The Toronto Blue Jays are scoring runs like never before.
Adding Josh Donaldson and Russell Martin to a lineup already featuring Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Reyes has taken the Blue Jays’ offence to another level. They’re scoring 5.53 runs per game — the most in baseball this year and the most in franchise history.
The problem for opposing pitchers? Even if you make it through the heart of the order, the likes of Chris Colabello, Danny Valencia and Justin Smoak are hitting, too.
“That’s the beauty of this offence,” centre fielder Kevin Pillar says. “There are a lot of professional hitters on this team, and a pitcher might get us once or twice, but guys are constantly making the adjustment … If we can just turn the lineup over and find ways to get on base and at any given time we could go off.”
They’ve done just that with regularity, scoring 10-plus runs on 12 different occasions.
The franchise record for runs scored in a season was set in 2003, when Toronto scored 894 times. Sustaining this level of offence won’t be easy, but if the Blue Jays do it they’ll score 896 times and set a new club record.
It’s worth noting that the Blue Jays are putting up big numbers at a time that offence has dropped off around baseball. The Blue Jays team that set the franchise record in 2003 did so at a time that teams averaged 4.7 runs per game. Now teams score just 4.1 times per game, which makes Toronto’s pace all the more remarkable.
Here’s some context on Toronto’s offensive numbers:
- The Blue Jays have scored 376 runs, while the next-closest team, the Athletics, has scored 305.
- Toronto leads MLB in on-base percentage (.334) and slugging percentage (.446) for a .780 OPS.
- The Blue Jays also lead baseball in advanced metrics such as wRC+ (116) and base runs, an indication that their success is sustainable and not simply based on good luck.
- They’re particularly effective against left-handed pitching, with a .309/.372/.499 batting line good for an .871 OPS. The next-closest team, the Marlins, has an OPS of .780 against southpaws. It doesn’t seem like a coincidence that the Orioles are making sure lefty Wei-Yin Chen doesn’t pitch against Toronto. Other teams should start doing the same.
- Even if the Blue Jays had scored 100 fewer runs they’d still be tied with the Detroit Tigers and leading 16 other teams.
- The Blue Jays have 84 home runs, but they also average more than two doubles per game for an MLB-best total of 139. While four different Blue Jays have at least 10 home runs (Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Russell Martin) eight Jays have 10-plus doubles.
There’s no longer any doubt that Toronto’s lineup is potent. Now it’s a matter of finding solutions up and down the pitching staff, and making sure all that offence gets the chance to hit in October.