MLB Betting Online: Hope springs eternal in Major League Baseball. Your favorite team made a key offseason move, the prized prospect is ready for his breakout season or the injuries from last year have all healed. Whatever the circumstance, everyone is tied for first at this point.
Last year’s Blue Jays zoomed back to relevance for the first time since the Clinton Administration. They had been the only major league team to not qualify for the playoffs since the advent of the first wild card playoff slot. They fortified a strong lineup by adding one of the game’s best bats in Troy Tulowitzki and should be a deadly offensive club again in 2016. They lost ace David Price in the offseason but added a few other key pieces as they look to return to and go deeper into the playoffs.
TORONTO BLUE JAYS ( +1200 to win 2016 World Series )
Any discussion of this team begins with the offense. Last year the Blue Jays scored 127 more times than any other team. And this year Tulowitzki will be with them from Opening Day. AL MVP Josh Donaldson led the league in both runs scored and runs batted in while mashing 41 homers and batting just under .300.
He wasn’t exactly the only offensive threat on a team with Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista. Bautista is 35 and Encarnacion is 33 and at some point they will start to decline. However, both are entering free-agent walk years, so regression might not come quite yet.
Tulowitzki didn’t play all that well with the Blue Jays in his short time there last year, but it’s hard to believe he won’t pick up his game over a full season, since he’s normally good for a .300 average and 30 home runs when healthy.
The Jays also have Russell Martin at catcher and he hit 23 homers last season – and provided strong defense behind the plate. He provides some pop out of a traditionally light-hitting position. When a team’s shortstop and catcher are hitting well, your lineup is going to scare a lot of opposing pitchers.
The Jays have some decent depth, too. Outfielder Kevin Pillar plays an outstanding center field and has a pretty good bat to go with it. Michael Saunders would have gotten a good look in left field last season were it not for a horrific knee injury. It remains to be seen if he’s made a full recovery from that, but they Jays will surely give him the chance. It seems that anyone wearing a Jays uniform, right down to the batboy, can hit at least 15 homers.
So they have the offense and some decent depth. The pitching is what stalled a bit for them last season and could well do so again. Price was outstanding down the stretch. Unfortunately for them, he not only left but went to the rival Boston Red Sox this offseason.
The Jays also bring back R.A. Dickey, who, at 41 years old, is on the young side for a veteran knuckleballer. He can probably go 11-13 for the Jays while eating up another 200 innings. Marco Estrada pitched above his career norms last season, the first in which he established himself as a fairly dominant pitcher.
Late last season, promising young pitcher Marcus Stroman returned from a knee injury and pitched well down the stretch. He looked like the ace he was projected to be, and there’s no reason to expect anything but a great season from him.
The Blue Jays had Roberto Osuna closing for much of last season and added former Nationals closer Drew Storen as well. Storen was doing just fine closing for the Nats until they inexplicably added Jonathan Papelbon to the bullpen and demoted Storen. He’s likely to close this year with Osuna helping out, and that’s a fine tandem for any team. Storen is also likely relieved to be with a team that clearly wants him.
This team’s offense looks to be a powerhouse and their bullpen and depth are above average. It will come down to starting pitching for them, with one ace and four guys who could each win either five games or 15 and either outcome wouldn’t be a total surprise. If this team is in it come July, we might see another big trade deadline deal for a starting pitcher to take them down the stretch and into the playoffs.
Prediction: 93-69
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