KADE GATES

Another season, another year without a playoff game in Toronto.

The last time the Jays made an appearance in the playoffs was 1993, when they won the World Series over the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Jays have finished second in the American League East only once since 1993 when they finished 87–75 in 2006, missing the playoffs by only eight games ­— 21 long years and not a single playoff appearance to show for it. Only the Kansas City Royals have a longer streak at 28 years.

The final game of the Jays season will be on Sept. 28 when they play AL East champions, the Baltimore Orioles.

This season has been ravaged by injuries with José Reyes, José Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Brett Lawrie and Adam Lind all missing extended amounts of time. The Jays will now enter the off-season where they will need to retool their line up in hopes of ending their monumental playoff drought.

Step one for the Jays will be to decide which players they will return and who will be let go.

Reports are that center fielder Colby Rasmus will not be returning which makes sense as he has been disappointing ever since arriving from the St. Louis Cardinals in 2011. Left fielder Melky Cabrera had a career year this season and is a free agent, he will be due for a big payday if the Jays want to keep him. Closer Casey Janssen is also going to be a free agent and will need to be resigned.

Other players such as John Mayberry Jr., Juan Francisco, Danny Valencia and Todd Redmond will need to have their futures as Blue Jays decided on.

The Jays need to improve their bullpen if they want to break their 21-year-long playoff drought. By targeting a closer through free agency, the Jays could set their sights on the likes of Jason Grilli and Sergio Romo to headline a loaded group of possible free agent arms. Some relievers the Jays could get include right handers Luke Gregerson, Jim Johnson and José Veras or left handers Tom Gorzelanny and Phil Coke.

The starting pitching rotation should be set come next season. The rotation will feature returning starters R.A. Dickey, Marcus Stroman, Mark Buehrle and Drew Hutchison. J.A. Happ, Aaron Sanchez and prospect Daniel Norris will be around to battle for the last rotation spot.

Dickey was solid last year going 13–12 while Stroman impressed fans going 9–6 after his mid-season call up. Despite racing out the gate to a 10–1 record, Buehrle ended the season at 2–8. Hutchison rallied from Tommy John surgery to go 10–12.

The Jays will return their key weapons on the sticks in the form of Bautista, Reyes, Encarnacion and Lind but will also benefit from the return of lost weapons such as Maicer Izturis — who was injured 11 games into the season when he fell down the dugout steps tearing his lateral collateral ligament in his knee. Izturis’ return from injury along with Lawrie being fully healthy should make the Blue Jays offence once again one of the most dangerous in the MLB.

The future looks to be promising for the Blue Jays— but we have all heard that one before.