The American League East is the toughest fishing games division in the big four sports in North America. Made up of the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles, the playoffs essentially begin at the start of the season for the five AL East teams. The MLB is also the only league without a salary cap, leaving many to wonder, how can anyone compete fairly? Today for your sports betting pleasure, we will be assessing whether the Toronto Blue Jays can contend in the world’s toughest division. Toronto Blue Jays fans are some of the most patient in the history of sports. The last time MLB betting Jays fans saw a playoff game, was the 1993 World Series when Toronto defeated the Philadelphia Phillies. In the 18 years since the World Series victory, Blue Jays fans have had little to cheer for. Whether it is the daunting task of winning the division, or poor management, Jay’s fans have been messed around on multiple occasions.
Since the 2010 season, the Toronto Blue Jays have provided their fans with a false sense of hope that they can contend in the next couple of seasons. Essentially, Jays GM Alex Anthopolous has revamped the entire minor league system, which in turn has allowed him to deal away veteran players and fill the current roster with youth. While the man known as AA is praised by the media for building up the youth of the roster, the rare veteran pieces he has added have been more then suspect.
For the reason that the 2010 and 11 Toronto Blue Jays have more or less appeared to be their own worst enemies, fans are really questioning if there is light at the end of the tunnel. AA’s Achilles heel has been his lack of attention spent on the bullpen. As a result of his neglect, Toronto has lost many games that they otherwise should have been in.
What’s more, in any other division in baseball, it takes roughly 90 wins to make the playoffs. Yet, in the AL East, it takes a minimum of 105 wins. Which means, that AA’s inability to fix the bullpen has caused the team to constantly hover around a 500 record, when really; they could be performing more consistently.
Now, some will argue, that the Blue Jays would have the proverbial smack down laid on them regardless of who is in the bullpen, but we disagree. As we noted earlier, the Blue Jays farm system has been revamped dramatically. This in turn should allow the team to not only deal from an area of strength for bullpen help, but also reveal to Jays fans, that a youthful bullpen can get the job done. By using homegrown talent, AA and the new look Toronto Blue Jays, should be able to contend for an MLB highlights playoff spot sooner rather than later.
