Back to baseball: Catch up on the Blue Jays' season

With the hockey and basketball seasons now over, all eyes turn to the boys of summer.

While many Canadians spent the past few months tuned to the NHL and NBA playoffs, the Toronto Blue Jays have been approaching the midpoint of their season. In case you haven't been watching, here are a few major storylines to get you caught up.

Slow start, but back in the race

After last year's run to the ALCS, expectations were high for the Jays this year. An 11-14 record in the month of April had fans worried, and new president and CEO Mark Shapiro described his team's performance as "disappointing."

But a strong run to end May carried into June and removed manager John Gibbons from the hot seat. Going into Tuesday night's game against the Colorado Rockies, the defending AL East champions are 41-37 and sit third in the division, 5½ games behind first-place Baltimore and a game back of second-place Boston.

Bautista on hot seat

Entering the final year of his contract, star slugger Jose Bautista made it clear that he wasn't taking a hometown discount to stay in Toronto.

The Jays' right-fielder has been in the spotlight ever since. The club lost a game early in the season after he violated the new "Chase Utley rule" when sliding into second base.

And, of course, there was the brawl between the Rangers and Jays sparked by Bautista's aggressive slide into Texas second baseman Rougned Odor, who punched Bautista in the face in retaliation. Odor served a seven-game suspension for the fight, while Bautista sat out one game.

A recent turf toe injury has landed Bautista on the DL, and he's hitting .230 with a .360 on-base percentage and 12 home runs.

Clock ticking on Sanchez

Highly touted pitcher Aaron Sanchez is off to a stellar 7-1 start to the season with a 3.33 ERA. Despite another strong showing as a starter, the Jays will move Sanchez into the bullpen due to an innings limit.

It's clear that the organization doesn't want to take any chances with its prized young pitcher and is willing to sacrifice immediate success in order to keep the 23-year-old healthy long-term.

The trade that never happened

Sometimes the best trades are the ones you don't make.

Before the season starter, outfielder Michael Saunders was on his way to the Cincinnati Reds for Jay Bruce until medical issues surrounding another player involved nixed the proposed trade.

The Victoria native is among the team leaders in numerous offensive categories including hits, home runs, batting average and on-base percentage.

Encarnacion heating up

Going into a contract year, Edwin Encarnacion made it clear that he wanted to stay in Toronto. But after failing to reach a contract extension in spring training with the Jays, he said, "I'm really disappointed that nothing has happened, but it's not my decision."

Perhaps this disappointment contributed to the two-time All-Star's slow April and May where Encarnacion hit a combined .241 with 10 home runs. The Dominican Republic native heated up in the month of June hitting .295 with 11 home runs and driving in 29 runs.

The 33-year-old's 21 home runs are second in the American League while his 69 RBIs top the AL.

Bullpen woes

With the acquisition of Drew Storen, the Jays were thought to have a pretty solid back end of the bullpen along with incumbents Brett Cecil and Roberto Osuna. While Osuna, the closer, has picked off where he left, Cecil and Storen have struggled.

Cecil posted an 0-5 record with a 5.23 ERA in 16 games pitched before being placed on the 15-Day DL. Storen lost his job as the setup man after logging a 6.28 ERA in 33 games played.

The Jays bullpen has blown 11 save opportunities (tied for third-most in the AL), 31 holds (second-last in the AL), and has allowed 38.1 per cent of inherited runners to score, seven per cent higher than the league average.

Stroman going down?

At the start of the season, it would've been hard to imagine that Marcus Stroman would be sent down to the minors. But after a recent stretch of poor starts, it's very much a possibility.

• Should the Jays send Stroman down?

The Jays' opening day starter has hit a rough patch over his past eight starts, going 2-4 and seeing his ERA rise from 4.23 to 5.33. The ex-Duke Blue Devil has allowed at least six runs or more in half of those starts.

A demotion wouldn't spell the end for Stroman. Jays fans will remember that Roy Halladay once went from the big leagues all the way down to single-A ball before returning to the show as one of the game's best pitchers.