{"id":167066,"date":"2025-07-11T01:19:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T01:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/167066\/"},"modified":"2025-07-11T01:19:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T01:19:10","slug":"how-have-the-blue-jays-taken-over-the-al-east-and-can-they-hold-off-the-yankees-in-the-second-half","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/167066\/","title":{"rendered":"How have the Blue Jays taken over the AL East? And can they hold off the Yankees in the second half?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not too long ago, it was supposed to be the Toronto Blue Jays<\/a>\u2019 time. Their core was young, the energy was electric, and it appeared that the Jays were ready to take over the AL East. But it didn\u2019t happen that way. Toronto\u2019s young players plateaued, the rest of the division got better, and what appeared to be a team on the rise quickly became one on the verge of being broken up.<\/p>\n

But following Vlad Guerrero Jr.’s landmark extension in April<\/a>, there has been a resurgence in Toronto this season. And as we begin the second half, for the first time in a long time, the Blue Jays look like the real deal. With their recent 10-game winning streak, the Blue Jays surged to the top of the AL East, and they\u2019ve put themselves among the elite teams in baseball as we begin to look ahead to the 2025 postseason.<\/p>\n

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No longer a surprise, Toronto has played at a .634 clip since May 1, going 40-23 in that span. The Blue Jays, who have won 12 of their past 15 games, trail only the Detroit Tigers<\/a> and Houston Astros<\/a> for the top spot in the American League<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So how have the Blue Jays made this leap in ’25 after what appeared to be a closing window? And can they keep it going in the season’s second half?<\/p>\n

One of the biggest contributing factors to Toronto\u2019s success this season has been taking advantage of a division that has fallen back to Earth. Coming into the season, the New York Yankees<\/a>, Boston Red Sox<\/a> and Baltimore Orioles<\/a> were supposed to be the squads leading the division. But it hasn\u2019t worked out that way.<\/p>\n

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The Red Sox haven\u2019t performed up to expectations after a big offseason and have instead had a season of turmoil, culminating in the trade of superstar Rafael Devers<\/a>. The Orioles have been baseball\u2019s biggest disappointment, leading to the firing of manager Brandon Hyde<\/a> and a looming selloff at the trade deadline. And while the Yankees have been about what we expected them to be, it hasn\u2019t been smooth sailing recently, as they\u2019ve gone 16-19 since June 1, including a four-game sweep by Toronto that gave the Blue Jays sole possession of first place<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now the Jays can look forward to the All-Star break with the rest of the division chasing them. Entering play Thursday, the Yankees and Rays<\/a> sit 2.5 and 4 games back of the Blue Jays, respectively.<\/p>\n

Another major catalyst for Toronto\u2019s success has been the resurgence of George Springer<\/a> as an offensive force. The Blue Jays\u2019 star is having his best year since he signed with Toronto before the 2021 season and is one of this year\u2019s more egregious All-Star snubs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Springer, 35, is slashing .280\/.375\/.509 with 16 homers, which puts him on pace for his best season since 2019, his final season with the Astros. And the former World Series champion has taken things to another level in July, hitting .412 with five home runs and a 1.369 OPS.<\/p>\n

Springer\u2019s impressive first half has taken some of the pressure off Guerrero and Bo Bichette<\/a>, and just as importantly, he has added length to a lineup that has had a few young hitters emerge, including outfielder Nathan Lukes<\/a> and third baseman Addison Barger<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now that Toronto has gotten itself to the top of the division, the question is whether it can hold on to its lead down the stretch. Offensively, there\u2019s reason to think the Blue Jays could get even better in the second half, as Guerrero hasn\u2019t yet had a signature hot stretch in which he carries the team for a few weeks all by himself.<\/p>\n

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Toronto should also hope for a better second half from free-agent acquisition Anthony Santander<\/a>, who was having an abysmal first half to 2025 prior to going down with a shoulder injury. He\u2019s expected back around the trade deadline at the end of July.<\/p>\n

What will ultimately determine the Blue Jays\u2019 fate this season is their starting pitching. Toronto will need more from future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer<\/a> after he missed most of the first half. And with the combination of established veterans including Kevin Gausman<\/a>, Jos\u00e9 Berr\u00edos<\/a> and Chris Bassitt<\/a>, they have starters capable of forming a solid postseason rotation. But they\u2019ll need injury luck and consistent production to make that happen.<\/p>\n

Reinforcements for the stretch run also shouldn\u2019t be ruled out. Because the Blue Jays have played their way into being legitimate contenders and AL East division leaders, they should be aggressive in what is a weaker American League this season. Look for Toronto to throw its hat into the ring, along with many other postseason contenders<\/a>, to acquire starting pitching at the trade deadline, even given the arms the Jays already have.<\/p>\n

At the midpoint of the MLB season, the Blue Jays are red-hot, and they\u2019ve put the AL East and the rest of the American League on notice that they\u2019re here to stay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Not too long ago, it was supposed to be the Toronto Blue Jays\u2019 time. Their core was young,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[6081,8125,152,383,47,5,88,48,82,53,311,54,387,389,381,4,8678,62,863,297,1414,7000,70],"class_list":{"0":"post-167066","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-addison-barger","9":"tag-al-east","10":"tag-american-league","11":"tag-anthony-santander","12":"tag-baltimore-orioles","13":"tag-baseball","14":"tag-bo-bichette","15":"tag-boston-red-sox","16":"tag-chris-bassitt","17":"tag-detroit-tigers","18":"tag-george-springer","19":"tag-houston-astros","20":"tag-jose-berrios","21":"tag-kevin-gausman","22":"tag-max-scherzer","23":"tag-mlb","24":"tag-nathan-lukes","25":"tag-new-york-yankees","26":"tag-rafael-devers","27":"tag-rays","28":"tag-the-blue-jays","29":"tag-the-jays","30":"tag-toronto-blue-jays"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114831973776527129","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}