Jon Paul Morosi previews the 2013 Toronto Blue Jays.
Toronto Blue Jays News
News, opinion and commentary on the Toronto Blue Jays. If you are interested in seeing the Blue Jay play, check out our Toronto Blue Jays Ticket Page .
Major League Titles
World Series Titles: 1992 • 1993
AL Pennants: 1992 • 1993
East Division Titles: 1985 • 1989 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993
Toronto Blue Jays 2013 Schedule
April
Apr. 2: vs Cleveland – Buy Toronto Blue Jays Tickets
Apr. 3: vs Cleveland - Buy Toronto Blue Jays Tickets
Apr. 4: vs Cleveland - Buy Toronto Blue Jays Tickets
Apr. 5: vs Boston - Buy Toronto Blue Jays Tickets
Apr. 6: vs Boston - Buy Toronto Blue Jays Tickets
Apr. 7: vs Boston - Buy Toronto Blue Jays Tickets
Apr. 9: @ Detroit - Buy Toronto Blue Jays Tickets
Apr. 10: @ Detroit - Buy Toronto Blue Jays Tickets
Apr. 11: @ Detroit - Buy Toronto Blue Jays Tickets
Apr. 12: @ Kansas City - Buy Toronto Blue Jays Tickets
Apr. 13: @ Kansas City - Buy Toronto Blue Jays Tickets
Apr. 14: @ Kansas City - Buy Toronto Blue Jays Tickets
Apr. 15: vs Chicago Sox - Buy Toronto Blue Jays Tickets
Apr. 16: vs Chicago Sox - Buy Toronto Blue Jays Tickets
Apr. 17: vs Chicago Sox - Buy Toronto Blue Jays Tickets
Apr. 18: vs Chicago Sox - Buy Toronto Blue Jays Tickets
Apr. 19: vs NY Yankees - Buy Toronto Blue Jays Tickets
Apr. 20: vs NY Yankees - Buy Toronto Blue Jays Tickets
Apr. 21: vs NY Yankees - Buy Toronto Blue Jays Tickets
Apr. 22: @ Baltimore - Buy Toronto Blue Jays Tickets
Apr. 23: @ Baltimore - Buy Toronto Blue Jays Tickets
Apr. 24: @ Baltimore - Buy Toronto Blue Jays Tickets
Apr. 25: @ NY Yankees - Buy Toronto Blue Jays Tickets
Apr. 26: @ NY Yankees - Buy Toronto Blue Jays Tickets
Apr. 27: @ NY Yankees - Buy Toronto Blue Jays Tickets
Apr. 28: @ NY Yankees - Buy Toronto Blue Jays Tickets
Apr. 30: vs Boston - Buy Toronto Blue Jays Tickets
Everybody loves a home run. The Home Run Derby has provided some fantastic ones over the years. The 2012 teams have been announced and will face off on July 9.
The NL Home Run Derby team is captained by the Dodgers Matt Kemp. He announced his team on Sunday night, which includes first time participant Giancarlo Stanton, Carlos Beltran and Carlos Gonzalez. Kemp has been out of the game since May 30 with a strained left hamstring but he intends to participate in the Derby. He has 12 homers on the year. Beltran is in second place in the NL with 20 homers on the year. Stanton has 19 and Gonzalez has 17. Kemp had wanted to have teammate Andre Ethier on the Derby team but a strain of his left oblique prevented that selection.
The Braves have been in a free fall of badness over the last couple of weeks with only a couple of bright spots thrown in. Once, and only briefly, atop the NL East standings, the Braves now sit in 3rd place a full 2 games out.
The team has struggled on almost every level. Most notably the pitching but it has been an across the board meltdown in the last couple of weeks. The team is 3-7 over their last 10 games. Those are not exactly stellar numbers to be sure. One of the lone bright spots was Sunday’s win over the division leading Nationals.
In the American League, the early start to the season has become a tale of one team and the rest of them. The Rangers are far and away leading the AL and everyone else is just tagging along for the ride at this point.
The Rangers in 13 games to start the season are 11-2. They are 9-1 for their last 10. They have won 7 games in a row. They are a perfect 6-0 on the road. They have an .846 winning percentage that is far and away better than the rest of the American League. The Rangers started the season looking to be the team to beat and they have shown that prediction to be true so far.
Opening Day is filled with a lot of excitement, some nerves, a lot of unanswered questions and sometimes teams that should win don’t and teams that shouldn’t get lucky. Today will likely not be any different. Here are my predictions for today’s schedule of games.
Red Sox vs Tigers – Lester vs Verlander – The Red Sox have much to prove after their debacle at the end of last season and their subsequent house cleaning. Many unanswered questions for the Red Sox to start the season and they will be concentrated on proving that they belong in the elite baseball ranks. The Tigers will continue their push to become one of the elite and Verlander is just the guy to lead them off this year. The game gets national TV coverage today on ESPN2 and there will be a lot of eyes watching, and not just fans of these teams. I think the Tigers behind Verlander come out on top in the end.
I decided to jump around a bit and go with my picks in the AL East. This is still the division with the most fire-power in baseball. The sexiest division. (Okay, I just threw in the sexy part to draw in some views, but it is still is a packed division.)
Yes, the AL West has its own super powers in the Rangers and Angels, but the AL East has three teams the: Yankees, Rays and Red Sox that could all win the World Series. To further pump up their star power it could be argued the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles could win or at least contend in the NL central.
Third-place finishes and 80-win seasons in the AL East have become a bit of a holding pattern for the Toronto Blue Jays. In most other divisions, that type of consistency would eventually earn them a spot in the postseason. But alas, they play in argualby the toughest division in baseball and haven’t been back to the postseason since—wait for it…1993, when they won their second straight World Series.
From a pitching standpoint, we can expect that Ricky Romero will hold down the rotation once again. Though it went largely unnoticed last season, Romero won 15 games with an ERA under 3.00 and a very respectable 1.14 WHIP. The big question will be if Brandon Morrow can step up and be a solid No. 2 guy. He very much had a one-step-forward, two-steps-back type of season last year, thus leading to an 11-11 record and 4.72 ERA. He has ace potential if he can keep the ball down (his line-drive rate increased to 22.4 percent last season) and find some form of consistency.
Joe Blanton, a guy Phillies fans didn’t see much of last year, do to an elbow injury. He only pitched 40 innings all together. Well, that most likely will not be the case this year, as Blanton claims to feel really well and healthy. His outings in Spring Training are agreeing thus far.
Blanton had not allowed a run until his third outing in Clearwater, and that’s enough to get scouts buzzing, especially the those of the Blue Jays who are looking for a 3 run, alright pitcher, one who they can afford. A pitcher like Blanton would go for about a $5-7million salary with a prospect in the trade.
No one division has had a run of such dominance over their sport in the past decade than Major League Baseball’s American League East. Since the wild card spot was added to the playoff structure, the East has been represented by four of its five teams and in 13 of the last 17 years. It is no surprise that some people refer to the wild card as “the AL East Rule” and this trend should continue now that the league has added a second wild card team to the format. The East is always the highest caliber, most competitive, and most interesting division in the American League, and 2012 will not be any different.
