The return announced by Ryu Hyun-jin (36, Toronto Blue Jays) is about two months away. Toronto locals who heard about his interview before leaving the country, ‘only come back healthy’ was the main response. However, in the first month of the opening season, Toronto may have become a little desperate for Ryu Hyun-jin’s comeback.
On the 3rd (Korean time), MLB.com, the official homepage of Major League Baseball, said, “Where is the best district ever?
As of the end of the game on the 2nd, the teams in the AL East have a combined win rate of 0.623. Tampa Bay Rays 23-6 (Odds rate 0.793), Baltimore Orioles 19-9 (0.679), Toronto 18-11 (0.621), Boston Red Sox 16-14 (0.533), New York Yankees 15-15 In order of (0.500), Toronto remains in third place in the district despite a 60% win rate.
According to MLB.com, the 1st combined win rate for a specific district in a season was 0.566 in the 2002 AL West. Recently, the 2005 National League (NL) East Division was the last time all teams in a specific district had a win rate of over 50%. However, considering that the 2002 AL West Division had 4 teams in one division, and after being reorganized into 5 teams, it is not strange to call the AL East Division’s pace shown in April this year the best ever with the highest win rate.
This all-time pace is due to AL East teams’ winning percentage (0.670) against teams outside the district. Excluding 2020, which was a shortened season, the highest win rate recorded by one district against another district was 0.603 in the AL West in 2002, which shows a higher win rate than that. Even this was in 2002, when a division consisted of four teams. The five-team division’s “highest win rate against other divisions” was 0.577 last year’s AL East Division.
MLB.com said, 스포츠토토“The AL East’s win rate of 0.623 in April of this year is the third-highest (at least 70 games played) after the 2001 AL West’s July win rate (0.648) and the 2002 AL West’s August win rate (0.625). However, as I said before, in 2001 and 2002, 4 teams formed one district, and among the districts with 5 teams, the AL East Division has the highest win rate in April this year.”
The secret to Toronto’s rise at the beginning of this season is a balanced pitching and hitting. As of the end of the game on the 2nd, Toronto’s batting average was 0.258 (9th in ML), OPS 0.742 (13th in ML), the mound had a starting ERA of 4.12 (11th in ML), The bullpen is recording an ERA of 3.77 (14th in ML). MLB.com’s Toronto reporter Keegan Matheson also looked back on the past month and said, “Jose Berrios and Yusei Kikuchi are holding up,” and gave an evaluation that exceeded expectations.
However, the Toronto mound is still unreliable to continue the all-time race to the end of the season. Only two aces, Kevin Gausman (2.33) and Kikuchi (3.00), have average ERAs below 3 points. Berrios, who was said to be holding up well, showed ups and downs again with 5 runs in 5⅓ innings against Boston on the 2nd. Kikuchi, who posted an ERA of 5.02 in four seasons until last year, also has a lot more to prove.
It is difficult to be sure that Ryu Hyun-jin, who returned in about a year after undergoing elbow ligament joint surgery (Tommy John surgery) in June of last year, will show a better performance than them. However, in a situation where there are no resources to replace the current Toronto starting lineup, the return of once ace and veteran Ryu Hyun-jin seems to be a challenge.