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There is no way in hell we will ever make the playoffs again, so long as we are in the East.

In other divisions, there are off years, and weaker teams have a chance to make the playoffs (NL Central last year, 83 wins was good enough). In the AL East, you will need at least 95 wins every single year, regardless.

Does anyone else feel as hopeless as I do? I honestly don't see the point to watching the games anymore....because I know there is no chance of us playing October baseball.

Wake me up if MLB expands the playoff format, or we get moved to the Central.

I agree to a point but it'll make it that much sweeter when we do make the playoffs.

What makes you think that playing in the AL Central would improve our chances of making the playoffs? The White Sox, Tigers and Twins are all solid.

y2dan wrote:What makes you think that playing in the AL Central would improve our chances of making the playoffs? The White Sox, Tigers and Twins are all solid.

This year, yes, they are all solid. But unlike the Yanks and Red Sox, you can count on them to have down periods. They won't win 90+ every year.

On the other hand, in the East, the Yanks and Red Sox are virtually guaranteed to win 90+ EVERY season. That makes a huge difference.

Not to mention the stupid unbalanced schedule, which sees us playing 40 games against the Yanks and Red Sox.

Jays are in a incredibly hard division and Raptors are in an incredibly easy one. So it balances out.

In response to the thread title, yes. In response to the original post, no.

Why feeling hopeless? So many injuries so soon.
Why not about the Jays in the East? Because any team is beatable.

oh God!!!! This is how i feel at times!!

Seriously, isn't the MLB have the most whacked-up CBA?! I mean, no cap restrictions make it sooooooo hard for lower market teams to even compete!

Face it, EVERY off-season, you know for certainty that the Yankees and Red Sox will be contending for playoff spots..

I mean, how sucky is it to be a Royals fan, when before the season starts, you already know that you won't be contending?

I don't really feel that hopeless to tell you the truth. I think if the Jays can keep with it, they'll be okay. Both the Sox and the Yanks are older clubs and will be losing some of their talent soon...see Mussina, Schilling, Rivera etc. The Jays have a good team, with alot of young talent like Rios, Halladay, Burnett, Wells, Lind, League, Janssen, Marcum, Snider etc...I think things will get better very soon.

jalenrose#5 wrote:I don't really feel that hopeless to tell you the truth. I think if the Jays can keep with it, they'll be okay. Both the Sox and the Yanks are older clubs and will be losing some of their talent soon...see Mussina, Schilling, Rivera etc. The Jays have a good team, with alot of young talent like Rios, Halladay, Burnett, Wells, Lind, League, Janssen, Marcum, Snider etc...I think things will get better very soon.

Haven't you learnt anything?

Diminishing talent means nothing to the yankees and red sox. They will just go out and buy talent. Plus they draft good so they always have young talent just waiting to kill it.

exactly what cb4_89 said.......

The yankees and red sox don't rebuild, they reload..... so instead of just doing the conventional building with your farm system, they'll just go out and buy top-notch players..... to me, it's a never-ending cycle!

this is what frustrates me, as a salary cap would definitely limit this kind of thing.. but it'll never happen

yep no salary cap is def the thing I hate the most about MLB

but let's not panic now, we'll make it!

evilRyu wrote:exactly what cb4_89 said.......

The yankees and red sox don't rebuild, they reload..... so instead of just doing the conventional building with your farm system, they'll just go out and buy top-notch players..... to me, it's a never-ending cycle!

this is what frustrates me, as a salary cap would definitely limit this kind of thing.. but it'll never happen

I'm not so sure.

What makes the Yanks so good is their homegrown talent... which they buy in Latin America (and now in East Asia). In speaking about a salary cap, I'm sure that the league wouldn't prevent the Yanks from outbidding on Latin talent.

Now, obviously, that's not the only source of the Yanks talent - they can still outbid anyone, eg. Abreu. But using the same example (Abreu) shows the Yanks' shrewdness: they took on a player who's salary was too high for the team that was paying him and didn't even end up paying the total... AND they didn't even lose many assets.

That said... I hate the Yankees.

RingItUp! wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



I'm not so sure.

What makes the Yanks so good is their homegrown talent... which they buy in Latin America (and now in East Asia). In speaking about a salary cap, I'm sure that the league wouldn't prevent the Yanks from outbidding on Latin talent.

Now, obviously, that's not the only source of the Yanks talent - they can still outbid anyone, eg. Abreu. But using the same example (Abreu) shows the Yanks' shrewdness: they took on a player who's salary was too high for the team that was paying him and didn't even end up paying the total... AND they didn't even lose many assets.

That said... I hate the Yankees.

You make a good point, the Yankees BUY their latin talent. This is also something where the Jays (and almost every other small market team) faces.. If a young 16 year old Latin player is faced with the same offer by the Yankees or Royals, who do you think the young kid would pick?

The whole process of just "signing" players without a draft is just weird..

Also, the Yankees don't have much "homegrown" talent draft-wise. They seem to use their prospects to induce trades for bigger-named players.

Of course the PA would never allow a salary cap, but i think it's hurting the parity of the league

I do.

It's not that I think the Jays have no chance at the playoffs. Any given year they could make it, but it's always going to be a tough fight where just about everything has to go right for the Jays.

And if it does, you can be sure the Sox/Yanks (whichever one misses the playoffs on our account) will reload and come back stronger the next year.

unfortunately, i agree as well. the reality is, JP can't afford to miss. any large signing that doesn't work out becomes an albatross. and injuries to key players just can't happen. as other posters have mentioned, everything needs to go right for the Jays to make the playoffs.

can anyone honestly see a year where Boston or NY don't contend?? it simply isn't going to happen.

That was a very disspointing loss today and I am starting to get really worried that this will not be our year again.

Like I said before though, this team isn't even better than last year, and it bugs me cuz J.P. had like 20mil to spend in the off-season.

He could've ATLEAST re-signed Speier or SOMETHING to improve us in an area we needed, like I dunno...SHORTSTOP, but no, we need pitching,the he goes and gets Thomas for 10mil a year, more than Lugo, except Lugo fills a need in the field and in the lineup as we need a real lead-off man, and he wanted to play for the Jays. But no.

I just have a feeling this is one of the many decent/mediocre teams we've seen since 1993. Some good pitchers, but not enough, pretty good closer, but thats about it, some real nice bats in the lineup, but no depth.

I think Ricciardi has essentially put this team where Ash had it in 1998-2000. Ash built a team that was good enough to win around 85 games, but would need everything to go right in order to make a significant push. That's where we are now. A good team, but not good enough.

Treadmill. Treadmill. Treadmill.

you guys are spazzing already its been less than 20 games. We are facing injuries right now...evenually the sox will have injuries of there own and will slump abit.