No game report today, but Blue Jay fans are feeling good with their team having won 7 of their last 9 contests, including 2 of 3 in their latest series with the American League West front-running Angels of Anaheim in Los Angeles, South of San Francisco, California, United States of America. The Angels were glad to see the Jays leave town after getting an up-close look at the Fighting Jay spirit, and celebrated by stomping the Boston Red Sox 13 - 4 last night. That left the Jays 6-1/2 back of the first place Sox in the American League East. The New York Yankees occupy second, 2-1/2 games up on the Jays. Toronto is only 4 back of Oakland in the American League Wild Card standings, but have 3 additional teams they must trample in their quest to wrest that Card from the A’s – Minnesota, Cleveland, and those vile Yankees.
Let’s look at all that in the traditional tabular format:
AL East W L PCT GB RS RA Boston 69 50 .580 - 685 606 New York 65 54 .546 4 648 594 Toronto 63 57 .525 6.5 591 505 Baltimore 60 60 .500 9.5 559 582 Tampa Bay 48 73 .397 22 563 712
Wild Card W L Pct GB RS RA Oakland 67 53 .558 - 576 500 New York 65 54 .546 1.5 648 594 Cleveland 65 56 .537 2.5 564 506 Minnesota 64 57 .529 3.5 532 491 Toronto 63 57 .525 4 591 505 Baltimore 60 60 .500 7 559 582And now, let’s take a quick jog down memory lane. We’re looking not for insight into the Blue Jay playoff hopes this year, but rather just to enjoy the nostalgia of years past. As nostalgia is wont to do, this will focus on the good times, but we must begin with the most recent past, and it wasn’t pretty. Here’s how the AL East looked at the end of play on August 18, 2004:
AL East W L PCT GB RS RA New York 75 44 .630 - 654 581 Boston 67 52 .563 8 677 570 Baltimore 57 62 .479 18 614 628 Tampa Bay 55 65 .458 20.5 518 585 Toronto 49 72 .405 27 516 599To finish with 94 loses as that club did, the current Jay squad would have to go 5 – 37 the rest of the way. I’ve calculated the chances of that happening at negative 6 percent, and have concluded I’m very happy that 2005 is not 2004.
AL East W L PCT GB RS RA New York 76 47 .618 - 668 544 Boston 71 53 .573 5.5 736 637 Toronto 61 63 .492 15.5 690 651 Baltimore 57 66 .463 19 610 612 Tampa Bay 50 73 .407 26 547 661Skipping a few years we find ourselves in 2000, one of Gord Ash’s paper tiger teams. They looked pretty good the morning of August 19, bolstered by the trading deadline additions of Steve Trachsel and – many apologies for this – Esteban Loaiza.
AL East W L PCT GB RS RA New York 66 52 .559 - 661 572 Boston 63 55 .534 3 588 535 Toronto 63 60 .512 5.5 686 716 Baltimore 53 68 .438 14.5 621 731 Tampa Bay 52 68 .433 15 581 641Leapfrogging 1999 we arrive in 1998 and the year of Tim Johnson, the first year since the Glory Days that the Toronto nine were a respectable lot. The AL East looked like this through games of August 18:
AL East W L PCT GB RS RA New York 92 30 .754 - 742 464 Boston 73 50 .593 19.5 686 555 Baltimore 67 58 .536 26.5 665 599 Toronto 63 62 .504 30.5 607 628 Tampa Bay 48 75 .390 44.5 453 571This was a team ready to go on a breakneck run. By September 1st they had passed the Orioles and sat 28 games back of New York, 9 back of the Wild Card Red Sox. Two weeks later they were 4 back of Boston. The closest they would get was 3-/12 back, first reached on September 21st, and they eventually finished 4 games out.
AL East W L PCT GB RS RA Toronto 71 51 .582 - 626 569 New York 69 53 .566 2 633 558 Boston 65 54 .546 4.5 502 466 Baltimore 64 57 .529 6.5 576 548 Detroit 63 60 .512 8.5 690 638 Cleveland 55 65 .458 15 572 596 Milwaukee 48 72 .400 22 529 590The WAMCO Jays separated themselves from the pack over the final month, finishing 7 games ahead of the Yankees while the Sox went into a massive tailspin to end up with a losing record.
AL East W L PCT GB RS RA Toronto 70 49 .588 - 572 508 Baltimore 66 53 .555 4 552 486 Milwaukee 63 55 .534 6.5 507 467 Detroit 58 63 .479 13 599 604 Boston 55 64 .462 15 442 464 Cleveland 54 65 .454 16 480 544 New York 54 65 .454 16 513 551The pesky Brewers finished up in 2nd, 4 games back, and according to Mr. Pythagoras should have taken the division by 5 games. Perhaps the crusty old Greek is paying the Jays back this year.
AL East W L PCT GB RS RA Toronto 65 54 .546 - 481 461 Detroit 62 57 .521 3 613 613 Boston 59 59 .500 5.5 515 512 Milwaukee 55 63 .466 9.5 560 592 New York 53 63 .457 10.5 504 561 Baltimore 48 70 .407 16.5 502 595 Cleveland 38 79 .325 26 415 537I've got nothing to say about this one, except that Kevin Morton collected the 3rd win of his career on August 18th, going a strong 7-2/3 as Boston defeated KC. He's the only Morton to play in the bigs in my lifetime, and he played just the one season. Not that I have any recollection of him. He was 22 years old in 1991, pitched not horribly, and was a former first round pick. I wonder what happened to him.
AL East W L PCT GB RS RA Baltimore 63 58 .521 - 546 525 Milwaukee 64 60 .516 0.5 542 520 Toronto 62 60 .508 1.5 553 510 Cleveland 58 64 .475 5.5 467 490 Boston 57 63 .475 5.5 560 568 New York 56 66 .459 7.5 537 604 Detroit 45 77 .369 18.5 459 594This was the first year I remember really being a baseball fan, mood rising and falling with the wins and the losses, the runs scored and the runs allowed. Their eventual 89 wins is one of those random numbers etched in my brain, along with their 12 – 24 record in May when Jimy One-M was canned and replaced interim by Cito Gaston, and Freddy McGriff’s 36 homers to take the AL title after a year-long battle with Cleveland’s Joe Carter.
AL East W L PCT GB RS RA Toronto 73 44 .624 - 564 425 New York 67 48 .583 5 605 467 Detroit 63 53 .543 9.5 511 491 Baltimore 60 54 .526 11.5 591 541 Boston 57 58 .496 15 535 513 Milwaukee 52 62 .456 19.5 496 544 Cleveland 38 78 .328 34.5 463 589Unfortunately, the discussion also wouldn’t be complete without the 1987 club, the team that produced the only Blue Jay MVP to date and the most crushing regular-season defeat in Toronto baseball history. Here’s where they sat at the end of the day, August 18:
AL East W L PCT GB RS RA Toronto 71 48 .597 - 622 492 Detroit 69 47 .595 0.5 663 538 New York 68 51 .571 3 602 552 Milwaukee 62 57 .521 9 630 643 Boston 57 62 .479 14 632 621 Baltimore 54 65 .454 17 568 623 Cleveland 46 73 .387 25 527 698Well, that was mostly fun, and snapping back to the present, that’s fun too. Who’s on the bandwagon? Can this team overcome the logjam of teams ahead of them and secure an improbable playoff berth? If not, can they score the very satisfying victory of passing New York into second place? I know the chances of a Toronto post-season are slim, but I’m on the wagon and plan on enjoying the ride.
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