Is a Wild Card spot now a disappointing finish for the Blue Jays?

The Toronto Blue Jays seem vulnerable. Mostly thanks to their bullpen, the Blue Jays are 16-17 over their last 33 games, but thanks to a tremendous run in the middle of the season and the rest of the American League being mostly mediocre, the Blue Jays were just one win shy of having the best record in the AL.

Sure, their division lead once sat at 6.5 games in July and that has steadily diminished over the last month, but does that actually mean the Blue Jays are a disappointing team?

Is a Wild Card spot now a disappointing finish for the Blue Jays?

Let's rewind the clock to Spring Training. The Blue Jays were coming off a season in which they were sellers at the trade deadline, missed the playoffs and had two of the biggest players in franchise history on expiring contracts. They made a few additions in the winter, but nothing that felt earth shattering and they got off to a slow start.

But they signed Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to a record setting, franchise altering deal. Then they got hot and winning was starting to come easy - or so it seemed. The Blue Jays started racking up wins, players like George Springer, Bo Bichette and Alejandro Kirk were coming up clutch on a seemingly daily basis.

Toronto got control of a division that was up for grabs thanks to the how banged up and bruised the Yankees were at the time. But the Yankees eventually got healthy, welcoming back Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge to their lineup, while beefing up their bullpen at the deadline. The Red Sox somehow got better after trading away Rafael Devers and all of a sudden everyone remembered how hard it is to win in the AL East.

If the Blue Jays don't win the division now, is it truly a lost year? It's tough to think that way until we see what the results are of the postseason, but just getting there should still feel like a win considering those expectations that were put on the Blue Jays at the beginning of the year. PECOTA who projects a teams wins and losses set the Blue Jays at 85 wins. FanGraphs gave the Blue Jays a 15.6% chance of winning the division and a 43.6% chance of making the playoffs.

Those odds are now at 99.5% to make the playoffs and 61% to win the division, with a 57.6% to clinch a bye in the first round. Yes, the last few weeks have been frustrating to watch knowing how many wins the Blue Jays may have left on the table thanks to the bullpen's inability to lock down some games.

However, compared to other teams around them, the Blue Jays may only have that one vulnerability. Their lineup is solid, their defense is outstanding and their starting rotation is arguably the deepest in the division. Having a weak bullpen can be a major flaw come October, no doubt, but at least they know where they have to improve ahead of the playoffs.

The Blue Jays, for an extended period this summer, were the best team in baseball. But that's the beauty of this game, the 162 game schedule is truly a grind and just getting to the playoffs means so many things have to go right over six months. Toronto are 65-43 since the beginning of May and haven't had a losing month since they started 14-16 in March/April. They have given Blue Jays fans so many memorable moments this summer and it would be shame to think its now AL East title or bust.