In the division, you don’t want to dig yourself into a hole too early. There are still more than 150 games left, though, so a lot can happen between now and October.
Are things looking great for the Jays right now? Not really. This was supposed to be one of the easier stretches of the schedule with the Rockies and White Sox, yet you’ve already had the Kirk injury, lost an arm in Ponce, seen some key bats scuffling, and watched sloppy defense out of the gate cost them a few games. It also doesn’t get any easier from here, with the Dodgers coming to town followed by a nine-game road trip through Milwaukee, Arizona, and Anaheim.
At this point, the Jays just need to keep their heads above water during this stretch and stay above .500. Hopefully they can take care of business against the White Sox today, which feels like a must-win heading into the Dodgers series. After that, you’d like to see them beat up on the Twins next weekend at home and then handle Arizona and the Angels on the west coast trip. And sure, it would be sweet if they could take two of three from the Dodgers, but realistically, you’d probably take one.
If they can come out of this stretch still hanging around .500, there’s no reason to think they can’t get right back into the race once the schedule turns to May and the bats start clicking. Just survive April, get hot in May, and suddenly you’re right back in it.