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The Toronto Blue Jays‘ offense has carried the team all season long, and is the main reason for club’s current 10-game winning streak that has put them right back in the thick of the AL East race. The team has scored 343 runs in their first 63 games, an average of a whopping 5.4 runs per game, and the Blue Jays are on pace to score 882 runs in 2015, which would be 12 runs shy of the franchise record for runs scored in a season of 894, set by the 2003 version of the Blue Jays.
The Blue Jays have the deepest lineup in MLB, and are led by a potential AL MVP candidate in Josh Donaldson. The team acquired Donaldson in an offseason trade with the Oakland Athletics that sent 2B/3B Brett Lawrie, RHP Kendall Graveman, LHP Sean Nolin, and minor league shortstop Franklin Barreto to the Bay Area. At the time, many baseball experts thought the Blue Jays were overpaying for Donaldson, but based on what he’s done for the team so far in 2015, it looks like the Blue Jays actually won the deal. Donaldson is hitting .316 with a .368 OBP, 17 home runs and 45 RBIs in 2015.
Donaldson isn’t the only one having a tremendous year for the Blue Jays. Catcher Russell Martin has been great in his first season playing in his hometown of Toronto. Martin is hitting .275 with a .359 OBP, 10 home runs and 32 RBIs. He’s also done a great job handling a pitching staff that is not very good.
Offensive stalwarts, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion, are having good power years, although their batting averages have dropped considerably compared to previous years. Bautista is hitting .247 with a .382 OBP, 11 home runs and 38 RBIs, and Encarnacion is batting .232 with .317 OBP, 13 home runs and 36 RBIs. If both guys can start to make consistent contact, the Blue Jays could become nearly impossible to pitch against.
The Blue Jays have also been without one of their most impressive offensive players, second baseman Devon Travis, for 27 games. Travis began the 2015 season on fire even though this is his first MLB season. He was hitting.271 with seven home runs and 26 RBIs when he was placed on the disabled list with a shoulder injury. Reports are saying Travis could begin a rehab assignment sometime this week, if that’s true, the Blue Jays’ offense will become even more explosive.
With the offense performing like it is, it will be general manager Alex Anthopoulos‘ job to improve the pitching staff and bullpen before the 2015 Trade Deadline. If he can accomplish that, the Blue Jays will win the AL East and will be World Series contenders.
Jason Fletcher is a MLB Featured Writer For www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @JasonFletcher25, “Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google+.
