Toronto Blue Jays by Marc Normandin

Edwin Encarnacion is gone, and Kendrys Morales is the cleanup hitter in his stead. Troy Tulowitzki is 32, and it’s far likelier that his body will break down more, not less. There are so many reasons to be skeptical about their offensive attack, which is painfully underwhelming compared to two seasons ago.

The Blue Jays still have a good lineup, though, even if the best components are over 30. Just as importantly, they have one of the most overlooked rotations in baseball, with five starters you might trust in a postseason start. That's enough for a second-place prediction and a wild-card slot. If we accept the idea that Marco Estrada is an above-average starter (which he’s been four out of the last five seasons) and that J.A. Happ is still the player the Pirates reengineered (maybe he won’t finish with Cy Young votes again, but still), you have to start looking at Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez as finished products if you’re looking to be disappointed. They probably aren’t finished products.

It was just a couple years ago that the Blue Jays were the music you would put on at a coffee shop so you didn’t offend the customers, even if they weren’t the kind of music that anyone else listened to on purpose. Now they have an honest-to-goodness postseason streak going, and even though they lost out on Encarnacion, they still have Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista, they have a much better staff than they get credit for, and they should contend. This is a fun team.