Are the Leafs Toronto’s winning team of the summer?

As the sun sets on Chris Bosh's Toronto tenure, the Toronto Raptors look to be in worse trouble than a fish out of water. Bosh signed a letter of intent to join Dwayne Wade in Miami on the Heat. Lebron James was quick to follow suit… giving Miami a trifecta so potent that it’s leaving basketball enthusiasts salivating in anticipation (aptly renaming Miami, Triami?). While it was reported earlier in the week that Toronto would get Mario Chalmers and Marcus Beasley for Bosh, these rumours were vanquished when it left Wade as the only player remaining on the Heat roster. After James announced his intent, Beasley was shipped to Minnesota… and in the end, the Raptors got nothing but future considerations for their former franchise player. They lose the franchise players, get draft picks.
Just up the Lakeshore, the Jays had lost eight of nine. Their downward spiral has them treading water at .500 winning percentage at the All-Star break (which means win one, lose one). Meanwhile, their division foes: the New York Yankees are at a winning percentage of .635, the Boston Red Sox are at .578, and lastly, the former bottom dweller squad, the Tampa Bay Rays, are at .612 clip. Obviously, .500 is average… but in this division, average gets you nothing. The Jays looked good for a long time, but they look to be having their usual midseason, summer collapse. On Friday night, they lost to rival Boston, 14-3.
The Toronto Argonauts odds to win the Grey Cup? +3000. That is roughly 25 to 1! The team with the worst odds besides them to win are the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at +1200… which is more than twice as favourable as Toronto’s! With no established quarterback, the Argos will be in rebuilding mode this summer and possibly for a long time. Honestly though, even if they do find someone to pass, who’s he going to throw to? They have one receiver with a career CFL catch… enough said.
As Toronto sports teams take a hit this summer, the Maple Leafs– yes, the Toronto Maple Leafs– look to be the winner of Toronto. Leafs GM Brian Burke has landed Colby Armstrong and Brett Lebda, as well traded for Kris Versteeg, and re-signed Nikolai Kulemin. Now, if Burke can only find a big-time centre, the Leafs will surely be a playoff team (rumour has it there is no room left in Boston for centreman Marc Savard now that they’ve drafted Tyler Seguin. When Phil Kessel scored 42 goals in Boston, Savard assisted on 26 of them).
As a whole, Toronto as of late, hasn’t been a very successful sporting city. Toronto lacks any sort of championship since the Argonauts in 2004. But in the three major sporting leagues, the last championship was the Toronto Blue Jays in 1993… seventeen years ago. If you count the Bills as Toronto’s NFL squad, it won’t help the stats.
It remains to be seen which team actually wins the summer, but the Leafs look like they’re on track to win this one. It may not be much in a city with a combined record of 262-315 across these four sports since last year’s respective seasons (just a .450 winning percentage), but it’s a start. Saying the Leafs win anything is a step in the right direction… and hopefully is a sign of things to come for the team with the longest Stanley Cup drought in the NHL.