Debby Wong – USA TODAY Sports
Being a paper champion has been curse for a lot of teams in the past few years. Coming into the 2013 season, the Toronto Blue Jays were without a doubt the paper champion of the American League East. A lot of prognosticators — including myself — picked the Blue Jays to not only win the division but the World Series as well. On paper, they were one of the deepest teams in the American League: they had the speed, the power, the pitching, the fielding and the bullpen to compete with anyone. But that’s why they play the games!
After nearly one month, the Blue Jays are in a familiar place in the standings — dead last. Things couldn’t possibly get any worse for our neighbors up north, which is exactly why fans of the Jays should not panic. If one would look at the Blue Jays’ rosters and statistics, one could figure out that it is mathematical impossible for this streak of bad play to continue all season long.
Here is my list of things that will not continue for the Blue Jays: Josh Johnson will not have an ERA over 6.00, Jose Bautista will not hit in the .100s, RA Dickey will eventually adjust to the league, Brandon Morrow has way too good of stuff to have an ERA over 5.00, Edwin Encarnacion will not have an OBA in the .320s, Brett Lawrie will eventually hit and their utility men will not hit under .200.
As you can see, the Jays have a paragraph full of problems right now. So, Jays fan, do not panic quite yet. Things will should get better.
