O's game blog: The Orioles host the first-place Toronto Blue Jays

Jays have the best record in MLB

The Toronto Blue Jays, a team that finished in last place last year with 74 wins, and a team that was 25-27 in late May of this year, now sports the best record in the AL East and also the best record in all of MLB.

The Blue Jays (63-43) are in Baltimore tonight to start a four-game series that includes a day-night doubleheader on Tuesday. The Blue Jays lead the division by 5.5 games over the Yankees and 6.5 over Boston.

Detroit beat Toronto yesterday to snap the Blue Jays’ four-game win streak. But going further back, Toronto has won eight of 10 and 19 of its last 24 games.

In going 19-5 since June 29, Toronto has had win streaks of 10, four and four games. They show a plus-48 run differential in this span while scoring 5.9 runs per game with a team OPS of .826 in those games. Their team ERA is 3.65 the past 24 games.

Toronto is 38-16 (.704) since they were 25-27 on May 25.

The Blue Jays have not had former Oriole Antony Santander since late May. On the year, over 50 games, he has hit .179 with an OPS of .577 with six homers and 18 RBIs.

The O’s and Toronto have not played since mid April. They went 3-3 against each other in a couple of early-season series.

The Orioles (47-58) snapped a three-series losing streak by taking two of three from Colorado over the weekend. The offense scored 18 runs Saturday and 28 in the series, going 14-for-31 (.452) with runners in scoring position. O’s pitchers allowed one run and eight hits the past two games.

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Team comparison (with AL team ranking)

Batting average: O’s at .240 (11) and Tor is at .263 (1)

Team OPS: O’s at .708 (11) and Tor is at .747 (3)

Runs per game: O’s at 4.23 (10) and Tor is at 4.73 (4)

Team ERA: O’s at 4.90 (14) and Tor is at 4.09 (10)

Rotation ERA: O’s at 5.07 (15) and Tor is at 4.39 (13)

Bullpen ERA: O’s at 4.69 (13) and Tor is at 3.66 (4)

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Few more notes

The Orioles have won or split all five home series with the Blue Jays since the start of 2023 (3-0-2 series record). This season, the teams split a pair of games in Baltimore in April, each decided by one run.

Adley Rutschman has a .993 career OPS in 47 career games against the Blue Jays. That is the highest OPS by any catcher versus Toronto all-time (min. 175 PA) and the fifth-highest OPS by any player (min. 175 PA) behind only Mike Trout (1.036), Aaron Judge (1.022), Michael Brantley (1.009) and Matt Stairs (1.005).

Each of Toronto’s last eight wins have come by multiple runs. The Blue Jays lead MLB with a 46-30 (.605) record in games decided by two or more runs. That would be their best such record in a season since 2015 (78-41, .655), the last time Toronto won the AL East division championship.

Prior to tonight's game, the Orioles made the following roster moves: Reinstated lefty Keegan Akin (left shoulder inflammation) from the 15-day injured list, and reinstated Rutschman (left oblique strain) from the 10-day IL. They optioned right-hander Yaramil Hiraldo to Triple-A Norfolk and designated catcher Jacob Stallings for assignment.

The O’s get some defensive work in ahead of the Toronto series opener