The Toronto Blue Jays were already assured of their first postseason since 1993, having clinched a wild-card playoff spot on Saturday. But the team won the AL East title on Wednesday with a 15-2 win over the Orioles, ensuring a postseason series and likely home-field advantage throughout the AL playoffs. (The Jays would win a tiebreaker over the Royals for the league’s best record.)
Toronto will face the winner of Tuesday’s AL wild-card playoff in the ALDS if it finishes as the top seed. If Kansas City has the best record in the league, the Blue Jays will play the AL West champion. And by virtue of the AL’s 6-3 victory in the All-Star Game, Toronto will host four games in the World Series if they advance that far.
Jose Bautista hit his 40th home run of the season, while Edwin Encarnacion and Justin Smoak also went deep for Toronto. Ryan Goins went 5-for-5 and Marcus Stroman allowed one run and five hits over eight innings, striking out eight batters.
Relive the final out of the @BlueJays AL East-clinching victory: http://t.co/4hQvWhe13t #ComeTogether pic.twitter.com/4wg3LVbTRN
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) September 30, 2015
The Blue Jays were an absolute freight train in the second half of the season, charging to a 46-19 record that was buoyed by the trade deadline additions of David Price, Troy Tulowitzki, Latroy Hawkins, Mark Lowe and Ben Revere. Price, in particular, made a huge impact in 11 starts, going 9-1 with a 2.30 ERA and 87 strikeouts in 74.1 innings.
But Toronto had an explosive lineup all season. With five games remaining on the schedule, the Jays have scored 872 runs (averaging 5.56 per game), 126 more than the next closest team. Their +236 run differential was easily the best in MLB.
That offense has been led by the likely AL MVP in Josh Donaldson, batting .299 with a .948 OPS, 40 doubles, 41 home runs and 122 RBI. With Bautista reaching 40 home runs, Toronto joins the Rockies as the first teams since 2006 with two 40-homer sluggers in their lineups. And with 37 homers, Encarnacion has an outside shot at giving Toronto three 40-homer men, which has only happened three times in baseball history.
Toronto will see postseason baseball for the first time in 22 years, when the Blue Jays won their second of two consecutive World Series champions. With their overwhelming performance since the trade deadline, it’s easy to forget that the Jays were below .500 in late July and eight games back in the AL East. That’s a distant memory now as Toronto stampedes into the playoffs, playing dominant baseball.
Congratulations to the Blue Jays. It’s always fun to see fresh blood in the MLB postseason.
