Jays Journal Podcast - July 19. "Hope & Misery."

On a night when fans debated the merits of staying up to watch a mesmerizingly bad five hour baseball game in the middle of a work week, the Toronto Blue Jays suffered an ignominious defeat at the hands of their perennial rivals, the Boston Red Sox, 5-4 in 15 fundamentally unsound innings. Mired in last place in the AL East at 43-50 (.462) and 5.5 games back of the second wild card, only time remains their greatest adversary in 2017.

We're thrilled to open this action-packed edition of the show with your host, Ari Shapiro, presenting three radically different baseball perspectives for you to enjoy:

First, we're joined by superfan and Big Brother Canada Season 3 veteran, Risha Denner (@MSRISHAD) who talks about "the church of baseball" and how the sport is both cathartic and necessary in her life (3:01), and why social media has distorted the line between fan and fair-weather fool (8:41).

Next, Jason Woodell (@JasonAtTheGame) from Prospects1500.com sits down to offer us his minor league expertise on the future of the team (13:10), the significance of blue chip entry level prospects in their system (16:07), and why the culture of the Jays will likely be in safe hands with the ascent of Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero jr. (25:02).

Finally, writer and blogger from The Sporting News MLB, Ian Hunter (@BlueJaysHunter), engages Ari with a compelling and realistic perspective on where this team is headed (32:31), on the psychological influence of repeated blowouts (35:33), and if Mark Shapiro should be held as the scapegoat for their trials and tribulations (43:15).