The Toronto Blue Jays, awaiting the return of the ‘Korean Monster’ Ryu Hyun-jin, 36, have been a bit out of sorts. They looked good at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second, but then fell apart again in back-to-back losses.
Toronto spent the first half of the season at the bottom of the ‘dreaded’ American League East division. They struggled with offensive imbalances. Sitting in fourth place, there was still hope. Towards the end of the first half, they were swept by the Boston Red Sox in their division, but rebounded with four straight wins.
The momentum was dashed by a no-hitter. On 9 July against the Detroit Tigers, he failed to get a single hit and fell to 0-2. But he quickly turned things around. They finished the first half with a 4-3 sweep of Detroit on 10 July, and then swept the Arizona Diamondbacks to start the second half.
A four-game winning streak raised expectations. They moved up to third place in the division and closed the gap on the leaders. However, they lost back-to-back games to the San Diego Padres, who are at the bottom of the National League West. They went 1-9 on the 18th and 0-2 on the 19th. The bats and mound collapsed.
As Toronto stumbled, there was a change of scenery in the Alley of Horrors. The Baltimore Orioles (58-37) overtook the perennial leaders, the Tampa Bay Rays (60-39). Below them is Toronto (53 wins and 43 losses), with the Boston Red Sox (51 wins and 46 losses) and New York Yankees (50 wins and 47 losses) rounding out the bottom half.
The good news for Toronto is that Tampa Bay and the Yankees have been very poor recently. They are 5.5 games behind first-place Baltimore and 2.5 games ahead of fourth-place Boston. Despite the unfortunate series loss to San Diego, they remain in third place in the division and still have a chance to leapfrog the leaders.바카라사이트
With the imminent return of Ryu Hyun-jin, it is imperative that they reduce the ups and downs in their performance. Firstly, they need to break out of the losing streak and hit the road. San Diego on the 21st will be crucial, followed by a three-game series against the Seattle Mariners and LA Dodgers on the road. They then welcome the Los Angeles Angels home for a three-game series.
The most important seven-game stretch begins in August. A four-game series at home against the division-leading Baltimore Orioles, followed by a three-game series on the road against the fellow division-leading Boston Red Sox. The seven-game series against the “dreaded AL East” in early August is expected to be a watershed moment in the season’s standings battle. It could also coincide with the return of Ryu Hyun-jin.