3 Up 3 Down: Donaldson, Price and First Place (Again)

When the Toronto Blue Jays entered their series against the Los Angeles Angels, both teams held a Wild Card playoff spot. Three days later, neither of them occupy a Wild Card spot any longer.

After three completely lopsided victories, the Blue Jays bounced the Angels right out of a playoff spot. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays aren’t sitting in a Wild Card spot anymore; that’s because they’re perched atop the American League East once again.

I’m still not sure whether this series was a testament to how good the Blue Jays are right now, or how poorly the Angels have played as of late. This series kind of reflected how the early to mid-season Blue Jays performed, simply by out-slugging the competition.

But the Los Angeles Angels team (who were supposed to be a Wild Card threat) did not resemble those qualities whatsoever this past weekend. The Jays took advantage of the Angels’ situation and the Blue Jays vaulted themselves into first place.

Josh Donaldson – Still Getting It Done

What else can be said about Josh Donaldson? He put on yet another clinic this past weekend against the Angels; and in doing so, he may have changed many people’s minds as to who the AL MVP should be right now.

When many players are suffering from the rigors of a 162 game schedule, Josh Donaldson has taken his game to a whole new level and he’s playing some of his best baseball of the season.

It doesn’t seem to matter who the opponent is, which ballpark he’s playing in, what the score is or no matter the count against him, Josh Donaldson simply finds a way to get it done.

Although the “clutch” characteristic is one of those tricky and somewhat subjective things, Josh Donaldson is very quickly cementing himself as one of the most clutch Blue Jays hitters in recent memory.

Right now, his at bats are appointment viewing; I can’t think of another player on the Blue Jays roster I like to watch more at the plate than Josh Donaldson.

David Price Having a Cy Young-Worthy Season

Many are engrossed in the Josh Donaldson vs. Mike Trout MVP debate, but there’s another member of the Toronto Blue Jays who is very quietly having himself an award-worthy season: David Price.

It tends to get forgotten because he started anew with the Toronto Blue Jays, but David Price is posting Cy Young-calibre numbers this season with the Blue Jays and Tigers.

His 2.40 ERA is good for fourth in the American League, his 171 strikeouts rank fifth and his WHIP of 1.08 is tied for seventh. Statistically speaking, Price is having one of the best seasons of his career, and for the Blue Jay, the timing couldn’t be any better.

The dialogue about Cy Young awards is a little premature, but at the very least, David Price is in discussion as one of the best pitchers in the American League in 2015.

The Blue Jays Are Back on Top

After 10 days of playing second fiddle to the New York Yankees in the division, the Blue Jays are back on top of the American League East and currently have sole possession of first place by half a game.

It’s incredible to think that the Blue Jays are now a full 14 games above .500. A team that was one game under .500 at 50-51 on the day of the Troy Tulowitzki trade (July 28th) is sitting pretty at 69-55. The Jays are also 19-4 since that date.

In recent years, the Blue Jays have really had difficulty getting over that 14 games above .500 hump. They’ve now reached that plateau in consecutive seasons, and they also did it in 1998 and 1999, but they haven’t reached 15 games above .500 since 1993.

I think if one thing’s become evident over these past few weeks, it’s that the quest for the American League East title is going to be a dogfight. It seems like everybody is waiting for the Yankees to fall off a cliff, and they simply haven’t done it yet.

It could very well be a neck-and-neck race down the stretch to see who will take the division crown. I think the Blue Jays would be more than happy with a playoff spot, but they’d much rather grab that AL East title banner.

Images via Getty/Victor Decolongon/Stephen Dunn