My Two Cents: Blue Jays Have More to Worry About Than Rays

The Tampa Bay Rays' bats came to life over the past three games in Toronto, and it has them trending in the right direction. The same can't be said for the Blue Jays, who seem to have some serious pitching issues and have some legitimate concerns going forward.

TORONTO — Back during the shortened spring training in March, it was the Toronto Blue Jays who were the talk of the town. The up-and-coming team with a lineup full of big bats seemed poised to take the American League East crown in 2022.

They were the preseason betting favorite too, over the Tampa Rays, who were the two-time defending division champion, and the New York Yankees were a bit of an afterthought, the third choice on every gambling site.

Obviously, it's turned out that everyone was wrong about the Yankees. They can still rake, as expected, but they're playing at a record pace — 58-22 for a .725 winning percentage — because all five of their starting pitchers are far exceeding expectations and Clay Holmes has been a lockdown closer.

But enough about them.

The Rays and Blue Jays, in the thick of things for some of the three wild-card spots, just finished playing five games in four days in Toronto. And even excluding recency bias, I have one big takeaway from the weekend:

The Blue Jays have a lot more to worry about than the Rays do.

The Rays won the series 3-2, winning the last three games 6-2, 11-6, 7-3. It was a rout, and even the 24-11 cumulative score is somewhat deceiving because they Blue Jays scored five runs on Saturday after already being behind 10-1. Most of their runs came against journey Tampa Bay relievers that were on their way back to Durham the second the games ended.

The Rays have a dramatically better pitching staff than the Blue Jays. Yeah, I know, the Rays missed ace starter Alek Manoah by a day, but the rest of their rotation has some issues and the bullpen is a mess.  

There are no such concerns about the Rays' starting rotation. The concern has been whether they can hit enough, and after getting 24 runs and 41 hit in about a 29-hour window, some of those concerns have gone away. There are no guarantees they stay hot with the bats, of course, but it was a very encouraging sign.

The Rays' rotation came up big these last two days. Shane McClanahan pitched seven innings and gave up just one earned run. Drew Rasmussen, fresh off the injured list, pitched 4 2/3 innings and allowed only one earned run. And Sunday, Shane Baz went six innings, pitched around the lot of traffic on the bases but still allowing just one earned run. 

That's three runs in 17 2/3 innings, a brilliant 1.52 ERA. I'll take that.

I'll also take Harold Ramirez having nine hits already in July, and Isaac Paredes continuing to stay on fire.  He homered in both games of the Saturday doubheader, only the second Rays player ever (Ben Zobrist) to do that. Yandy Diaz has seven hits in July, and an eight-game hitting streak. Randy Arozarena and Ji-Man Choi had five hits in two days, Wander Franco has had a hit in six straight games and, get this, even Taylor Walls has had a hit in three-straight games.

There is a massively long way to go, of course. The Rays are 43-36 and reach the halfway point to the season on Tuesday in Boston. They are 5-3 so far against the Blue Jays, but have 11 games to go against them. They are 2-1 against the Red Sox heading into this series — which starts Monday at 1:35 p.m. ET — and have 16 games left with them.

But for me, it starts with pitching, and I like what the Rays are doing far more than Toronto. Sure they have a great lineup, but look what McClanahan, Rasmussen and Baz did, none of them allowing more than one run.

If I had to play a three-game wild-series tomorrow with those three as my pitchers, I'd be good with that. Can the Blue Jays say the same?

Baseball is baseball, and things can change overnight. I had some quiet optimism heading into this weekend, predicting a sweep, and it could very well be a massive step in the right direction.

For the Rays, let's hope so.

Tom Brew's post on Saturday morning. 

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