Great writeup, Moe. You're right even though I of course don't like it. I'm taking my daughters to their first live game today and didn't want to hear that right now. Not complaining, just explaining. So I'll look at whether they could go 42-28 (.600) the rest of the way.
From Apr. 13 through June 2nd they went 29-16 (.644). June 1st is when Felix went on the DL. There's been plenty of talk that when they lost their ace it deflated team psyche. What that says about the effectiveness of the mental approach Servais & co. are supposed to be introducing isn't good. However, if that did affect their play, Felix coming out Wednesday with any semblance of a Felix-like game might bring this team back to some semblance of the 104 win pace they played 45 games of early this year. I can hold onto that for another week or so anyway.
July 31st will be too late for any acquisition though. Expecting the bullpen to play over their head again for a long stretch would be a mistake. If the psyches need boosted, bringing in a Chapman or similar could help with more than just pitching in late innings.
It's getting away but I'm not ready to say it's gone.