ST: Blue Jays @ Rays, Sept 2-4

[EH15]

Can't believe I missed the Jays somehow getting out of the 9th with a man on third and no outs before winning it on a Colby HR and Federer coming back from 2 sets down facing double match point at one point. Damn.

[Santoki]

Can't believe I missed the Jays somehow getting out of the 9th with a man on third and no outs before winning it on a Colby HR and Federer coming back from 2 sets down facing double match point at one point. Damn.

Rollercoaster of a night.

[jaymeister15]

I was looking through the standings for the past several years to try and find the last time the jays were this close to a playoff spot at this point in the year, and it really is crazy how long it took MLB to add a second wild card.

I forgot how ridiculous it was some years:

2010- Boston 15 games over .500 on Sept 5, but 7.5 games out of a playoff spot (Jays 4 games over and 13 games out)
2011- Tampa 14 games over .500 and 7 games out

Obviously plenty of other years that were similar. I'll never understand people that didn't want the second wildcard added and somehow thought it was a good thing to have teams that good so far out of the playoff race with a month or so to go ( I know Tampa made the run 2011, but doesn't change how far out they were with such a good record).

[LLJ]

Yet despite winning 5 straight and sweeping the Rays for the first time in forever at Trop, we've still hardly made up any ground in the wildcard race.

*requisite glass half empty post*

[Lateral Quicks]

Yet despite winning 5 straight and sweeping the Rays for the first time in forever at Trop, we've still hardly made up any ground in the wildcard race.

*requisite glass half empty post*

Yeah, the Jays often play well when they're out of it. It's when they're in it that they have a disturbing tendency to totally fall apart.

[Michael Bradley]

Simply too many teams to catch. They need to play slightly better than New York and Cleveland (doable) but have to play at least five games better than both Seattle and Detroit. The Jays will have to go something absurd like 20-3 over their remaining games to have a chance.

If they didn't **** the bed in August, they'd be right there.

[Santoki]

Simply too many teams to catch. They need to play slightly better than New York and Cleveland (doable) but have to play at least five games better than both Seattle and Detroit. The Jays will have to go something absurd like 20-3 over their remaining games to have a chance.

If they didn't **** the bed in August, they'd be right there.

12-14 April
21-9 May
12-15 June
15-11 July
9-17 August

Obviously, August is the worst month but you can't have three months under .500 and expect to be in a playoff spot. That is, unless they have an absurd September...

[Michael Bradley]

Simply too many teams to catch. They need to play slightly better than New York and Cleveland (doable) but have to play at least five games better than both Seattle and Detroit. The Jays will have to go something absurd like 20-3 over their remaining games to have a chance.

If they didn't **** the bed in August, they'd be right there.

12-14 April
21-9 May
12-15 June
15-11 July
9-17 August

Obviously, August is the worst month but you can't have three months under .500 and expect to be in a playoff spot. That is, unless they have an absurd September...

Th 6-15 stretch to begin August destroyed their chances. They survived the West Coast trip from Hell and the injuries to reach 60-50 on August 1st, but then fell on their asses right after the deadline. Play .500 (10-11 or 11-10) instead of 6-15, and they are leading or tied for the WC based on current records. Every team has bad stretches, but three weeks of playing that badly in August is not easy to bounce back from.

The Jays are capable of an absurd run (20-4 stretch in May/June and 11-2 stretch after the ASG) but asking for another one is asking to be disappointed.