The Blue Jays lost to the Texas Rangers on Friday night in a critical show down with playoff implications.
The Toronto Blue Jays lost 7-1 in the opener of a crucial three-game set on Friday night against the Texas Rangers.
Dylan Cease, who will likely finish second in the battle for the American League Cy Young Award, walked six batters over 2.2 innings, throwing 74 pitches in his least effective start of the year.
As a result of the loss, the Blue Jays remain 2.0 games back of the Chicago White Sox for the third and final wild card spot in the American League. They also don't have the tiebreaker on Chicago, effectively making them 3.0 games back.
Furthermore, they are 1.0 games behind Texas for the "first team out" spot. There are only eight games to play in the season and the Jays' playoff odds are down to 15 percent, per Fangraphs.
Cease's outing will certainly get the most attention from Friday, as he was unable to play the stopper role for this team. But once again, the offense was a major part of the Blue Jays woes.
Last season, as they made a run to the World Series, the Blue Jays were a dynamic offense, capable of hitting home runs, spoiling pitches, working walks and driving up pitch counts.
This year? It's been the opposite. The Blue Jays enter play on Saturday with 620 runs scored, which is 29th in baseball. Interestingly enough, Toronto actually has the seventh-highest team batting average (.248), but it hasn't correlated to runs because they haven't been able to drive the ball. They are 26th in slugging percentage and tied for 27th in OPS.
As noted by StatsCentre, the team's .383 slugging percentage is the fifth-worst in franchise history. The other four all came within the first five season's of the franchise's existence.
Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (27) tosses off his arm guard after striking out against the Texas Rangers during the first inning at Globe Life Field. Raymond Carlin III-Imagn ImagesSo what's happened?
While no one likes to use it as an excuse, it's absolutely true that injuries have played a role for this group. Addison Barger, who we thought would be a true breakout star for this team, played just nine games this season. Anthony Santander, signed to provide some thump before the 2025 season, hasn't played at all.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Alejandro Kirk, George Springer, and Daulton Varsho (pre-trade) all spent time on the injured list.
But Guerrero's fall off has been the biggest storyline of this entire season. He has a .359 slugging percentage, which is eighth-worst in franchise history among players with at least 520 at-bats. His 33 extra-base hits are the fewest ever by a Jays' first baseman with at least 127 games played. Guerrero has played 139.
The two teams will play again on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. ET.
