The Jays’ hit parade is being spearheaded by Vlad Jr. and Bo Bichette

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‘Best in baseball’ are three words no one would have dared utter when describing a Blue Jays team that ended last season dead last in the AL East.

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But following Friday night’s 6-2 win over the host Detroit Tigers, the Jays can officially lay claim to Major League Baseball’s best record.

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At 62-42, the Jays have not been atop MLB’s overall standings this late into a season since 1992 — the year they won their first World Series.

Friday’s win pushed Toronto ahead of the 61-42 Milwaukee Brewers, who lost to Miami earlier in the day.
It also expanded their lead atop the AL East to 51/2 games over the New York Yankees, losers again to the visiting Phillies.

Many more games await, but the Jays continue to find ways to win with everyone in the lineup producing.

What they don’t do is beat themselves, which can’t be said about their opponents.

The following are three takeaways from Comerica Park, where the Jays went homerless, but did record 13 hits, including four for extra bases.

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1. Vlad the hit man

While it’s true the Jays could use more thump from Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and coming through in the big moment with a game at stake, it’s also true that the half-billion dollar man in waiting has been swinging it well.

Vladdy went 2-for-5, with both hits being doubles. With the Jays down 1-0, he led off the fourth with a two-bagger and scored on Addison Barger’s double. The hit extended Guerrero’s streak to seven games.

Next time up, in the fifth — yet another four-run inning for the team — his double plated Nathan Lukes and gave him 10 hits in his past four games.

Vlad’s swing is as smooth as ever. That being said, he’ll have to provide some consistent power at some point where he carries the team offensively.

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2. Tough act to follow

Following a brilliant outing by lefty Eric Lauer in the series opener, Jose Berrios was tasked with keeping the ball rolling Friday night.

Mission accomplished. Despite giving up the game’s first run on an RBI double in the second inning, then a Spencer Torkelson homer in the sixth, Berrios looked solid, allowing just five hits and two walks in his six innings while striking out six.

Of note, Berrios twice faced Tigers veteran Javier Baez — his brother-in-law — and struck him out both times. Baez, who is enjoying a renaissance season for Detroit, has only one hit in his career off Berrios.

3. Leader of the pack

A veritable hodge podge of players have been slotted in the leadoff spot for the Jays this season, beginning with Bo Bichette.

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Recently, the Jays have gone with a platoon approach that has seen Lukes hits leadoff when opponents throw a right-hander at the Jays. Ernie Clement was used against left-handers until he began to struggle at the plate. And when the Yankees were in town and had southpaw Max Fried on the mound, it was Davis Schneider who hit leadoff.

Pretty difficult to quibble with this plan of attack when so much has gone right for the Jays.

Against Detroit’s Keider Montero, a right-hander, Lukes went the other way on the game’s first pitch to reach base on a single. He actually led off three different innings on Friday and went 2-for-3.

The profile of a leadoff hitter varies from team to team, but in the case of Lukes and Clement, each has excellent bat control, allowing both to consistently put the ball in play. Schneider is more of a free swinger in the mold of Bichette. Clement, meanwhile, has gone 5-for-13 with a homer in his past three games, which might be enough to return him to the leadoff role for Saturday’s game against Tigers’ ace left-hander Tarik Skubal.

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Another leadoff side note: No. 9 hitter Will Wagner led off the third inning and grounded out. He was the only Jay not to collect a hit on this night.

Wagner, meanwhile, will be taking a leave to head to Cooperstown where he’ll join his family as his dad, reliever Billy Wagner, is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame this weekend.

Will Wagner will rejoin the Jays for their four-game series in Baltimore, which begins Monday.

Up next

The Jays haven’t faced Skubal since the 2023 season, but they will on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 6:10 p.m.. The reigning American League Cy Young Award winner started for the AL in the all-star game. Recently reinstated from the paternity list, Skubal is one of baseball’s premier pitchers, recording 164 strikeouts, while compiling a 10-3 record and boasting a 2.19 ERA. RHP Kevin Gausman (7-7, 4.01 ERA, 112 Ks) will start for the Jays.

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