There have been so many stories that have been folded into the big story, which is that your Toronto Blue Jays are continuing their systematic run to the AL East division crown, just like they do every 20 years or so.
Monday night was the biggest game of the season. Again. And the Blue Jays responded by mowing down the visiting New York Yankees 4-2 to give themselves a 3.5-game lead in the AL East.
So much to celebrate, even before the big celebration with promise of more to come.
There has been Tulo Fever, which has given way to Tulo Watch as Blue Jays fans chart his return from injury.
Monday night, David Price continued his candidacy as the best starting pitcher ever acquired at the trade deadline. His strikeout of Alex Rodriguez with the bases loaded in third inning was just one moment of many he’s had the Rogers Centre at jet engine decibels since being acquired from the Detroit Tigers.
He allowed the Yankees just two hits and a walk in seven innings and improved to 8-1 as a Blue Jay and 3-0 against New York as a Blue Jay.
The Stro Show is into its second week, to rave reviews, everyone eagerly anticipating the next episode, coming Wednesday.
Edwin Encarnacion did his usual month-long impersonation as the best hitter on the planet, in addition to his regular role as merely one of the best hitters on the planet.
And Josh Donaldson has turned in a season a superhero could be proud of, earning the MVP chants that go up every time he steps to the plate.
Just listen to Jose Bautista, get positively poetic about The Bringer of Rain, and what he’s meant to the Blue Jays’ remarkable summer, setting up an even more tantalizing Fall.
“He’s by far the MVP of this team, of this league, of all of baseball,” said Bautista. “I don’t know about Japan because I haven’t checked the stats in that league, but he’s definitely been that person for us and he’s been our rock all year … He’s definitely been our guy. He’s not an unsung hero, because everyone’s been documenting his success very well. But he’s the only one worth mentioning in any individual talk over the whole team.”
There are all kinds of numbers to support Bautista’s argument, which is more a statement of fact that one side of a case.
Heading into the latest pivotal series against the Yankees, Donaldson was the major-league leader with 120 RBI, tied for third in the AL with 39 home runs and one of only three players hitting .299 or better with more than 35 home runs.
His 7.9 wins above replacement (WAR) is second only to Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals, who is having a historic season of his own. And then every once in a while Donaldson dives into a camera bay or something to catch a foul ball.
But it’s worth remembering as the Blue Jays’ magical carpet ride continues that Bautista was here pumping out crazy numbers before Donaldson or anyone else showed up to give him the kind of supporting cast a superstar deserves. And it’s worth noting that six years after he came out of nowhere to become one of the best players in baseball at age 29 he hasn’t missed a beat at age 34 in the middle of his first taste of meaningful September baseball.
He’s already put the finishing touches on another testament to his rare combination of middle-of-the-order power and plate discipline. With 36 home runs, 102 runs, 104 RBI and 100 walks heading into Monday night it marks the fourth time since 2010 that he’s passed the 30/100/100 /100 threshold. The only seasons he missed were in 2012 and 2013 when he missed 68 and 44 games due to injury.
Perhaps even more satisfying is that in his first MLB pennant race Bautista has played some of his best baseball.
His August — hitting .286 with an OPS of 1.008 — was his best month this season, which stands to be surpassed only by his September, in which he’s hitting .306 with an OPS of 1.079. His 15 home runs since Aug. 1 are the second-most in the AL since then and he’s on pace to have his two most productive run-producing months when the stakes are the highest.
His contributions against the Yankees were relatively modest, yet significant, and as the season has been going, easy to overlook as Price spun another masterful start against an AL East rival in the heart of the pennant race.
The big lefty is putting together an epic stretch run and deserves every accolade, but it was Bautista’s modest single up the middle that scored the game’s first run, part of a three-run first inning that gave Price the kind of cushion he’s not going to let go to waste.
And it was Bautista’s double in the bottom of the seventh that sent Donaldson to third where he was able to score a vital insurance run.
If Donaldson brings the rain, Bautista has been bringing the thunder, just like he has without fail since 2010.
Bautista isn’t the falsely modest sort. He’s not false anything. So you have to take his support of Donaldson as MVP at face value and believe him too when he says he’s taking more satisfaction from Blue Jays fans finally getting some reward after such a long dry spell, than from anything he’s been doing personally.
“The fans here have been dealing with not going to playoffs for a lot longer than I have so I think it’s going to be more satisfaction for them,” he said. “I’m going to put myself down the totem pole a little bit. I’ll enjoy it when the off-season comes around.”
He says he doesn’t put any more weight on what he’s done this summer as his seasons past, even if it’s come when it mattered most.
“At the end of each September or beginning of October, I just want to see stats that reflect someone who contributed on a day-to-day basis,” he says. “And this year is no different.”
We disagree with him. It is different. Carlos Delgado put together hall-of-fame worthy numbers as a Blue Jay, but never got to do it in the heat of a pennant race. Until the all-star break this year it looked like Bautista’s career revival would never be truly appreciated because he never was able to be part of a winning team.
This year, with the right supporting cast, Bautista’s brilliance is part of a satisfying whole rather than a lone bright light. And this year, with lights shining brightest, he’s remained his constant, brilliant, self.
The Blue Jays have given us plenty of stories this summer, but the original reads pretty well too.