[Read: Blue Jays Manager Charlie Montoyo Moonlights at Salsa Clubs]
When the Blue Jays go to their division rival the Yankees within the Bronx, Montoyo runs the 2 miles from Yankee Stadium to Casa Amadeo, an iconic place for salsa lovers and Puerto Rican immigrants. It is the oldest, constantly occupied Latin music retailer in New York. There, Montoyo buys CDs, which he converts into audio recordsdata for his laptop computer, and runs again to the ballpark with them in a bag tucked underneath his arm.
If the Blue Jays are going to meet their lofty expectations this season, the staff within the Bronx poses a major problem. Their division, the American League East, is the hardest in baseball. If the 12-team postseason started right now, three groups from the division — the Yankees, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Blue Jays — could be in. And the Boston Red Sox, who fell two video games in need of reaching the World Series final yr, aren’t far behind.
The Blue Jays have been a preferred World Series choose once they entered this season, Montoyo’s fourth as Toronto’s supervisor. Made up of a core of younger stars, the once-rebuilding staff broke out in 2020 and reached the playoffs. Even although the squad fell one win shy of one other postseason look final season, the Blue Jays, who final received a World Series in 1993, nonetheless gave the impression to be trending up.
Two Blue Jays have carried out higher this season than the free brokers they changed. Kevin Gausman, who changed the 2021 American League Cy Young Award winner Robbie Ray, leads a rotation that has been a prime 10 unit in baseball. The second baseman, Santiago Espinal, who changed the 2021 All-Star Marcus Semien, is a key a part of a lineup that has been the most effective.
That doesn’t imply there aren’t holes to be stuffed. The bullpen, for instance, ranked sixteenth in M.L.B. in earned run common coming into Friday. Perhaps components of the staff will look totally different after the Aug. 2 commerce deadline — it’s a lengthy season, in spite of everything — however the soundtrack will stay the identical with Montoyo in cost: salsa.
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