The Captain's Blog

It’s been a choppy ride for the Yankees in 2013, but their slim playoff hopes have been kept afloat by a life raft: the Toronto Blue Jays.

Many expected the Yankees and Blue Jays to battle for supremacy in the A.L. East, but instead, the Bronx Bombers have used Toronto to prop up their lagging pursuit of the postseason. With four games between the two clubs still remaining, the Yankees have outscored the Blue Jays by 31 runs while compiling a 13-2 record against them. Without such dominance over Toronto, the Yankees would probably already be planning early October vacations.

Yankees’ Best/Worst Single Season Series, 1901-2013

Note: Rankings are based on winning percentage and include season series of 10 games or more.
*Season series includes one tie.
Source: baseball-reference.com (data) and proprietary (compilation)

The Yankees’ 13 wins against the Blue Jays have yielded a .867 winning percentage, the 13th highest posted by the Bronx Bombers against a single opponent in a season series of at least 10 games (out of 940 season series that meet the criteria). Although the 13 victories against Toronto do not even scratch the surface of the franchise’s all-time single season mark versus one team, they represent the highest total record by the Yankees against the Blue Jays. What’s more, if the Yankees can win three of the final four contests against Toronto, it would be the franchise’s first 16-win season series since the 1960 Bronx Bombers went 16-6 versus the Cleveland Indians.

Home/Road Season Series Sweeps Involving Yankees

Note: Rankings are based on winning percentage and include season series of 10 games or more.
Source: baseball-reference.com (data) and proprietary (compilation)

The Yankees’ dominance over the Blue Jays isn’t unprecedented in pinstripe annals, but the team’s flawless performance against Toronto in the Bronx comes close. By winning all 10 games played at Yankee Stadium, the 2013 team became only the fifth club in franchise history to sweep a home season series of at least 10 games (out of 837 applicable to date).

Yankees Best/Worst Single Season Series Run Differential

Note: Rankings are based on per game run differential and include season series of 10 games or more.
Source: baseball-reference.com (data) and proprietary (compilation)

One final way to measure dominance in a single season series is per game run differential. On this scale, the Yankees 2.1 run advantage over the Blue Jays falls just outside the franchise’s top 100 run differentials in a season series of at least 10 games. Of course, with four games left against Toronto’s shaky pitching staff, there’s still plenty of time to move up that ranking, although the top mark of more than five runs per game set against the 1939 Philadelphia Athletics seems safe for another season.