Gaining ground on wild-card leaders hasn’t been easy for Blue Jays
Yankees, Red Sox and A’s are the lead cars
The Jays are most definitely in chase mode right now.
They have been for a while.
Ahead of them in the race for two wild-card spots are the Yankees, Red Sox and Athletics. Two games back are another team in chase mode, the Seattle Mariners.
Those two teams square off for three games this weekend in Seattle with the normal influx of Canadian visitors to Seattle for this particular series, likely held at bay by yet another surge of COVID-19.
What we do know is the Jays are playing inspired baseball. Over the past five games they have made up a game on the Red Sox and the Yankees each, but that has been the extent of the progress in the wild-card standings.
Even despite that 9-2 record when they returned to the Rogers Centre late last month, making up ground on those ahead of them has proved very difficult.
The A’s are showing no signs of slowing down having won seven in a row and pulling away with that first wild card at the moment.
That leaves the Jays focused squarely on that second spot and the Yankees aren’t giving up much ground, if any, of late either though they did lose that homer-marathon in the cornfield in Iowa the other night.
The Red Sox appear most vulnerable at the moment with just four wins in their past 16. The dent in that lead would have been a little deeper had two of those Red Sox wins over that span not come against Toronto.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr., perhaps the hottest hitter in the lineup right now not named George Springer, waved away any talk of frustration building over the Jays inability to see their playoff likelihood improve much despite a rather good run of late.
“Here in the clubhouse we have just one goal and it’s to win,” Gurriel explained. “Try to go out there and win every game. We are not looking or paying attention to whatever the other teams do or whatever their record is. We just don’t pay attention. Right now we’re here and we feel good and the clubhouse is good right now and we just go out there and try to win every game possible.”
Gurriel and his teammates are going to have to keep up that level of play they have flashed over these past 2½ weeks again this weekend if they hope to get out of Seattle with some positive results.
The Mariners have their own designs on taking one of those wild-card spots and while they haven’t been as consistent as Toronto in the win column of late, they do enter this series having won three of the past four following a 10-game road trip that took them through both New York and Tampa Bay.
The Jays began the series Friday night with one of their most consistent starters on the hill in Robbie Ray.
No one would have dared use that word consistent in association with the left-handed Ray even a year ago, but he has found a new level this season and the Jays couldn’t be happier.
“He’s been great,” Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said of Ray. “He’s been going deep in games ... Every time he takes the mound we are in every game so that’s all you can ask.”
Ray has always had the stuff to get Major League hitters out, but hasn’t always controlled it like he has this year.
“Now he’s commanding all his pitches and that’s it,” Montoyo said. “You don’t know what is coming next as a hitter. He could throw any pitch at any time for a strike and that’s tough to face. That’s why he is doing so well.”
He has cut his walks allowed in half this year over last to allow him to go deep into games and give his team a chance to pull the game out.
Ray has always had the ability to strike out hitters, and now with improved command those strikeouts become even more valuable.
The Jays also will welcome back a regular for this series into their lineup who has been absent the past two games.
Shortstop and cleanup hitter Bo Bichette returns after he required a couple of games to rest some sore shins that became that much more uncomfortable after playing both ends of Tuesday’s doubleheader in Anaheim.
Outfielder Corey Dickerson, though, was unlikely to play at least in the series opener due to a sore back. The team’s hope is the back would loosen up on its own so that Dickerson and the Jays can avoid him making a trip to the injured list.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr, currently struggling at the plate, was pencilled in to DH Friday night with Gurriel Jr. digging out his first baseman’s mitt to fill in defensively.