Finding something to look forward to

(Note: this is my first time blogging about, well, anything, so mind the sloppy style)

As baseball season draws near, it's once again time to look at our favorite teams and either brag about how they'll win it all this year (see: Philly, Boston) or rant about how big of a joke they are (see: Mets, Cubs). For me and my hometown Blue Jays, though, it's another story.

To be honest, I've always seen this team to be akin to those big-name grunge bands like Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. Sure, they made quite a splash back in the nineties (*cough*back-to-back World Series*cough*) and they've been showing up and getting some attention lately, but between then and now? They may have popped up once or twice in the mainstream sports media (like when Roger Clemens came here for a season, and most of Halladay's career), but they've generally slipped into the kind of obscurity you'd find the new Power Rangers seasons in.

(Before I go on, yes, they're still making Power Rangers. Look it up if you don't believe me)

Adding to this is the division they're in, the A.L. East. This division is the closest thing to a group of death you'll find in North American pro sports. You have the perennial contenders in the Yankees and Red Sox, the upstarts in the Rays (though that might change with how they were dismantled during the last off-season), and the Jays themselves as the 'anywhere but here' team (as in "We'd be a playoff team anywhere but here"). Heck, even the Orioles, long treated as the division's punching bag, are starting to turn things around with Showalter as the manager.

All that being said, after last season, I'm starting to feel hopeful about this team's chances of breaking out of the snake pit known as the A.L. East. The starting rotation was fantastic (especially Morrow, with the whole 'it's his first full season starting' thing and all), the offense was incredibly powerful (though it was hit-and-miss as well), and they even had an MVP candidate in Bautista and his franchise-record 54 home runs. Of course, maintaining that will be difficult, especially with a new manager on board and several players either being traded away (Wells, Marcum) or leaving for free agency (Overbay, Buck). This is mitigated by a farm system regarded as one of the best in the league and prospects like J.P. Arencibia and Kyle Drabek, giving the team solid depth and a good foundation to build on.

The upcoming season will definitely be an interesting time for the Jays and their fans, to be sure. Let's hope the only direction they're going is up.