Blue Jays Take On The AL East
Tim Heitman (USA TODAY Sports)
The Toronto Blue Jays are a very talented, young, and exciting team. Lately, however, this has not been the case. Between controversies to players underperforming this team has been mediocre as the year has gone on. Over the last two years, on the contrary, they have been in the hunt for the playoffs and have been a very competitive team. Leading the way for them have been two bright new stars with big names on their backs. One the son of a Hall of Fame outfielder, the Blue Jays star first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. In 2021 Guerrero Jr. put up a MVP type season and lead the Blue Jays to just fall short of the playoffs. In 2021 he led the AL in Runs, Home Runs, On Base Percentage, Slugging, and Total Bases. This was an all-time performance from the young slugger. The only reason Vladdy Jr. missed the AL MVP title was due to a player by the name of Shohei Ohtani. Many believe Vladdy to be a big piece of the new and up coming core. Another player that has been living up to the big name on his back is the phenom shortstop Bo Bichette. Becoming one of the best bat to ball hitters in the last couple leagues, Bichette has been a nice addition to Vladdy Jr. Over the past two seasons Bichette has led the AL in hits with 191 in 2021 and 189 in 2022. These two young stars have been a great core for this Blue Jays team fight in a tuff division.
One place they have struggled with lately, however, is playing in their division the AL East. For instance, this season the Blue Jays against their division have gone 7-17. In a division that keeps getting better and better this is not ideal for the team’s future. This team needs their stars to start going back into their all time forms and fighting with the other young talent in their division. If the Blue Jays want a taste of the playoffs they have to fight and fight hard. They need to catch the Yankees first and then contend for a wild card spot. Due to winning the division being out of the question for all AL East teams this season. If the Blue Jays can turn their AL East woes around this club can take a wild card spot deep into a playoff run.