The 2011 MLB All-Star break is the weekend of July 11 and 12 and it heralds the official mid-point of the season. As of this writing, less than a week before the break, the Toronto Blue Jays are 42-44 and 9-and-a-half games out of first in their division. The Jays are also 8 games back of the wild-card spot and at 5-5 in their last 10 games are not making up any ground.
So can we already say they're done for the year?
We can. Historically those teams who are in a position for the postseason or hovering near it at mid-season are the ones who manage to get there. After all, baseball is a game of patterns and over 80 games into a season hasn't a pattern been established? Because right now the New York Yankees are winning at a .602 clip, the Boston Red Sox at .583. The Jays? The Jays are winning games at a .488 clip. Why would you expect that to change?
MLB: The Yankees Get a Bye Into AL Postseason
Making up the ground to get into the playoffs for teams like the Blue Jays is made all the more difficult because of a reality that is evident in the American League and it is this: the AL does not have four playoff spots available. The American League doesn't have four spots available because one spot is, in essence, given over each year to the New York Yankees.