Toronto Blue Jays: Worst performance and game of the year

It’s safe to say the Toronto Blue Jays’ 2017 season continues to be hard to watch. As they continue to struggle to reach a .500 record, it has come to a point of frustration.

The Toronto Blue Jays, hands down, have a great fan base. Toronto fans are the best. But it becomes frustrating when there is not a whole lot to cheer for. The Toronto Blue Jays took a complete beatdown by the Houston Astros. The Jays lost 19-1 on Sunday afternoon at the Rogers Centre. It was a sad game to watch as the Jays surprisingly could have made the game close and maybe even won.

Blowing Scoring Chances

When it was 6-0 and the Jays were actually starting to get on base, the game became interesting. Astros pitcher Brad Peacock looked like he was getting tired and losing the strike zone. The bases were loaded with one out in the bottom of the fourth. If the Jays could at least get a base hit, the game would have been compelling. In the best-case scenario, the Jays could have even hit a grand slam and closed to within 6-4. But sadly, the Jays had no such luck, scoring no runs in that inning.

Pitching

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Pitching has inevitably been a concern for the Blue Jays. If we’re going to take anything positive from the Jays pitching, it has to be closer Roberto Osuna. He has been amazing this year, and being so young he has much more potential. But focusing on the Jays’ issues with pitching, it has been hard to watch. Aaron Sanchez’s struggles continue, as this year has been disappointing. Sanchez hasn’t shown his best stuff due to injuries, and seeing his performance last Friday showed there are still problems.

After the bullpen came in to relieve J.A. Happ, it honestly didn’t make things any better. The bullpen has also been a concern for the Jays, as there have been many injuries to pitchers such as Leonel Campos, J.P. Howell, Bo Schultz and Joe Smith. In addition, Howell, Joe Biagini and Mike Bolsinger have struggled. But there have been some pleasant surprises such as Danny Barnes, Aaron Loup and Ryan Tepera who have performed well for the most part.

Facing Defeat and Struggles

This is what the Toronto Star had to say about the Jays:

“It’s hard to imagine this Toronto team, with its back-to-back American League Championship Series pedigree, not fulfilling Gibbons’ seemingly simple goal after a disappointing first half of the season. But it will be a tall order for a team plagued by inconsistency so far this year, struggling to marry good health, strong pitching, hot bats and solid defence on any sort of regular basis.”

Next: MLB power rankings at the All-Star break

Justin Smoak, Roberto Osuna, Steve Pearce, Troy Tulowitzki, Kendrys Morales and Kevin Pillar are players that have stood out this year and should continue to play key roles.