a day ago
Home cooking has served Blue Jays well in club's climb atop AL East
As the expression goes, home is where the heart is, but at the heart of the Blue Jays' ascension to the top of the AL East has been their record at home.
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With the visiting Los Angeles Angels in town to complete Toronto's current seven-game homestand, the team won't be back at Rogers Centre until after the all-star break.
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When they do reconvene following baseball's mid-summer classic, the Jays will play host to the San Francisco Giants followed by a return visit from the New York Yankees, who were swept out of town Thursday with all four games played under a playoff backdrop.
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Only the Houston Astros and Detroit Tigers have a better home record than the Blue Jays, who opened their three-game set against the Angels sporting a 29-16 record.
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The Jays are 20-22 away from home, a record that must improve for this team to be considered legitimate.
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Prior to the Angels' visit, the Jays played 14 series at home, which began when Baltimore came to town in the season opener when the atmosphere turned morbid in the aftermath of a 12-2 loss to the Orioles.
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Toronto salvaged a series split before earning a series sweep against the Washington Nationals.
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In total, series sweeps against the San Diego Padres, Athletics and Yankees were recorded.
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Series losses were counted when Seattle came to town, followed by Cleveland, Tampa, Detroit and the Chicago White Sox.
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The Jays then posted series wins against Atlanta, Boston, Philadelphia and Arizona.
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The team's longest homestand was nine games, a stretch that saw Toronto drop back-to-back series against the Rays and Tigers before earning a 5-4 record during its extended stay at home by sweeping the Padres in a three-game set.
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By far the most electric series involved the Yankees, while the most disconcerting came against the lowly ChiSox.
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Still, the way the team has played at home and the way fans have supported the club have evoked memories of 2016, which coincidentally was the last time the Blue Jays won a post-season series.
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Entering this weekend's series against the Angels, the Jays have averaged a home crowd of 30,449, 12th-best in baseball.
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Looking into the future, the Jays will wrap up the season at home with a six-game homestand against Boston and Tampa.
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Plenty of games remain to be played in the interim and plenty of moves are likely to be engineered as baseball's July 31 trade deadline approaches.
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Pitching is one area that could use a jolt.
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With Max Scherzer scheduled to make the start Saturday, it will be his third outing in Toronto and fourth overall with the Blue Jays as the veteran right-hander and certain hall of famer continues to manage a troublesome thumb.
