I don't necessarily disagree with the overall tone. I'm just not sure how fair it is to lump the second half of last season in when explaining this team.
They had 2 SPs for a large part of that back half, a fantastic bullpen, and relied on pitching chaos. This year is a pretty significant difference in that aspect. Heck, just looking at Flaherty alone is a contradiction of success over 140 vs the last 11 or 15 or whatever.
But they're not the best team in the league as they were for the 1st 3 months of this season. They're not the worst team in the league as they have shown in the last two weeks. They're somewhere in between, and simply going through a slump right now.