Before tonights Toronto Blue Jays game at the Rogers Centre, when the American League East leaders host last years National League pennant winners, the St. Louis Cardinals, the team will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of the opening of the SkyDome. Jays legends Jimmy Key and Ernie Whitt, members of playoff and World Series-winning teams of the past, will be on hand for the festivities to look back at what was the beginning of the Jays halcyon years. The return of these former stars comes at an apt time. For fans of the Blue Jays, its starting to feel a lot like those glory days again. Heading into Fridays game, the Jays sit at 37-24 with a five-and-a-half-game lead on the second-place Baltimore Orioles. The last team the Blue Jays held such a lead atop the division was in 1985, the year of their first-ever AL East triumph. Its easy to see why theres excitement surrounding this Jays team, but before everybody goes and books their flights to San Francisco for the World Series in October, lets step back and take a good look at these Toronto Blue Jays. Is it time to stop saying "Well, its early" and officially deem them contenders? Is the 2014 version of the Jays just the 2013 one that was expected all along, but a year late on arrival? Or will reality catch up with a team that is currently playing above its station? Friday night marks Game 62, and an even 100 games remain in the regular season. While its not exactly the halfway mark, its as good a time as any to reflect on the interesting dichotomy of the Jays season, thus far. Obviously, there have been plenty of key performances from the top of the roster on down. Mark Buehrle leads the league in wins with 10 and has a paltry 2.10 ERA. Edwin Encarnacion launched 16 jacks in May and made every at-bat a must-see event. Jose Bautista is in the midst of an MVP-calibre season. Melky Cabrera has bounced back from offseason surgery and looks headed to another All-Star Game. Jose Reyes once again looks like the catalyst he was for the New York Mets. Picked up from the Milwaukee Brewers scrap heap, Juan Francisco is one of the five Jays with double-digit home run totals. There is a lot to like right now. But before the Jays were sweeping the likes of the Detroit Tigers and Oakland Athletics and tearing the cover off the baseball with reckless abandon and going 17-4 over its last 21 games, this team was once a very average 20-20. Its bullpen is still second-last in the bigs with a 4.62 ERA, having surrendered a league-worst 97 earned runs. Now second in the AL with 19 home runs, Encarnacion couldnt buy a hit in April and had just two homers. Reyes, Adam Lind and Casey Janssen missed significant time. Brandon Morrow and Colby Rasmus are down again. There were red flags all over this team not that long ago, but those have been seemingly swept aside in a tidal wave of power-hitting and timely pitching. Has this changed your expectations for the rest of the year? With April and early May indicating that the team was headed for another year of mediocrity, the fact that the Jays are division-leaders with the third-best record in baseball in June is quite frankly shocking. But wasnt this the Toronto Blue Jays team that was promised last season after a winter of major trades and free agent acquisitions? Maybe this run that the Jays are on isnt the aberration. Perhaps, last season and the beginning of this year was the outlier. Regardless of why its happening and how long it will last, the Blue Jays are currently playing meaningful baseball and its a welcome change for fans starving for a winner. So with 100 games left in 2014, just who are these Toronto Blue Jays and what happens from here on out? As always, its Your Call! 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Yu Chang Indians Jersey . -- The Val-dOr Foreurs made it to the Memorial Cup semifinal thanks to their workhorse goaltender and their ability to hang around like a bad cold.LONDON -- Chelsea announced Tuesday that Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer had signed a new one-year contract and confirmed the departures of Ashley Cole and Samuel Etoo. Schwarzer moved to Chelsea last year on a free transfer from Fulham and proved a reliable backup to Petr Cech. He made 12 starts with the team, as well as a substitute appearance in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal against Atletico Madrid. The 41-year-old Schwarzer, who holds the record of being Australias most capped player, retired from international football in November. He also played for Middlesbrough and Bradford after moving to England from Germanys Kaiserslautern in 1996. Portuguese goalkeeper Hilario left Chelsea earlier this week at the end of his contract. Former England left-back Cole and Cameroon captain Etoo have also departed after their contracts expired.dddddddddddd Coles departure from Stamford Bridge follows a season in which he was restricted to 17 Premier League appearances, with Jose Mourinho preferring Cesar Azpilicueta in defence. The 33-year-old defender, who earned 107 caps for England, retired from international football after being passed over for the World Cup in Brazil. Cole, who joined Chelsea from Arsenal in 2006, has won a league title, four FA Cups, the Europa League and the Champions League with the Blues. Etoo, who signed a one-year deal from Anzhi Makhachkala last August, scored 12 goals in 35 matches, including a hat trick against Manchester United. The 33-year-old has been linked with a move to Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande. ' ' '