Calls for purge are off base

Many vocal fans want GM and manager gone, but how can they both deserve the blame?

- MIKE WILNER

No one can say a team that makes the playoffs three times in four seasons hasn't been a successful one.

The Blue Jays haven't played a single regular-season game while eliminated from playoff contention since 2019.

But they have also been tough to watch for more than a year now.

Last season was a slog. Great pitching and defence, absolutely, and just barely enough hitting to edge out the Seattle Mariners by one game before getting swept out of the playoffs by Minnesota while scoring only once.

It was the least fun playoff season in franchise history. Even the club president recognized that.

"This season was a grind," Mark Shapiro said last October in his end-of-season media conference. "It was not ever easy. It was extremely frustrating and it was challenging. I'm not sure why, we still won 89 games... I can't remember a season that felt like it was more of an effort."

General manager Ross Atkins said over the winter that he would look to add up to four bats. But when the pursuit of Shohei Ohtani fell short, he pivoted to double down on pitching and defence.

Nearly one-third of the way into a new season, not only has that strategy not helped the team's fortunes, it seems to have hurt them.