1998 Toronto Blue Jays season

The 1998 Toronto Blue Jays season was the franchise's 22nd season of Major League Baseball. It resulted in the Blue Jays finishing third in the American League East with a record of 88 wins and 74 losses, which was their best record since their 1993 [Toronto Blue Jays season|1993] World Series-winning season; the 88 wins were not surpassed until 2015.
With the disappointing last-place finish of the previous year, General Manager Gord Ash once again dug into the wallet to improve the team, signing reliever Randy Myers and slugger José Canseco as free agents. Though the team improved noticeably, they could not finish ahead of the New York Yankees season|New York Yankees] or the Boston Red Sox season|Boston Red Sox], who won 114 and 92 games en route to winning the division crown and wild card respectively.

Transactions

Transactions by the Toronto Blue Jays during the off-season before the 1998 season.

Regular season

Transactions

Transactions for the Toronto Blue Jays during the 1998 regular season.

1998 MLB draft

June 2, 1998: Felipe López was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1st round of the 1998 [Major League Baseball draft|1998 amateur draft]. Player signed August 11, 1998.

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; Avg. = Batting average; Slg. = Slugging Average; SB = Stolen bases

Pos	Player	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	Avg.	Slg.	SB
C	Darrin Fletcher	124	407	37	115	9	52	.283	.410	0
1B	Carlos Delgado	142	503	94	155	38	115	.292	.592	3
2B	Craig Grebeck	102	301	33	77	2	27	.256	.346	2
3B	Ed Sprague Jr.	105	382	49	91	17	51	.238	.424	0
SS	Alex Gonzalez	158	568	70	136	13	51	.239	.361	21
LF	Shannon Stewart	144	516	90	144	12	55	.279	.417	51
CF	Jose Cruz Jr.	105	352	55	89	11	42	.253	.403	11
RF	Shawn Green	158	630	106	175	35	100	.278	.510	35
DH	Jose Canseco	151	583	98	138	46	107	.237	.518	29

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Tony Fernández	138	486	156	.321	9	72
Mike Stanley	98	341	82	.240	22	47
Felipe Crespo	66	130	34	.262	1	15
Kevin Brown	52	110	29	.264	2	15
Mark Dalesandro	32	67	20	.299	2	14
Juan Samuel	43	50	9	.180	1	2
Tony Phillips	13	48	17	.354	1	7
Benito Santiago	15	29	9	.310	0	4
Tom Evans	7	10	0	.000	0	0
Tomás Pérez	6	9	1	.111	0	0
Kevin Witt	5	7	1	.143	0	0
Patrick Lennon	2	4	2	.500	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Roger Clemens	33	234.2	20*	6	2.65	271
Woody Williams	32	209.2	10	9	4.46	151
Pat Hentgen	29	177.2	12	11	5.17	94
Chris Carpenter	33	175.0	12	7	4.37	136
Juan Guzmán	22	145.0	6	12	4.41	113
Roy Halladay	2	14.0	1	0	1.93	13

Tied with David Cone and Rick Helling

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Kelvim Escobar	22	79.2	7	3	3.73	72
Dave Stieb	19	50.1	1	2	4.83	27
Erik Hanson	11	49.0	0	3	6.24	21

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Randy Myers	41	3	4	28	4.46	32
Paul Quantrill	82	3	4	7	2.59	59
Dan Plesac	78	4	3	4	3.78	55
Bill Risley	44	3	4	0	5.27	42
Robert Person	27	3	1	6	7.04	31
Carlos Almanzar	25	2	2	0	5.34	20
Steve Sinclair	24	0	2	0	3.60	8
Ben Van Ryn	10	0	1	0	9.00	3
Nerio Rodriguez	7	1	0	0	9.72	3
Luis Andújar	5	0	0	0	9.53	1
Shannon Withem	1	0	0	0	3.00	2

Award winners

José Canseco, DH, Silver Slugger Award
Roger Clemens, Pitcher of the Month Award, August
Roger Clemens, Cy Young Award
Roger Clemens, MLB Leader Wins, 20
Roger Clemens, AL Strikeout Crown, 271 Strikeouts
Roger Clemens, AL ERA Crown, 2.65
Roger Clemens, Major League Record, First Pitcher to win Five Cy Young Awards

1998 [Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star Game]

Roger Clemens, P