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I wonder if a team has ever scored 22 runs on both days of a weekend before.
What a difference a month makes. The Jays were 16-14 in August. So far in September, they are 11-1.
The difference hasn’t been pitching. Our pitchers had a 3.49 ERA in August, 4.37 ERA in September. The batters have been hitting like Babe Ruth this month. August they hit .251/.320/.420. September .322/.407/.637 (well, Ruth was a little better, career .342/.474/.690. Maybe the Jays hit more like Joe DiMaggio, .325/.398/.579 career).
That 1.044 OPS likely isn’t sustainable, but maybe for a month, they can keep somewhere close to that. Going into the playoffs like that would scare a lot of teams. On the pitching side, I’d expect improvement over the second half of the moment.
This is a nice way to go into a series with the Rays.
Some other insanity from September so far.
— Josh Goldberg (@JGoldberg12) September 13, 2021
The Blue Jays have 34 HR, the next best team is Atlanta with 23.
They have scored 106 runs, the next best team is the Mets with 76.
They're hitting 322, the next best is the Giants at 290.
This morning’s Wild Card race:
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The Jays' playoff odds are at 75.4%. In the last 7 days, they have jumped by 49.5%. Last 30 days 28.7%.
The Yankees' odds are 37.4%, dropping 36.9% in the last 7 days. Red Sox 71.4% dropping 7.5% in the past week.
I’m not a big fan of playoff odds, mostly because they can change so much in a week. But it is a sign of how well the Jays have done lately and how poor the Yankees have been. At 12:30 I can cheer for the Twins to knock the Yankees’ odds even more.
Baseball Prospectus has a post ‘The Remaking of Robbie Ray’. Subscription required.
Basically, they talk about three points:
- Reworked Mechanics, that added a bit over 2 MPH to his four-seam fastball.
- Simplified approach. He’s pretty much become a 2-pitch pitcher.
- Better command. He’s throwing strikes. 61.9 of his first pitches are strikes, last year it was 46.1%.
It is a good read.
30 teams played on NFL Sunday, the Blue Jays outscored 14 of them.
If the @BlueJays weekend wasn't already impressive enough... They outscored 14 @NFL teams Sunday! #BlueJaysOnSN pic.twitter.com/mWd5dl3tZ1
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) September 13, 2021