The Blue Jays were held to just one run by the New York Yankees on Friday night, something that has become all too familiar.
The Toronto Blue Jays lost to the New York Yankees 3-1 on Friday night at Yankee Stadium, dropping to 63-67 on the season.
The Jays actually out-hit the Yankees 9-4, but couldn't find the big hit they needed to help earn the victory.
As a result, Toronto is back to 1.5 games out of the chase for the third and final wild card spot. Even with the loss, they have still won six of their last 10 games to get back into the race.
Despite the major disappointment of this season, the playoffs are within reach, especially with a favorable schedule looming after this weekend.
While scoring just one run against Cam Schlittler and the Yankees bullpen isn't necessarily surprising, it continued a season-long trend of the Jays being unable to do real damage offensively.
As noted by StatsCentre, the Blue Jays have a team slugging percentage of .379 right now. That is currently the fifth-lowest single-season slugging percentage in team history, better than only the 1981, 1978, 1979 and 1977 teams, all of which were within the first five years of the franchise's existence.
Toronto Blue Jays second baseman Ernie Clement (22) hits a sacrifice fly ball scoring a run against the New York Yankees during the ninth inning at Rogers Centre. Nick Turchiaro-Imagn ImagesWhat's the reason for the drop off in slugging? Well, the biggest reason is the drop off of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who is hitting just .263 with seven home runs this season. His OPS+ of 92 suggests he's been a below-average hitter.
He's been out of the lineup for a week because of a concussion, but is slated to return on Saturday. Perhaps that week off will help reset his season and allow the Jays to make a strong push over the final six weeks of the campaign.
Also responsible for the lack of slug? Well, letting Bo Bichette go in free agency over the winter didn't help, and a season-long injury to Anthony Santander has also been a major problem. Signed to a five-year deal before the 2025 campaign, Santander has played just 54 games in a Blue Jays uniform.
The team was counting on him to have a bounce back year, but it's increasingly likely that he won't play a single game this season.
The Blue Jays and Yankees are back at it again on Saturday afternoon with first pitch coming at 1:35 p.m. ET.
After Schlittler pitched for New York on Friday, the Jays will send their own Cy Young candidate to the mound. Dylan Cease is 7-5 with a 2.42 ERA. He's already got 201 strikeouts this season, marking the sixth straight season in which he hit the number.
He'll be opposed by hard-throwing lefty Ryan Weathers. Weathers is 5-7 with a 3.56 ERA.
