Thursday 4 July 2013

Is It Too Late for the Blue Jays?

I'm sitting in a Montreal hotel room, doing my daily ritual of watching the Jays game, as do many Canadians. After coming off the rush of an 11 game winning streak, there's been a revived sense of optimism amongst Jays fans, and the lingering sweetness from the streak is still there. Is it enough though? There's always the bombarding of "it's too early to say anything," and "anything can happen." I get it. After all, the Oakland Athletics had pretty much the exact same record as the Blue Jays at this point last year (1 less loss) and they went on to win their division. But in the AL East, nothing ever comes this easy. Ever since the Jays 11 game winning streak ended on June 24th, they've dropped to 3-7 in their past 10, dragging them back below .500, the only AL Easy team under .500, and they're looking to lose another one tonight. The inconsistency of going on hot streaks every now and then isn't going to make them a playoff team. A team wins by constantly being able to perform at a high level, and not just for certain patches at a time. Yes, they've been hot recently, but what else? Without the streak, they haven't been playing at a high level, no way around that. The only consistency for the Jays this year has been the bullpen, but when has a team ever been carried to the World Series by their bullpen? If the starting pitching is constantly having to rely on them, along with no support from the hitting, it isn't going to produce a winning team. They have all the talent they need, despite having some key players injured. Hopefully luck will change and they will go to their expected winning ways, but for now it isn't easy for us fans to watch.

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