After their loss to the Athletics in the series opener on Monday, the Toronto Blue Jays are now one game behind the Guardians for the final AL Wild Card spot.
However, with that being said, there are still two more games left to be played against the Athletics this week, which should favor the Jays.
Ahead of game two of the series, the Blue Jays made a Kazuma Okamoto lineup announcement.
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Kazuma Okamoto Dropped One Spot in the Blue Jays Batting Order
After batting fifth on Monday night against the Athletics’ left-handed starter, Kazuma Okamoto has been dropped in Toronto’s order to the 6-spot.
The reason is likely due to the A’s rolling out a RHP in game two of the series.
Here is the full batting order for the Blue Jays on 9/8, per @UnderdogMLB:
Blue Jays 9/8: “B. Bateman CF N. Lukes RF V. Guerrero Jr. 1B A. Kirk C J. Smith LF K. Okamoto 3B A. Giménez SS J. Sánchez DH E. Clement 2B J. Soriano SP”
There aren’t many lineup changes, but another one is Nathan Lukes batting second and Jesus Sanchez being the DH tonight, while George Springer is out of the lineup.
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More on Kazuma Okamoto This Season
Kazuma Okamoto hit a home run in the Blue Jays’ 6-5 loss on Monday evening.
Okamoto has been a premier slugger for the Jays this season, and if Toronto is to make the MLB playoffs, it will have to hope that Okamoto has a few big swings left in his bat.
He has played 139 games in his rookie campaign and is batting .232 with 29 home runs, 23 doubles, and an OPS+ of 106. Okamoto features big-time slugging (.448), but the low batting average is holding back his overall OPS. His bWAR is 2.1, which is very solid for a rookie, and Okamoto could be a premier slugger out of Japan for years to come.
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Toronto Blue Jays Make Kazuma Okamoto Announcement Before Athletics Game