The Blue Jays are missing Kevin Gausman, Daulton Varsho, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and they're playing better.
That shouldn't make sense on paper. It's happening anyway.
An entirely different cast, Brett Bateman, Josh Smith, Daz Cameron, and a bullpen that shuffles by the day, has found a way to make it work.
Last year's team got on base and put the ball in play. This year's group looks nothing like that.
Toronto is averaging four runs a game, the sixth-lowest mark in franchise history. Last season, that number sat at 4.9.
Guerrero's absence and George Springer's decline have both hurt the offense. Yet somehow, results are trending up, not down.
The answer is defense and pitching, and both have quietly become strengths instead of question marks.
The pitching turnaround behind this stretch of wins
Blue Jays defenders are having their best month of the season in August, aside from Jesus Sanchez's misplays in Tampa Bay a few days ago.
Swapping Varsho for Bateman as the everyday center fielder is a big part of that. Bateman brings plus speed and puts the bat on everything.
Varsho's sprint speed dropped this year, and his defensive numbers followed it down. The power breakout many expected never showed up either.
On the mound, Shane Bieber is looking like himself again, and Max Scherzer has been rolling since returning from the IL.
The staff posted a 3.11 ERA in August, more than a full run better than the previous month, even with some warning signs like a 4.66 xFIP.
Bieber's seven-inning, four-hit outing against Tampa Bay this week was his second-best start in a Blue Jays uniform. That's a real turnaround from a six-walk disaster against Washington just over a month ago.
Losing Gausman still stings on paper. But Jose Soriano is locked up for two more years beyond this season, and he's already having a better year than Gausman did.
Spencer Arrighetti remains a work in progress, but with three more years of team control, his best seasons could still be ahead.
None of this looks like the roster the Blue Jays drew up in spring training. It's working anyway, and that's the strangest part of this whole stretch.
Can the Blue Jays keep winning as a pitching and defense team without more offense from Vladimir Guerrero Jr.?
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