2010 Toronto Blue Jays season in review
With an 85-77 record the Toronto Blue Jays finished 4th in the American League East. Think about that that is almost a good enough record to win a division in today’s MLB, and the Blue Jays come home 4th. For a team that is rebuilding a winning record was the ultimate goal. Now they can get better and start to really compete in this division. This team took care of business against the Orioles going 15-3 against them, but went just 24-30 against the other divisional rivals. They did spend 8 days in first place, but this is a team headed in a new direction so the 85 wins were good enough for 2010.
The Blue Jays did rack up 755 runs, on 1,364 hits. Their team batting average was just .248 and that was tied for 12th amongst the 14 American League clubs. The real knock here is they hit the most home runs, 257, of any team in their league. Had they been able to have more men on base for those home runs they might have had an even better record. Not one of the regular nine starters finished with a BA over .300 and that is certainly a concern.
The Blue Jays pitching staff gave up 728 runs and the staff ERA was 4.23 the 10th highest ERA in the AL. Four of the regular five starting pitchers had double digit victories and none of them finished with a losing record. Those are all good indicators that this team is actually pretty good. They struck out 1,184 hitters; the third most of AL clubs, and issued 539 walks. Their closer Kevin Gregg converted 37 saves.
All in all the numbers look very encouraging for this team. They are a team looking to make a mark in the toughest division in baseball, but finishing with a winning record in said division is a big accomplishment. We shall see how this team adds to their core to continue making big strides.
Related Links:
- Toronto Blue Jays news and notes
- The Business of Major League Baseball
- Joshua Lobdell.com
