MW: Huh? Yankee Stadium wasn’t open in 1901-02.

MW: I think they were. I didn’t delete any of yours, I don’t think.

Against the Red Sox and the Yankees the Jays have done O.K..But they also had Tampa Bay and Baltimore in their divison..The Jays have always fared well against the Orioles but struggled against Tampa..The Red Sox and Yankees have always beaten up on the lesser teams..A feat the Jays have been unable to do over the years..

MW: The Yankees have had a lot of trouble with Tampa Bay recently (before this year, of course), too.

MW: Yes, it is. But it’s also argued that he was.

Riccardi’s teams have spent 555million bucks for a record of 631-638..Imagine if Riccardi actually followed through on his pledge to build this team through youth..We might be sitting where the Twins are now..

Looks like the Rays will make the playoffs this season..If they do, the Jays will be the ONLY team in their division to not make the playoffs in the last 11 seasons..But we have the best ERA this season..Now that is impressive..

MW: Imagine if the Jays were in the A.L. Central. They’d have been in the playoffs three of the last six years, at least. The Jays will be the only team in their division to not make the playoffs in the last 11 seasons if the Rays finish it off, true, but the Jays and Orioles will both have missed for the last 10, and there will only have been one occasion in the last 10 years when an A.L. East team other than the Red Sox or Yankees has made the playoffs. Numbers are fun!

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Is it true JP lives in your parents’ basement when he visits Toronto?

MW: Actually, they built him a small shed.

I believe that the MVP should come from a contending team, so that puts Hamilton off my list.

My top 3 are:

1. Carlos Quentin
2. Joe Nathan
3. Dice-K

All 3 of those guys are on contending teams and they are huge reasons why their teams are winning.

I am curious what you think of my picks.

MW: I like Quentin, for sure. I said I liked Hamilton a couple of months ago because a couple of months ago he was clearly having the best season of any player in the league. Sometimes things change when 60 more games are played. Dice-K for his 150 inning contribution to the Red Sox’ season?

I think the argument that it’s so incredibly tough to make the playoffs playing in the same division as both the Yankees and Red Sox is overrated.

While the Jays do play the Yankees and Red Sox more than teams in other American League divisions do, it’s also true that, from 2002 to 2007 the Jays also played two of the WORST teams in the American League (Orioles and Rays) more than other AL teams did. If one is going to argue that playing the Yankees and Red Sox so much hurts the Jays winning percentage compared to other AL teams, it also has to be said that playing the Orioles and Rays so much for the past 6 years should have allowed the Jays a chance to pad their number of wins. In fact, the only AL team over the 2002 - 2007 timeframe that seems to have a worse overall record than either the Orioles or the Rays is the Kansas City Royals.

While team payroll is obviously a significant advantage over the course of a 162 game regular season, it is apparent that there have been a number of AL teams that have been able to keep pace or even beat the regular season record of either the Yankees or Red Sox in most years.

In 2002, the Red Sox missed the playoffs entirely with the A’s, Angels, and Twins all having a better record than the Red Sox (who tied with the Mariners for 5th best record in the AL that year). In fact, the A’s finished neck-and-neck with the Yankees for the best record in the entire AL. (The A’s did it again by besting the Red Sox in 2003 as well, with the Mariners finishing just two games behind Boston)

While 2004 was a dominant season for the Yanks and Red Sox, in 2005 the White Sox had a better record than the Yankees or the Red Sox, with the likes of the Angels and Indians right there with New York and Boston.

In 2006, the Red Sox completely missed the playoffs again, and the Jays actually finished AHEAD of Boston, but Toronto still only finished 7th out of 14 American League and well out of a playoff spot with the Twins, Tigers, A’s, White Sox, and Angels all besting the Jays that year.

Again in 2007, the Indians and Angels finished with regular season records just as good as the Red Sox and Yankees respectively over 162 games. And do I really need to mention how the big payroll Yankees are doing this season…?

If the Yankees and Red Sox payrolls indeed make them the almost unstoppable powers they are alleged to be, then these two teams should have winning percentages light years ahead of all other AL teams almost every year, but the reality is they don’t even come close to accomplishing this as the above analysis demonstrates.

Now, one might say “But the Yankees and Red Sox beat up on each other with the number of games they play against each other during the season, so their winning percentage will be adversely affected in that way”. Fine, but you have to tell the whole story. Think about it: Since the Yankees don’t play against themselves, from their perspective, for the past 6 seasons, their divisional opposition consisted of one very good team (Red Sox), one mediocre team (Blue Jays) and two bad teams (Orioles and Rays). Same with the Red Sox, who’s division rivals included one very good team (Yankees), one mediocre team (Blue Jays), and two bad teams (Orioles and Rays). Why then, is it the case that almost every year there are other AL teams that have records just as good if not better than the Yankees or Red Sox? With this type of divisonal competition, even if the Yankees and Red Sox split their season series with each other, their overall records should still blow away the competition in the American League given the other three other teams in the AL East that both the Yankees and Red Sox got to feast on each and every year coupled with their huge payroll advantage. But they in fact don’t blow away the rest of the league, do they.

I think the bottom line is this: while having a big team payroll is obviously a significant advantage for a team in trying to make the playoffs over a 162 game regular season in a sport that poses the biggest challenge in making the playoffs, it is not the monsterous hurdle that some make it out to be when offering excuses as to why the Jays haven’t tasted real playoff contention for so long. Other teams in the AL have shown that you can compete with the Yanks and Red Sox over 162 games and match or beat their record at the end of the season.

MW: Only teams in other divisions, until this year. No team that has had to play 36-38 games a season against the Yankees and Red Sox has competed for a playoff spot in a decade until this season’s Rays.

I just think it would be kind of weird to have a guy in his early 20’s (Lind or Snider) being the DH. But I guess it only makes sense since the OF in Toronto is the healthiest it has been in quite some time and there isn’t room out there for both of them.

MW: I don’t think Giambi will be too expensive, and I think we all just have to get past the weirdness of having a young guy DH. If that winds up being the best fit, then that winds up being the best fit.