Toronto Blue Jays: Examining Toronto’s Expected 2020 Win Total

On a handy sports interaction app, you can check all the odds and results of almost any game. You should be able to see that the 2020 Toronto Blue Jays are projected by Las Vegas oddsmakers for 76 total wins for the upcoming season. Sports interaction updates their predictions and odds on an hourly basis sometimes, so be sure to check again once in a while to see if anything changed.

Without a doubt, there is value in choosing either the over or the under. In this article, we will examine why it would be wise to take the OVER on this bet.

First off, recall that Toronto closed the 2019 season under first year manager Charlie Montoyo with 67 total wins in the American League East. Obviously, sharing a division with the New York Yankees is never fun; however reasoning exists to think the Blue Jays can be a surprise team or at least push the envelope on the 2020 number.

First off, the Blue Jays boast one of the best young nucleus’ in the entire sport. Everyone knows about Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, Cavan Biggio, and Danny Jansen. However, Toronto spent the money this off-season to add depth to their starting rotation. This was a unit that saw over 15 different starting pitchers make a start in 2019. Obviously if you can’t maintain stability in your rotation, you are fighting an uphill battle.

While it’s obviously priced in to the new win total figure, Toronto’s headline move was adding Hyun-Jin Ryu from the Los Angeles Dodgers on a four-year contract as a free agent. Ryu finished second in the NL in Cy Young voting in 2019 and should still be very formidably. In addition, the Blue Jays also added Tanner Roark who is your solid innings eater. Roark is not a guy who will win any awards, but he won’t hurt this team either in typically making all his starts. He’s a guy who can keep a team with some offensive firepower in a game.

From there, Toronto still has the likes of Chase Anderson, Matt Shoemaker, Ryan Borucki, Shun Yamaguchi, Trent Thornton, Thomas Pannone, Jacob Waguespack, A.J. Cole, Anthony Kay, and T.J. Zeuch competing for a rotation spot. Not many teams in baseball have that many pitchers auditioning for a role which should mean Toronto can go with a hot hand and should an injury happen, they will quickly be able to offer a replacement with big league experience.

Certainly, all of the attention goes towards the Toronto offense. While they lost Justin Smoak to the Brewers, they added Travis Shaw; who could serve as a linear replacement. Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Brandon Drury, Joe Panik and Rowdy Tellez offer solid depth around the infield and outfield.

Without question, the Boston Red Sox and their role in the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal can play a role in an inflated victory total for the Blue Jays in 2020. Furthermore, don’t expect Toronto to wave the white flag if they get off to a rough start in the first half by selling off veterans at the trade deadline. The message they are trying to send their fans is clearly that they’re a team getting ready to contend, and they will try to win as many games as possible. It’s also no small mention that Montoyo enters his second season as a big league manager, which should offer a positive value towards the number of wins as well.