The return of Ryu Hyun-jin (Toronto Blue Jays) is not a panacea.

The Toronto Blue Jays captured the New York Mets on the 4th (Korean time) and won three consecutive victories. However, there is still a long way to go. 32-27, 4th in the American League East Division. It is still 8.5 games behind the first place Tampa Bay race. In the wild card race, they chase the 3rd place New York Yankees by 2.5 games. If the season ends tomorrow right now, Toronto can’t go to the postseason.

On the 4th (Korean time),안전놀이터 MLB.com looked at ways to improve teams that performed worse than expected this season. Based on fan graphs, Toronto has a 51% chance of advancing to the postseason. Still, I saw that he could turn around in the wild card race.

Toronto picked the batting line and the starting team as the areas to improve. The Toronto lineup is 3rd in team batting average (0.266) and 5th in team OPS (0.754) in the American League, but is in the middle with 6th in team home runs (66) and 7th in team RBI (258). Compared to the ratio stat, the cumulative stat is not good.

MLB.com said, “Matt Chapman is struggling after a hot start. We need more support from Bo Bisset and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., especially from George Springer, Dalton Basho and Alejandro Kirk.” In fact, Chapman has a batting average of 0.280, 8 homers, 30 RBIs, and an OPS of 0.846 in 56 games this season, but in May, the batting average remained at 0.202 OPS and 0.585.

Springer, who signed a six-year, $150 million (about 196.5 billion won) contract in the 2020-2021 free agent market, also needs to show more. He has a batting average of 0.262, 8 homers, 23 RBIs, and an OPS of 0.728 in 57 games this season. Blageju also has a batting average of 0.285, 8 homers, 36 RBIs, and an OPS of 0.803 in 56 games, but it has fallen short by 2% after showing an MVP-level race two years ago.

The mound needs a fight in general. The team’s ERA of 3.78 is 7th in the American League. 6th with a 3.85 starter and 9th with a 3.66 bullpen. MLB.com said, “Alec Manoa, who finished third in the Cy Young Award a year ago, is 1-6 with an average ERA of 5.46 in 12 games.” Manoa has been completely down this year.

Jose Berrios, who became the winning pitcher against the New York Mets that day, is also not overwhelming with an average ERA of 3.66 with 5 wins and 4 losses in 12 games. Chris Bassett with an average ERA of 3.41 with 6 wins and 4 losses in 12 games and Kevin Gaussman with an ERA of 2.76 with 4 wins and 3 losses in 12 games lead the starting lineup, but there is no pitcher who shows the appearance of a top-notch ace.

Starting with Ryu Hyun-jin’s minor league rehab in June, the clock on his comeback begins in earnest. He even publicly stated that after the All-Star break he wanted to be on the starting lineup. However, even if Ryu Hyun-jin returns, there is no guarantee that he will immediately show his previous skills. Pitchers who have undergone Tommy John surgery and rehabilitation usually take time to recover. Also, even if Ryu Hyun-jin shows the performance of the previous year, a great reversal is impossible without the struggle of the existing players who are sluggish.