TORONTO — There are many ways to describe what has led the Toronto Blue Jays to their current position as the best team in the American League. Mark Shapiro has a simple way of summarizing it.
“I think we’ve just established our brand of baseball,” said the Blue Jays’ president on Tuesday afternoon during his mid-season media availability in front of the team’s dugout at Rogers Centre.
That identity involves a few components, according to Shapiro. He used descriptors such as “toughness” and “cohesiveness” and that’s translated into how the lineup is able to consistently solve touch pitchers, he noted. They’re tough to strike out and also play sound defence, both elements working to apply pressure on the opposition.
“That identity is married to the culture and the values that our players bring to the field every day,” said Shapiro. “We’ve got great players but our results have not been driven by individual players. It’s really been driven by collective efforts and it’s taken a while to kind of form that as a team identity, but we’ve seen it through the toughest times this year when we bounce back like Sunday [versus the Los Angeles Dodgers]and throughout the year when we’ve hit rough patches or lost players that were important and key for periods of time.”
Hours later, as if on cue, the Blue Jays’ identity was on full display during a 5-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs in the first of a three-game set in Toronto. There was contact hitting, highlight-reel defence and a strong outing from starter Jose Berrios to go along with the cherry on top, a pivotal three-run home run from Ernie Clement.
The Blue Jays opened the scoring in the first when Bo Bichette singled off Cubs starter Javier Assad, advanced to second on Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s single, and scored on Alejandro Kirk’s base hit up the middle.
Ty France doubled to open the second frame and forced the Cubs to execute on Andres Gimenez’s bloop single to left. Blue Jays third base coach Carlos Febles sent France home on the play and the designated hitter — who owns a sprint speed in the bottom five percentile of MLB — was tagged on his slide to the plate. It was a close play and required Cubs left fielder Ian Happ to field the ball cleanly and deliver an accurate throw home, which he did.
Pressure on the opposition? Checkmark.
Then came the defence. Nathan Lukes made a nice diving catch on a sinking liner to rob Nico Hoerner of a hit in the second inning, however that was just the appetizer. In the fourth, Gimenez — activated from the injured list ahead of Tuesday’s game — completed a slick sliding play at second base with the best play of all coming two batters later.
Hoerner shot a sharp ground ball to the 5-6 hole, where Bichette lunged to his right to snare it before turning and throwing to first on the run. The ball sailed into the glove of first baseman Guerrero Jr., who hit the splits while outstretching his glove just enough to help beat the runner.
It was a pretty play that brought the crowd of 43,003 to its feet and earned kudos from Berrios.
The right-hander battled command issues early in the game and loaded the bases in the third inning with two walks that followed a groundball that Bichette bobbled, allowing Dansby Swanson to reach base safely. Berrios bore down on Cubs cleanup hitter Carson Kelly, though, retiring him with a nicely placed inside sinker for a called third strike that ended the bend-but-don’t-break, 39-pitch inning from Berrios.
The right-hander mowed down seven of the next nine hitters before he was removed in the sixth inning for left-hander Mason Fluharty. In total, Berrios allowed two hits over 5.1 scoreless innings, striking out three while walking four batters.
In all, it was an exciting win for the Blue Jays (70-50) over a Cubs team that owns a 67-51 record that’s tied with the Dodgers for third-best in the National League.
“I find a lot of joy in watching this team play because of the way they play,” said Shapiro of the Blue Jays. “And I appreciate tough at-bats, love that style of baseball. I think that translates well. We need to certainly play our best to beat the best, and we haven’t always done that. But playing our best at the right time is what’s going to be most important. I think the toughness this team represents has been characteristic of the outcome and results. And that’s what I’ve taken the most pride and joy in watching.”
