The only point of interest in another dismal Jays season finally sailed over the Green Monster last night, as Jose Bautista became the new Blue Jays home run king, with his major league leading 48th dinger of the year.
All but out of it at this point, the 74-73 Jays cling to the .500 mark, well back of the Red Sox, Rays and Yankees, but with a comfortable enough lead to remain ahead of the Orioles, cementing their position as the 4th best team in the AL East. Without many storylines to follow, many Jays fans were tuning in to check out the latest heroics by the team’s new champion.
Now that he owns the record, and is a safe bet to take home the league’s home run crown on the season, there isn’t much of a reason to tune in to the final 15 games of the season. Many fans won’t even be able to get the games, as Rogers has pulled a selfish and ill-timed move to add another network and then shifted many of the remaining games to the new network to entice viewers to watch.
Attendance at the park has dwindled and with the hockey season starting up, the NFL season under way, and other playoff races like the NL West and NL East taking over the spotlight in the MLB. The Jays television ratings will soon fall by the wayside as well. Kyle Drabek’s debut on Wednesday was solid, if unspectacular, but there doesn’t seem to be any more reason to watch.
Will the Jays as a team approach the major league mark of 264 home runs in a season, set by the 1997 Seattle Mariners? Not likely. Will Bautista approach the 73, 70, 68 or 61 (the number varies depending on who you talk to) home runs for the single season record? Not likely. Will the Jays give playing time to any of their other young stars? Also not likely.
With Cito Gaston on his way out we can’t really expect him to do much in the final few games of the year, content to let the team wind it’s way down to the season’s inevitable playoff-less conclusion. The Jays can’t even play spoiler at this point. The Red Sox, Mariners and Orioles will help the Jays close out the season, but even a weekend series against the Yankees to close it out may not have any effect, because by then the Yankees will have either the AL East division or the wildcard locked up.
While it may seem like everything is doom and gloom right now, we should not forget that the Jays had, by all accounts, some excellent player development this year, and they show lots of promise in the coming season. With new management and new players coming in, one can look forward to the 2011 Jays season. Until then, let’s see what else is on.
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Born and raised in Northern Ontario but currently living in Toronto, Tyler wouldn't have it any other way. Home to his two favourite sports teams, Tyler revels in the day to day sports experience that is Toronto. 
Eh I disagree with that title of the article. Today’s events prove otherwise.
Considering that many folks predicted we’d be behind the Orioles, I’d say this season was a positive one.
And Rogers doing something customer unfriendly? That never happens right?
Well, they complain about attendance and ratings, but they really don’t give us a reason to watch, and those that do want to can’t now thanks to Sportsnet 1