Instant Analyst

The hitting by the players who regularly occupy the first five spots in the Blue Jay batting order—Devon White (.306 through Sunday), Roberto Alomar (.301), Paul Molitor (.328), Joe Carter (.276) and John Olerud (.405)—was a big reason that Toronto made it back to the top of the American League East last week. Toronto had a combined .311 average for the season at those five spots, making it the only team in the majors whose top half of the order had hit .300.

Toronto could become the first team since the 1986 Indians—with Tony Bernazard, Carter, Julio Franco and Pat Tabler—to have four regulars hit .300.

But after the first five, the production from the Toronto lineup falls off considerably: Spots six, seven, eight and nine had a combined .244 average. Only two American League teams, Cleveland (.237) and Milwaukee (.224), had lower averages from the bottom half of the order this season.