National MLB voices throw cold water on the Blue Jays' chances to make the postseason

After suffering a series sweep at the hands of the Houston Astros earlier this week, the Toronto Blue Jays record dipped below .500 for just the first time since the first week of the season. That gap got even larger over the weekend when the Blue Jays' dropped two out of three to the hated New York Yankees.

While the Blue Jays are still just four games back of the Yankees (and there's still so much season to go), their recent struggles have caught the eye of some national MLB writers.

Yahoo Sports did a panel with its national MLB writers, and none of them had good things to say about the Blue Jays' chances to make the postseason.

National MLB voices throw cold water on the Blue Jays' chances to make the postseason

Jake Mintz, Jordan Shusterman, and Russell Dorsey held a roundtable discussion on whether they believe in five teams who are off to stronger starts this season compared to last season, one of those teams being the Blue Jays.

What they like about the Blue Jays:

The panel was generally high on the contract extension of Vladimir Guerrero. Mintz made the point of saying it was a true cause for celebration for the city and the franchise. They also thought the front office did a great job in revamping the bullpen.

Shusterman went so far as to suggest that the signing of Jeff Hoffman has ‘single-handedly’ transformed the relief corps of the Blue Jays as a genuine strength of the team in the early part of the season.

They added that a nice surprise has been the resurgence of George Springer, and for good reason. His .329 batting average ranks 8th in MLB and he’s getting on base at a .412 clip with an OPS of .932. Springer’s averaged a .770 OPS in his time as a Blue Jay, so he’s on a great track to meet or surpass that this year.

What they don’t like about the Blue Jays:

Pretty much the same thing everybody doesn’t like about the Blue Jays these days: the lack of power.

Shusterman poined out that the Blue Jays spent all offseason trying to upgrade that area of their offfense — also and brought in Anthony Santander — only for Toronto's offense to still look flat. Santander hasn’t been able to provide that spark, while none of the other hitters in the lineup seem to be pulling their weight either. Toronto had a bottom-three offense last year and things don't look much better so far this year.

Mintz tacks on by suggesting even if Santander does get hot, the lineup feels shallow behind Bo Bichette, Guerrero, Springer and Santander.

"There’s just not enough impact from hitters five through nine," he wrote.

All three analysts feel Toronto’s rotation is vulnerable, in large part because Max Scherzer is on the injured list and the team doesn't have a reliable fifth starter behind him.

Shusterman says there is minimal impact depth looming among Toronto’s hurlers in the minor leagues. As most Toronto fans can attest, it's very taxing when it seems like the Blue Jays' only chance to win is if they guy on the mound is perfect.

“I want to believe this Jays team can hang around in the wild-card race, but they have a lot to prove,” Shusterman wrote.