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Toronto busted through last season and broke up the stranglehold that the Pin-stripes and Bean Towners have had in the American League East Division by bumping Boston out of their reserved second place spot. The Jays did it with quality starting pitching. Sadly, Toronto’s success appears to be short-lived as losing Todd Lilly will not allow the Jays to bloom again in 2007.

I don’t mean to sound down on the Blue Jays because they are a good team which would win several other divisions in baseball, but there is a very fine margin for error in the elite AL East. Right handed ace Roy Halladay has helped speed up Toronto’s progress over the last few seasons. Adding A.J. Burnett and Ted Lilly to the mix had the Jays’ starting rotation emerging as tops in the division. But instead of picking up another guy to shore up the staff some more, the Jays lost Lilly to a handsome sum in Chicago. That loss puts a lot more pressure on A.J. Burnett to perform this season to pick up some of the slack. Another 10-8 year is just not going to cut it.

The Jays cannot afford any kind of a drop off from first basemen Lyle Overbay or Troy Glaus who were brilliant last season in their first year with the team. We won’t have to worry about Vernon Wells who continues to increase his superstar status with each swing of the bat. Or will we? He just signed a mega deal and sometimes this can result in a down year. I remain optimistic as the young Wells doesn’t appear to have reached his potential.

Jays backers finished way in the money last season. The boys north of the border have produced winning seasons for their backers in four of the last five seasons. This season won’t match the success lining the pockets of 2006 supporters, but it should still produce profit for Jays enthusiasts. The Jays won’t be quite as good this season with the loss of a solid starter, but because the go under the radar compared to the Yankees and Red Sox, the Jays will show better value than these higher profile teams.

It wasn’t a big shocker when the Blue Jays jumped into the number two spot in the AL East last season. It will be in 2007. Toronto still has enough talent to leave the Devil Rays and Orioles in the dust, but the Red Sox and the Yankees will be tough fish to fry. Toronto is a team which has made great moves to put a solid team on the field, but it just isn’t enough in a division which houses two of baseball’s best teams year in and year out.

Jeff Alexander is a documented member of the Professional Handicappers League. Read all of his articles at [http://www.procappers.com/Jeff_Alexander.htm]

Blue Jays World Series History

The Toronto Blue Jays have the distinction of being the first, and most likely being the only Canadian team to ever win baseball’s most coveted prize, the World Series championship.

Originally founded in 1977, the Toronto Blue Jays struggled like most expansion teams, taking seven full seasons to record their first .500+ winning percentage. Yet from there on out (1983) the Jays had at least a .500 winning percentage in every season up until the strike shortened 1994 campaign.

During this stretch of success the Jays battled their way to three playoff appearances; in 1985, 1989 & 1991. Unfortunately they fell short of reaching the finals in all three occasions. The year 1992 would be different.

Before getting into the actual series’ themselves, we’d have to be crazy to skip over the players themselves. The names on the rosters read like a who’s who for the late eighties and early nineties. Everyone on this list played for the Jays during 1992 & 1993 and has made at least one all-star team during their career.

Batters:

John Olerud, Roberto Alomar, Kelly Gruber, Devon White, Joe Carter, Jeff Kent, Ed Sprague, Tony Fernandez and Alfredo Griffin.

Pitchers

Jack Morris, Jimmey Key, Juan Guzman, Dave Stieb, David Cone, Tom Henke, Pat Hentgen, Al Leiter, Shawn Green, Carlos Delgado, Dave Stewart, and Woody Williams.

And let’s not forget these Hall of Famers

Dave Winfield, Paul Molitor, and Rickey Henderson

Unreal… talk about some talent! One has to question how they only won 96 games in 1992 and 95 in 1993.

Although these teams were loaded, their path to the World Series Titles certainly wasn’t easy in either season.

In 1992 the Jays won some nail bitters over the Oakland Athletics, including a clutch game four come from behind win against then unstoppable closer Dennis Eckersley.

The World Series wasn’t much easier that year, as it took six games and one of the all-time post-season meltdowns by Mark Wholers to bring the title north of the boarder.

In 1993 the Bluebirds moved past the Chicago White Sox in six games and took on the Philadelphia Phillies in the series. This set the stage for one of the biggest all-time home runs and undoubtedly the most important event in the history of Canadian baseball in the FIX of Joe Carter’s ninth inning, game winning home run off of reliever Mitch Williams.

Since 1993 the Jays have failed to make the playoffs. Hope exists heading into the 2008 season, where the Jays feature one of the top overall pitching staffs in baseball, both in the rotation and the bullpen. If they can find consistency from both the offensive and defensive side of the diamond, the Jays should be able to push the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees for the AL East Division title or at worst the American League Wild Card. And as teams in the past few seasons have proven just getting into the playoffs gives each team a great chance at capturing a World Series title.

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K-Man writes for the website Mop Up Duty, which features a slew of Toronto Blue Jays News & Analysis. Head over to Toronto Blue Jays @ Mop Up Duty Or the main site at http://www.mopupduty.com

What chance does Toronto Blue Jays have a winning the AL Wild Card?

What percentage would you give Toronto Blue Jays winning the AL Wild Card?

As a Blue Jay fan I like Toronto and I would give them 25% chance. They still have great pitching with the loss of Burnett and Marcum and McGowan. This is basically their half rebuild half to show they can win. Their hitting will easily be much more consistent and even with not as good pitching but Gaston and Halladay leading the young guns with a Cy Young year performance for another season will lead the Jays to another 10 games over .500.

Blue Jays claim RHP Fien from Boston
The Toronto Blue Jays have claimed right-handed pitcher Casey Fien off waivers from the Boston Red Sox and put righty Scott Richmond on the 60-day disabled list. Thursday’s move ended a short stay with the Red Sox for the 26-year-old Fien. Boston claimed him off waivers from Detroit on Monday. Fien pitched in nine games for the Tigers last year and was 0-1 with a 7.94 ERA.

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