Rock Bottom

This isn't a joke. This is sports. And this is sports at its worst.

The Toronto Blue Jays have not won a game since the All Star Break last week. That's a 6-game losing streak.

That is not what Toronto, or even Canada's baseball team wanted.

It's pathetic. It's literally rock bottom.

If you're a Blue Jays fan like me, you're asking yourself, when will this end?!

The media isn't helping, the player-only meeting didn't help and the season is being made a disgrace. The trade deadline is coming up, but how much more damage can Alex Anthopoulos do to the Jays knowing his career is on the line when October comes around?

It seems there's always going to be a different excuse and a different individual to blame as to how the Blue Jays will lose the next game. Whether it be the pitching, the lack of offence or blowing the lead, which all three have ran their course in the last two series, the Jays are not the team they were shaping up to be.

What happened to the team with 11-game win streak? What was different about that team, than the one post-All-Star break? My answer is personality. It's something the Jays have been lacking recently. You hardly see any smiles in the dugout from any of the players. It's like they're not having a good time on the field or in the dugout.Yet, it's something that all the other teams have. 

The personality this team had when Kawasaki was here, to be more specific, is what this team and this city needs. He was the fun-loving energy this team couldn't play a game without. He was the catalyst for the 11-game win streak. He did wonders for the city, being a fan-favourite and was an all-around a great competitor who played defence flawlessly. He is what the Jays need going into these next few months.

The way I see it is because the team is not playing the game for fun. I understand it is a match, and it is a competition, but in order to compete, you have to know your strengths and your weaknesses. Going into each game anticipating the long ball is not going to win you anything. They need to realize that they're a ball team and playing as a TEAM rather than one guy doing everything himself. The offence has got to do the offence and the defence has to do the defence. It's as simple as that.

Another thing the Jays appear to be lacking is leadership. Who is the clubhouse leader right now on this team? Bautista? Encarnacion? Clearly either of them don't have the requirements to lead the team to the World Series, yet alone a playoff spot this late in the season.

And the pitching has just been terrible as of late. You can't blame the bullpen who has to wipe the mess the starters make, but how often are we going to give up early runs and blow leads?

All in all, four of these guys were part of the Miami Marlins last year and we all know how their season panned out for them. Should we pull a Miami and start rebuilding from the start or is there actual potential in these guys after all?

So where do we go now? Well, the season is pretty much over for the Jays. They blew their lead to even contend with some of American League's best, and for some odd reason, that doesn't include the Jays as they were predicted to be in the World Series, or even on top of their division this year. Smarter teams have simply proved them wrong.

So unless Anthopoulos can turn this team around by the trade deadline, his career is on the line.

-Drew

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