Toronto Blue Jays: A possible key to the Phillies season

The fate of the Philadelphia Phillies season could come down to how they fare against the Toronto Blue Jays.

In 2019, the Philadelphia Phillies‘ fate in what became a failed run for the playoffs resulted to a great extent from their horrible performance against the last-place team in their own division, the Miami Marlins. The team struggled to a 9-10 record against the 57-win Fish, and single-handedly kept the Marlins from a possible bottom-five MLB season since 1950.

This season the Phillies will have to avoid a similar performance against the Toronto Blue Jays, a 67-win club in 2019. Philadelphia will face the Nasty Bluebirds six times, assuming the season actually gets off the ground.

Ten percent of the short Phillies season will be against Toronto.

This may or may not be a great thing.

While the Fightin’s face each of their own division rivals 10 times and must play well against them, it is widely expected that the difference between first and last place this year in many divisions will be only a handful of wins. Thus, a slightly unbalanced schedule featuring an opponent from the other league could be pivotal in every division.

What will the Phillies run up against in Toronto?

The short version of the story is a veteran rotation, albeit one assembled over the winter, and a trio of talented, very young players.

The exception to the newly acquired starters theme is Matt Shoemaker, who has been with the Jays for a whole year, and possibly, whoever the fifth starter or starters turn out to be. Since last season Toronto has added Hyun-Jin Ryu, Tanner Roark, and Chase Anderson. Shoemaker, Ryu, Roark, and Anderson all have winning MLB records.

The chubby Ryu has the most impressive numbers, including a career ERA below 3.00 (in the NL). He signed for on for four years with the Blue Jays in December for $80 million.

A question mark, but a good one for Toronto, is Nate Pearson. A 100-mph flamethrower, Pearson is expected to make his MLB debut sometime this season. Exactly what he will do is a bit vague, but recent comments by Toronto’s GM suggest the team sees him as a starter in the long run.

The 23-year-old Florida junior college product is currently Baseball America’s number seven prospect, and has compiled a 0.868 WHIP in three minor league seasons.

As for the young position-players on the Jays, they’re probably having “The Next Generation” printed on blue t-shirts – Vlad Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, and Cavan Biggio are all sons of former MLB stars, including two Hall of Famers. All three are entering their second MLB years.

Guerrero, a tremendous natural talent, ended sixth in the AL Rookie of the Year voting, and some consider him to have slowed down some towards the end of the year. He peaked in terms of batting average in August (.282 twice) and finished the season at .272 for 514 plate appearances. He drove in ten runs in September but didn’t homer after August 22nd.

Bichette, an intense player, hit .311 in fewer than half the number of Guerrero’s trips to the plate. He trailed Guerrero in home runs by only four, however, with 11.

Aside from the players noted above, though, there isn’t anyone on Toronto’s roster who should spook the veterans on the Phillies.

So, Philadelphia might well consider itself lucky in their draw from the AL East. They could have gotten the Yankees or Rays for six games.

The Phillies’ task relative to Toronto is making sure to take a minimum of four of the six contests with them. The two three-game series with the “Canadians” could be the difference between making the playoffs or not. The first begins on July 31.

It would be best, however, not to think of the Blue Jays as only a 67-win squad.