Last years team vs past Jays

Over 48 seasons (* by 2020 [60 games], 1981 [106], 1994 [115], and 1995 [144].  Vs all others with 162) stats via FanGraphs...

Category	Score	Rank	Just behind	Just Ahead of	Notes
Defense	21.1	4	2004	2013	Never thought of 2004 as being good on defense, #1 was 1985.
HBP	78	5	1998	1999	Well, even bad offenses need to be good at something I guess
fWAR	22.7	18	1986	1998	Defense really lifted this
BB%	8.4%	18	1990	2008	Hey, something they were in the upper half of all Jay teams ever!
wRC+	101	23	1989/1998	2009/2000	The PED era really screws around with 2000's figures
Offense	3	26	2013	1991	Dang, was sure this would be a LOT worse
2B	280	26	1985	1987	Surprised by the company being kept here
3B	26	29	2006	2007/13/14
SB	72	32	2005	2002
HR	156	32	1988	1997	1997 should be embarassed, that was in the midst of the PED era
ISO	.148	35	1995	1984	Kind of surprised '84 is this low (Barfield & Bell regulars that year)
BABIP	.283	37	1982	2011
OBA	.313	38	1982	2017
Runs scored	671	38	1991	1997
K%	20.3%	41	2022	2012
Slg%	.389	42	1997	1982
wOBA	.307	44	1997	1977
BsR	12.7	44	2017	1978	Ouch - the baserunning was that bad? Yikes.
Avg	241	45	1997	2017	Was expecting this to be at the bottom, but 1981 (226) will probably hold this title forever

Kind of interesting to put a historical perspective on the offense which was really annoying fans and media alike.  It was bad, 1997 bad, not 1981 bad.  1998 saw the teams offense skyrocket to 816 R (#8 all time), but that '98 team really sacrificed defense to do it (José Canseco in the OF often, Shawn Green in CF 32 times, a 36 year old Tony Fernández flip flopping 2B/3B, Carlos Delgado at 1B (think Vlad but no fun acrobatics), etc.  Basically they did anything they could to get offense added in that year.  Yet despite that Roger Clemens still won the pitchers triple crown with a 174 ERA+ (imagine if he had a good defense behind him).  So yes, the offense could jump next year.  Anthony Santander could be the Canseco for 2025. The big shifts were Orlando Merced replaced by Shawn Green, Joe Carter by Canseco, and Otis Nixon by Shannon Stewart.  Not to mention Mariano Duncan replaced by Fernandez.  The manager was changed from Cito Gaston to Tim Johnson (if only they hired Davy Johnson instead who publicly said he wanted to come here).

Basically what this shows is 2024 sucked, but 1997 shows how fast it can change if you mix in kids and 1 key free agent.  But ideally you don't write off defense like Ash did between those 2 years.

What about pitching?  Glad you asked.  Split into starting and relieving...

Starting First (begin with the good news)...

Category	Score	Rank	Just behind	Just Ahead of	Notes
Fastball V	94.2	1	--	2023	Just 18 years of data, but still suprisingly good
WP	9	2	2020	2021	Wow, guess Kirk is damn good at blocking
K%	22.4%	4	2022	2020	A function of era (top 5 all in the 2020's)
K/BB	2.95	4	2023	2008	Top 4 are the 4 more recent seasons
WHIP	1.23	4	1985	1991	Wow, impressive.
LOB%	73.6%	5	2016	1991	Guess the starters were good at this
K/9	8.48	5	2022	2017
IBB	3	7	2000	2014/2019	Guess the Jays don't like to give up free baserunners
ERA	3.95	12	1990	2014
BB/9	2.87	15	1986	2006
BB%	7.6%	16	2006	2013
BABIP	.283	18	1990	1980
FIP	4.15	19	2023	1997
fWAR	10.6	33	2017	1994	1994 was a 2/3 season, 1977 was next
HR/9	1.21	36	2009	1996
W	51	36	2011	1980
L	61	36	2011	1997
HR/9	1.21	36	2009	1996
QS	68	39	2021	1980/2013
IP	861.2	41	2017	2018
HBP	47	45	2001	2005/2008	Poor opponents getting beaned a lot

Now the ugly - the pen.

Category	Score	Rank	Just behind	Just Ahead of	Notes
Fastball V	94.1	5	2021	2019	Only 18 years of data
Holds	83	5	2018	2017	Only for past 23 years
IP	565.2	6	2021	2023
BABIP	.276	7	1991	2015	Suggests the pen could've been worse if not for the defense
K/9	7.99	14	2014	1987	Very poor figure for a modern pen
K/BB	2.2	15	1997	2014
K%	20.7%	16	2014	2008
BlSv	23	18	2015	2022	Only for past 23 years
WHIP	1.34	20	1992	2006	Wow, comparable to the Henke/Ward WS pen?
W	23	21	2016	1984
BB/9	3.63	22	2010	1985
BB%	9.4%	22	2006	1992	Huh, the amazing Henke/Ward pen wasn't better at avoiding walks
Saves	36	27	2004	1996
IBB	22	28	1996	1983	Guess Schneider had a LOT less confidence in his pen
WP	22	30	2016	1994	Wow, Kirk kept the starters under control with this, but not the pen
HBP	24	35	1999	2003
L	27	40	2022	1984
FIP	4.84	45	2019	2003
ERA	4.82	45	2020	1979
LOB%	69.0%	46	1979	2000	2020 was the worst pen for allowing runners to score
fWAR	-2.5	48	1984	--	Other negative years were 1977 & 1979
HR/9	1.46	48	2019	--	Ugh
ERA-	121	48	1978	--	Worst ever by a lot, '78 was 112

Scary how bad they were - worst Jays pen ever for HR/9, ERA-, fWAR, and close to worst in many other categories.  Yet 5th in BABIP so it could've easily been even worse.