffalo. (He faced Durham in his last start and Vidal Brujan, who's up with the Rays now, had a double against him.)
