In the beginning was the hope that the Toronto Blue Jays would start the season in the right direction, another year full of postseason aspirations. While it didn’t take long for Toronto to quickly yield disappointing results, the hope was still there until it recently – where it has slowly began to fade away.

Even in the midst of what seemed like a long slump, the Blue Jays sprinkled in a flash of brilliance here and there. The bats would seldom come to life and the pitching precision was laser sharp. Unfortunately, the offence and pitching didn’t click all at the same time often, which engulfed the team in an endless state of distress.

The constant dissonance between pitching and bats eventually showed on the Blue Jays’ record. Toronto slipped under .500 early on in the season and the team has struggled to pull it back up ever since. On top of that, the baseball gods cursed the team altogether with bouts of pitching injuries and abysmal offensive woes.

Not many teams were designed to survive multiple injuries on top of lineup struggles and the Blue Jays are no exception to this rule. The fact that Toronto won 33 games by June 13 was a miracle for all the misery they’ve gone through when you look at the collectives stats. The only saving grace the Blue Jays had at this point was the general mediocrity surrounding the playoff picture. That’s how Toronto was only three and a half games away from securing the last wild-card sport despite the subpar record of 33-35 on June 13. That tally has now dropped to five games back after last night’s loss to the Boston Red Sox.

There was a chance to rebound against the Cleveland Guardians and get back up to 0.500. Beating the thriving Guardians with a 43-23 record was going to be difficult and little did the Blue Jays know, their series against Cleveland was the perfect encapsulation of how their season has gone so far.

As it always does, the Blue Jays started the series with a bitter defeat as the offence succumbed to the Guardians’ pitching dominance. Thankfully, that futility evaporated when Toronto shut out Cleveland’s lineup while scoring five runs in the second game. There was a sense of restoration as the team headed into the last game of the series on Sunday.

Toronto’s offence managed to score more than five runs and even featured a grand slam to show off what the team is truly capable of when it’s at its best in the finale. However, even when the Blue Jays scored seven runs, they still had to fight hard to fend off the scrappy Guardians out of their way every second. Starting pitcher José Berríos wasn’t perfect in his outing and gave up four runs to Cleveland but relief pitcher Yimi García didn’t make it any easier when he gave up two more. Cleveland caught up to Toronto and were within striking distance in the final frame, fortunately, the Blue Jays managed to stop the Guardians’ hope for a comeback.

As the Blue Jays reach the season’s halfway mark, their unsettling pattern has become more apparent than ever. This was a team that always had so much promise but couldn’t live up to its potential. No matter how real and strong the momentum felt, the Blue Jays have not been able to translate these swings into sustainable winning streaks. The offensive core continued to disappoint more with their volatile performances and the relief pitching was equally shaky while the starters are almost forced to pitch deep into games to carry the slack.

The recipe for disaster was there from the outset, but Toronto didn’t head into a crushing catastrophe because the baseline pitching and offensive abilities were always just enough to support the team. Nevertheless, the idea of just enough isn’t going to hold up as the season goes on. There is no better example than the Blue Jays’ first game against the Boston Red Sox to demonstrate how ongoing mediocrity is doomed for long and hard road ahead.

The Blue Jays couldn’t help but watch the Red Sox torment their starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi as he faltered on Monday, with the southpaw giving up four home runs on the day. Boston jumped at every chance to score and capitalized on the southpaw’s mistake pitches. With more solid pitching and an experienced younger offensive core, Boston has put themselves ahead of their division rival and have increased their chances over Toronto to make it to the playoffs. On the other hand, the Blue Jays simply couldn’t capitalize on their hits. Every at bat was a grind but Toronto didn’t have much to show by the end of the game when they put up only three runs compared to Boston’s seven runs. By failing to carry on the momentum from the series against the Guardians, the Blue Jays confirmed their enigmatically inconsistent dynamic once more.

Inconsistency has held Toronto hostage and the team hasn’t been able to break free from that prison. After many frustrating performances, the Blue Jays are now five games back of the last Wild Card spot in the American League. Performing just enough in all aspects of the game might sneak the Blue Jays into the playoffs, but it’s highly unlikely when teams like the Baltimore Orioles, Kansas City Royals and Minnesota Twins are playing out of their minds every single game.

This game can be cruel sometimes but such is life. Maybe there is another level to the Toronto Blue Jays that they can unlock sooner than later. But for now, believe what they show you — it may be far too late to rectify the situation.