Spending per win shows the Blue Jays underperformance in 2017. That was an issue last year, and that has been highlighted again this year.
When looking at the Blue Jays in context of the league as a whole, the Blue Jays are doing very well. They’re currently sitting in an enviable spot, which is what makes this year’s underperformance all the more troubling.
In 2017, the Blue Jays were ranked sixth in the AL in wins. The Blue Jays were a top-10 team by wins through June, and their underperformance is even more concerning since July, when the Blue Jays have been one of the league’s worst teams.
The Blue Jays lost 21 games. The other major flaws in 2017 include the fact that they’ve been on the road an excessive amount of the season, which is problematic, and not getting nearly enough innings from their starters, which is an issue. The Blue Jays pitching staff had a 4.16 ERA; the bullpen led the majors with a 5.10 ERA.
If you look at the pitching staff as a whole, that’s unacceptable.
It’s one thing to lose ground to teams with a better pitching staff, but it’s a whole other thing when you’re the team at the bottom of the league. You can’t have a pitching staff that doesn’t perform up to expectations.
If you compare the Blue Jays’ ERA to what other teams have, there’s a real issue. From 2014 though, the Blue Jays have had the eighth-best ERA in the AL (with a 4.29 ERA), and the fourth-best ERA in the majors. No other team with a better than 4.29 ERA has had a worse ERA.
In 2014, there were 29 teams that were above 4.29, and only nine teams had a worse ERA. Since they have a worse ERA, you can consider them the top-10 and bottom-10 teams in the majors, as opposed to the top and bottom.
2017 was a disaster for the Blue Jays in the major leagues, which is why the Blue Jays underperformance is such an issue. It’s only exacerbated by their underperformance in the AL playoffs.
So let’s look at the pitching staff and