FanHouse ShawnMarcum

Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2009.

We're coming up on that crossroads season for the Blue Jays. For years they've had a team that, in the prism of the AL East, was merely OK. And each year they were also the team that was expected to break that Red Sox/Yankees stronghold on the division. But those two teams were also the built-in excuse for the Jays when they didn't break through. They have been pretty consistent with their win total over the last 10 seasons (in the 80s every season except for two), but it was never good enough to approach the upper echelon. "Well, the Red Sox and Yankees are in the pantheon of baseball ... who's going to beat them?"

Umm, it was the Rays. And now that the Rays have busted through, the pressure is on the Jays to finally kick this franchise into another gear and make their move. There's no reason to think they can't do it, as the club went 51-37 after replacing John Gibbons with Cito Gaston as manager ... a pace that would have placed them just a hair short of the Sox for the wild card. That's a significant stride, but not enough to be a playoff team quite yet. And with the imminent departure of A.J. Burnett, there will be some work to do to get there.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

San Diego Padres (23-37) vs. Chicago Cubs (38-21) - 10:05PM Est.

I know it's still way too early in the season to start talking about the World Series, seeing as how there are still two-thirds of the season left to be played, and anything can happen between now and October. Especially when the Cubs are involved, because four months is plenty of time for an asteroid to crash into Wrigley Field or for Carlos Zambrano to feel a tweek in his elbow.

Still, you look at this team right now, and it's hard to not wonder if they're a serious threat to win their first World Series in 100 years. They have the highest batting average in baseball (.288), they have the highest OBP (.368), they've scored more runs than anybody else (340), and they have the best record in baseball at 38-21.

Oh, and they've also won their last nine games.

So is there anything that can stop this team?