The Blue Jays will be just fine without Jose Bautista

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The news came down yesterday that José Bautista would be headed to the disabled list after he and the outfield wall at Citizens Bank Park had a sudden and unpleasant meeting. His sprained left big toe is the culprit, and it’ll keep him out of action for two weeks. Normally this would inspire gnashing of teeth and rending of garments, but Bautista’s 2016 season hasn’t been what most people expected or wanted. He’s hitting .230, which isn’t great, with 12 home runs. His game is about more than homers, and he brings so much more to his team than that, but still.

Despite that, Toronto isn’t hurting for home run hitters. Just last night, Michael Saunders smashed three home runs against the Orioles, giving him 15 on the year. Edwin Encarnación has been red hot, hitting six in his last seven games. He’s got 18 total homers now. And you can’t forget reigning AL MVP Josh Donaldson, who has been heating up. He’s hit three home runs in the last four games. Even Kevin Pillar has hit a few homers recently, including two in one game against the Phillies. This is an impressive offensive outburst for all these guys, and even though it might not be completely sustainable, the Jays love to hit home runs and they won’t stop trying to hit them.

The Jays have been rolling lately. They beat the ever loving crap out of the Phillies in three of four games last week, after being shut out in the first. In those three games, they scored a total of 31 runs, hit 11 homers, and all three wins were by 5 runs or more. Granted, it’s the Phillies, who are in the midst of an impressive free fall, but those are not insignificant wins. Then they opened their weekend series last night by stunning the Orioles 13-3. They’re just one game back of the Orioles now in the AL East, and they have another two games against them this weekend. It’s going to be a close race between the Jays, the Orioles, and the Red Sox in the AL East for the rest of the season, but don’t be surprised if you wake up Monday and see a new name at the top of the division.

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