It’s hard to say. Especially for the really bad teams, it doesn’t necessarily take that much to make them significantly better. A couple of years ago, the White Sox were on track to be the worst team of all time. The next year, they were a reasonably OK team, with the biggest differences in rosters being a couple of players coming back from injuries.

This year, the Rockies seem like they’re a much better team than last year. Last year, they were a clown show. This year, they at least seem to be a baseball team.

The Yankees are a real contender, and the Tampa Bay Rays are a perennial threat as well. Very different teams, both usually good measure. The Orioles are supposed to be much improved this year, and should be a solid team, too. The Athletics are pretty bad, and the Marlins are usually a reliable example of a go-nowhere team, too. Oh, and the Angels – they have a few really good players, but they consistently wildly underperform as a team.

Baseball is a wack sport for trying to say someone’s a bad team. Sure there’s the odd year where a team literally stinks, like last year for the Rockies, but it’s not really a sure thing every year that a given team will be that bad. Let’s not get carried away either, every team that’s in the majors is pretty good. They might have a rough spot in the lineup, like with Toronto it’s historically been the bullpen, and the odd year it was quiet bats in the deeper part of the lineup. But is a weaker team just as a whole weaker? Not always. It’s usually situational. Injuries for instance can totally fuck things up.

Look at last Saturdays game for instance, the A’s were in it, but the Jays were holding them back, playing good defence ball. Got the reliever in, Fluharty, everything’s gravy, then buddy gets wacked in the knee with a bouncing ball. Walks it off, next pitch boom, same spot, and he ain’t walking that one off. So now you have to go to a cold reliever, and then next thing you know it’s like 7-3 Athletics, because they capitalize on a situation.

That’s damn heads up ball. The A’s, even though they got swept, looked pretty damn good, and they were in all three of those games. Toronto is just next level though, but they have to stay healthy. And that’s been their kryptonite in the recent era. Thankfully our 2B/SS isnt made of glass anymore (have fun with that Mets), and even guys like Vlad, like they look good, they are clearly working out, and hopefully we can hold it.

When you lose to a team like the Rockies, and they looked good too mind you, I think they might have an OK year ahead of them, but it’s not really all that important yet. The focus before the all-star break, is keeping above .500, and staying healthy. Nothing more. So am I curious about coming matchups? I’m always wanting to see the first wave of divisional matchups go well, more than anything. Because the blue jays play in one of the most unfair and poorly distributed divisions in professional sports.

Pitching looks great though, I’d like to see the bats come a little earlier, they like to keep us biting our nails, but I’ll take it. They are a team that can get it done when it matters. Let’s run 10 above .500 to the all-star.