Hi, this is Fred Wallace with Off the Wire, brought to you by Auto Logic, the Logical Choice.
For the Toronto Blue Jays, the 2015 baseball season hangs in the balance, which may explain the BIG deal with Colorado.
The bad news as we approach August is that the Jays are 7 games back of the New York Yankees for first place in the American League East.
After 100 games, Toronto is 50 & 50 and a continuation of that pace will not be nearly enough to make the post season for the first time since 1993.
The obvious negative factor in that record is a 22 & 31 mark on the road.
Conversely, the good news is the Jays are 28 & 19 at the Rogers Center where they open a 10 game homestand tonight.
In fact, Toronto will play 16 of their next 19 at home, starting with a visit from the struggling Philadelphia Phillies this evening- the Phils are 26 games under .500 in the National League.
But to say the next 19 games are mostly winnable with home field advantage would be a stretch.
Philadelphia first, then Kansas City and Minnesota come to Toronto, the Jays visit Yankee Stadium for 3, and then back home to meet Oakland and the Yankees.
This sequence of games will take the season to August 19th and include 2 head to head series with the frontrunning New Yorkers.
Some may say the current deficit is too much already, but certainly, if the Blue Jays don’t put up some terrific results in the next 6 series, then 2015 is truly over in Toronto.
I’m Fred Wallace