Hyun-jin Ryu (36, Toronto Blue Jays) is back from elbow surgery and has been solid with an ERA in the low 2s. Local media have analyzed that the 2023 season, when he enters the final year of his contract, will be the right time for Toronto to win a championship.
American media outlet Bleacher Report ranked the teams with the most urgent need to win a World Series among those who are likely to make the 2023 Major League Baseball postseason. Toronto came in at No. 5, behind the No. 1 Milwaukee Brewers, No. 2 Texas Rangers, No. 3 Tampa Bay Rays, and No. 4 Seattle Mariners. Teams 1 through 4 do not yet have a World Series ring.
Unlike those four teams, Toronto has won two World Series titles (1992, 1993), but its last championship was a long time ago. After 1993, the Jays went a whopping 30 years without a championship. In 2015, the Jays won the American League East with 93 wins in a season, but lost to the Kansas City Royals in the Championship Series, ending their World Series run. 온라인카지노
Toronto is cruising to 83 wins and 67 losses this season, improving their chances of making it to fall ball. A recent three-game winning streak has propelled them up to the second wild card spot. They are closely followed in second place by Texas and Seattle, who are also desperate for a win, but both teams are in the midst of a three-game losing streak.
Bleacher Report analyzed that this is the right time for Toronto to make a run at the title. Key players are set to become free agents after the 2023 season, including Ryu Hyun-jin, who signed a four-year, $80 million deal to become a Torontonian. Hyun-jin Ryu, in particular, has been a major force in the race since returning from elbow surgery last month, going 3-3 with a 2.62 ERA in nine starts. He’s the only pitcher in Toronto’s starting rotation who hasn’t had an up-and-down season in August and September.
“Toronto has Matt Chapman, Whit Merrifield, Kevin Kiermaier, Brandon Belt, Hyun-Jin Ryu, and Jordan Hicks eligible for free agency in the upcoming offseason. They also have to either lose Vladimir Guerrero Jr, Beau Bisset, Danny Jansen, and Jordan Romano after the 2025 season or spend a lot of money to get them,” explained Bleacher Report, adding, “Chris Bassett, George Springer, and Kevin Gausman are all in Toronto for the 2025 season thanks to big contracts, but they aren’t getting any younger.”
“There’s a now-or-never mentality around the organization,” Bleacher Report continued. The reason they feel that way is because they haven’t won a championship since the early ’90s. They haven’t won more than 93 games in a season since 1993, even though they’ve often had offseasons where they were considered World Series contenders.”
The most welcome change of pace is for Hyun-jin Ryu. He’s pitched beyond expectations since returning from injury and has been touted as a key member of Toronto’s winning rotation this year. He went from being a non-factor during his long-term rehabilitation to a key starter after beating a 7 percent chance of a comeback.
Can Toronto live up to the “this is the year to win” hype this fall, and what will be the finale for the man at the center of it all?