The Toronto Blue Jays picked up a dramatic win on Friday night, which will ease worries a little.
There’s still at least a bit of a reason for the defending American League champions to have some anxiety in the early going, though.
The main reason is the injuries. A bunch of the pitching staff is on the shelf, along with catcher Alejandro Kirk.
Addison Barger is dinged up, too, and so far it feels like the Blue Jays can only go a few games before another player gets hurt.
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MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince wrote in a new article on Saturday that the Blue Jays’ “freak out factor” is a 5-out-of-10.
“Between rookie postseason hero Trey Yesavage’s right shoulder impingement, Shane Bieber’s continued right elbow issues, Cody Ponce’s season-ending right knee injury and right elbow problems for both Bowden Francis (also out for the season) and José Berríos, Toronto’s rotation picture is a shell of what it was designed to be,” Castrovince writes. “Max Scherzer also came out of a start this week with right elbow tendinitis, and it’s a given that his 41-year-old body will go through some stuff this season. Meanwhile, catcher Alejandro Kirk’s absence with a fractured left thumb also affects the pitching staff.”
Castrovince goes on to point out that injuries are often the reason a good team one season regresses the following year.
“If you had to pick one prevailing reason why 15 AL or NL pennant winners in the Wild Card era (since 1995) haven’t reached the playoffs the following season, it’s often the injury price paid for a sustained October run,” Castrovince writes. “Though they have plenty of time to pick up the pieces, the Blue Jays, who used 18 pitchers just in the first 10 games of the season, have a little of that going on right now. There’s also a run of bad luck.”
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The AL East Division is too tough for the Blue Jays to go on too long without healthy pitching. They’ve also lost to a few bad teams already this season, which aren’t the kind of results that get you back atop a division.
Toronto has lots of time to turn things around, which is why Castrovince’s freak out number isn’t higher. But it’s also not nothing. There is improvement needed for sure.
