The goal for every major-league team is to make their home ballpark a place that visiting clubs would prefer to avoid at all costs. This season, the Blue Jays have taken that to the extreme.
On the road, the 23-25 Jays aren’t anything special. At the Rogers Centre, they become dominant with a 36-16 record that has resulted in a .692 winning percentage, the best in the big leagues.
That trend continued on Monday night as the Jays opened a crucial three-game series against the New York Yankees with a 4-1 victory. That extended their home win streak to 11, which surpassed the 1985 team for the longest in franchise history.
“To do that, 11 straight, that’s a cool accomplishment,” said Jays manager John Schneider, whose team has also won all but four of the last 27 home games.
“The city and the fans deserve that. We love the support. You look up at 6:45 (p.m.) and the place is full. It’s a really cool feeling, and the guys, they feel that, everyone feels that. We’re comfortable here, and when you get the support behind you it makes it easy to just go play.”
The Jays entered Monday with a .275 home batting average, the highest in the American League. Ditto for an on-base plus slugging percentage of .805. Only the Boston Red Sox were averaging more runs than their 5.35 per game. Compare that to the road, where the Jays offence ranked 26th at 3.85.
The pitching stats have been noticeably better, too, even if the discrepancy isn’t as large. At the Rogers Centre, the Jays staff has an ERA of 4.06 vs. 4.20 away. Their 25.2 per cent strikeout rate was second-highest in the AL, while opponents were hitting .236 vs. .245 on the road.
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The large gap between home and road splits is a relatively new phenomena. In 2022, the wild-card-winning Jays finished 13 games above .500 at home, but were nearly as good on the road at nine games above. In 2023, the last time this club made the playoffs, they were better on the road (46-35) than at home (43-38). Last year, they performed poorly no matter the location.
“This is the best this fan base has been for us since I’ve been in the big leagues, at least in regular-season games,” Jays shortstop Bo Bichette said. “It’s been amazing. This is what I remember watching on TV when I was 17 years old at home, watching (José) Bautista, (Josh) Donaldson and all of them. They’ve made it really fun to play.”
That success continued on Monday. The Jays fell behind in the fourth inning on a solo homer by Giancarlo Stanton, but reclaimed the lead with four runs in the fifth. Bichette got things started with a two-run double to left before the Yankees made a pair of errors that allowed two more to score.
Right-hander Kevin Gausman helped make sure the score stayed that way. He continued on through the seventh, allowing just the one run on four hits and two walks while striking out eight. Brendon Little, Yariel RodrÃguez and Jeff Hoffman then combined to keep the Yankees off the scoreboard and close out the game.
The win increased the Jays’ lead over the second-place Yankees to four games. They also closed to within a half-game of the Detroit Tigers for the best record in the AL, with those teams set to meet later this week at Comerica Park. The Jays haven’t finished with the best record in the AL since 1993, when they won the second of back-to-back World Series titles.
The goal shouldn’t be just to get into the playoffs. It should be to secure home-field advantage throughout the post-season. The Jays have that within their sights, too. They finished Monday’s game trailing the Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers and Tigers by a half-game. Notably, they were ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers and their $340-million (U.S.) payroll by a full game.
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“Any time you’re facing the team that’s right on your heels, it’s going to be fun,” Gausman said after the Jays beat the Yankees for a fifth consecutive time. “I honestly didn’t know what to expect with the Monday night, but this place was rocking it. It was pretty cool and a lively atmosphere.
“Blue Jays fans have been showing up and for good reason. We’ve been really good, especially at home.”
The stakes on Monday weren’t nearly as high as they will be later in the season, but don’t tell that to a hometown crowd that clearly caught Jays fever. Monday marked the fifth consecutive sellout and as Hoffman was getting set to face the final batter of the night, chants of “Let’s go Blue Jays” rained down from all parts of the stadium.
Even though the Jays made the playoffs in two of the last three years, there hasn’t been this level of interest for almost a decade. If they keep playing this well at home, those seats should keep getting sold well into October.
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