Blue Jays off to one of the worst starts in franchise history

If you’ve watched the first 56 games of the Toronto Blue Jays season and thought “This seems like it is going particularly poorly,” you are not mistaken.

The team is, in fact, off to the fourth-worst start in franchise history.

The 21-35 Blue Jays currently hold a .375 winning percentage, putting them on pace for a 101-loss season. That would also be the fourth-worst full season in team history, behind the first three years of the franchise’s existence.

Yes, the rebuild has been painful, rivalled in franchise history only by the initial build itself. Through 56 games, only the 1978 (19 wins), 1981 (16), and 1979 (14) teams have less wins.

Blue Jays fans were likely prepared for an ugly season, but this has literally been uglier than any fan of the team has seen in almost 30 years.

The bad numbers don’t stop there, as the Blue Jays also rank dead last in the league in a number of offensive categories. They are 30th in batting average (.219), on-base percentage (.285), and stolen bases (12). So, they aren’t hitting, or getting on base, or advancing much when they get there, which - shockingly - is resulting in less wins.

All of this is to be somewhat expected. The team is consciously in a rebuild phase and intentionally not competing for a playoff spot this year, but that doesn’t make the games any more fun to watch as they continue to lose series and frequently look like a threat to be no-hit in any given game.

Perhaps the worst of these numbers may be how much baseball is left, and how much worse the lineup could get. The Blue Jays play 106 more games, and most experts expect them to be active in selling off veteran pieces like Justin Smoak, Marcus Stroman, Ken Giles, and Aaron Sanchez.

Yes, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at-bats are still appointment viewing, and there are other pieces worth keeping track of, but by and large, things appear on the verge of getting a lot worse before they get better.

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