Edwin Encarnacion #10 of the Toronto Blue Jays is congratulated by Dioner Navarro #30 after hitting a two-run home run in the third inning during MLB game action against the Minnesota Twins on August 6, 2015 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images
Torii Hunter has been around the block once or twice so when he talks about the rolling thunder that is the Toronto Blue Jays it carries some weight.
"There aren't too many teams going to beat that team over there," the Minnesota rightfielder said Thursday night after the Blue Jays rolled over his Twins 9-3 at Rogers Centre.
With the victory, the Blue Jays won four straight off the Twins, who came into the series holding down the second American League wild card playoff berth, which they have now relinquished to the Blue Jays.
"They've got a great squad," Hunter marveled. "The way they hit the ball is just unbelievable. When they hit the ball, it sounds like car crashes. They're one of the best teams in baseball, offensively."
Hearing that kind of praise from a 19-year Major League Baseball veteran can only help lift Toronto to another level – and they are already almost playing out of this world.
Hunter said the trade deadline deals for pitching ace David Price and all-star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki have obviously bolstered an already confident Toronto outfit that has now won five in a row to improve to 58-52 on the season.
The Blue Jays are now 8-0 in games that Tulowitzki has started since he joined the team in a trade with the Colorado Rockies on July 28th.
"We got demolished these four games," Hunter said. "We got crushed. That team made some upgrades over there with Price and Tulowitzki and got some guys who are pretty hot, like [Edwin] Encarnacion.
"I'm pretty sure that they can make a lot of teams look bad. Those guys can really play, they can really hit the ball."
Mark Buehrle, the Toronto starter who did not have one of his better nights but was picked up by the major league's most potent offence, said he senses a special feeling brewing in the clubhouse.
He likened it to 2005 when he was with a Chicago White Sox team that won the World Series.
It's fun," Buehrle said. "City's buzzing, the clubhouse in here, you've got that feel every day coming to the field, 'Who's next?' No matter if it's a rookie pitching or a guy that's been around for a while, we've got that feel of, 'whose butt we gotta kick today?' "That's a good feeling. We haven't had that in the couple years that I've been here."
The Blue Jays now head into New York to play the Yankees, the team they trail by 4.5 games in the American League East standing, for a big three-game set beginning Friday night.
It is obviously an important series.
But as the Blue Jays will still have 10 games left against the Yankees after they finish up in Yankee Stadium on Sunday, Buehrle cautioned there is still plenty of baseball to be played.
"I don't think this makes or breaks our season," Buehrle said about the upcoming series against the Yankees. "We've got a lot of games left, but it is a big series at this time and we'd like to go in there and try to win the series.
"But at the same time, if we don't win the series, we're not calling the season off. We've got a great team and Alex [Anthopoulos, the Toronto general manager] did a great job getting these guys in here. Again, the feeling around the city and mostly in the clubhouse – we're feeling pretty good."