Baseball’s postseason is a crapshoot. Any longtime fan of the Fall Classic knows that with all the crazy bounces the ball takes, anything can happen in a single game—or even a single series.
That said, the Toronto Blue Jays look like about as heavy of a favorite to bring home the World Series trophy since the star-studded 2009 Yankees team that beat the Phillies in six.
Here are three reasons why:
1. Statistics Love Them
Toronto nearly overtook Kansas City in the final month in the lead for home-field advantage, before finishing with a 93–69 record. But even more so, they finished way out in front of everyone else with a plus-221 run scoring differential. The next highest was plus-122 by St. Louis, and there were only two other teams above 100. That’s domination.
In addition, baseball-reference.com gives the Jays a simple-rating-system score (the number of runs per game that they’re better than the average team) of 1.6—twice as high as anyone else. The score takes into account both run differential as well as strength of schedule.
2. Rogers Centre Advantage
Normally, home-field advantage doesn’t matter much in baseball—but for Toronto it does.
The Rogers Centre—formerly known as the Sky Dome—is a launching pad for home runs, which fits the Jays’ high-powered offense. Josh Donaldson (41), José Bautista (40), and Edwin Encarnación (39), finished third, fifth, and seventh in home runs and the team as a whole hit an MLB-best 232 on the year.
