Should You Start Placing Your MLB Betting on the Toronto Blue Jays?

Posted by Alex Murphy on Thursday,June 25, 2015 12:05, EDT in

The Toronto Blue Jays have teased their fans before. After all, it was just last year that the team went on a huge MLB betting winning streak in May and June to take the division lead and give their fans visions of a trip to the playoffs for the first time since the glory days of Joe Carter. Of course, then the flaws in the roster began revealing themselves and some big injuries happened. Now that the Blue Jays are once again showing signs of life, are there reasons to think that the Blue Jays – who are once again playing quality baseball – can contend in the American League? Here are some signs that the Blue Jays might actually be for real once again.

Should You Start Placing Your MLB Betting on the Toronto Blue Jays?

 

THEY CAN SCORE MANY DIFFERENT WAYS

The Blue Jays have long relied on the home run to build offense. It is a quick way to put numbers up on the board, but it is not reliable. In 2015, the Blue Jays currently rank #3 in home runs, meaning that their hitters still have a lot of pop. However, the team also leads Major League Baseball in doubles, which is a major factor in the lead that they also have the major league lead in runs scored. They also rank high in the league in total hits, sacrifice bunts, sacrifice flies, walks, stolen bases and stolen base percentage. They do rank high in grounding into double plays, but that is more a factor of having so many men on base. The fact that they rank low in runners left on base is a testament to the efficiency of their offense. They have hit .286 with runners in scoring position, so this is a team that has many different ways to score.

THE STARTING ROTATION IS STRONGER

At the beginning of 2015, the Jays had a mess for their starting rotation. In April, the staff permitted 5.42 innings per start, with an ERA that was also 5.42. In May, things started to get better, with the average innings pitched going up to 6.21 and the ERA sinking to 4.75. June has been even stronger, with the average increasing to almost seven – and the ERA is a stella 2.07. Walks per nine innings have dropped from 3.97 in April to 2.85 in May and 1.47 in June. Hits per nine innings from the starting pitchers have dropped from 9.89 in April to 8.75 in May and 8.41 in June.

The best news about the rotation is that the Blue Jays haven’t had to bring in new pitchers to get these results. These are largely the same pitchers, as young pitchers Drew Hutchison and Aaron Sanchez have made significant improvements. Veterans Mark Buehrle and R.A. Dickey have also improved, although Buehrle has done so more than Dickey. Marco Estrada took the fifth spot from Daniel Norris and has brought improvement as well. Watching Hutchison and Sanchez improve has been exciting for Toronto fans as well as the front office.

RUSSELL MARTIN AND JOSH DONALDSON

When you bring in talent, you have to spend a bit. When the Blue Jays acquired Russell Martin, it cost a lot of money, and when they traded for Josh Donaldson, the A’s wanted a lot of talent in return. The production that both of these players have brought to the team has been significant. Donaldson might be the best position player that Toronto has fielded since Roberto Alomar. Martin has a lot of offensive power for a catcher and has also mentored the young pitchers in ways that aren’t tangible but will pay dividends. Both of these players have also brought significant work ethic to the clubhouse as well.

Sources
ESPN.com (http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/_/id/4454/mark-buehrle)
Yahoo.com (http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/7628/)