Alex PattersonWith a swing of his bat, Jose Bautista reminded Canada just how great baseball is. It had been a long, long time since Canadian baseball fans have had anything to cheer for. In the early 90s, the Blue Jays were at the top of the baseball world. They won back-to-back World Series Championships in 1992 and 1993, stealing the most American thing next to apple pie away from our neighbours to the south and making it something of our own. Along with the Jays, we also had the Montreal Expos and a wealth of minor league franchises such as the Edmonton Trappers, Calgary Cannons, Vancouver Canadians, and Ottawa Lynx as mediums for us to enjoy a warm summer night with a game of baseball.
[pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The Jays are in the American league Championship Series and it feels like a dream.[/pullquote]After that, though, it all came crashing down. The Expos packed up and moved to Washington and became the Nationals, and like dominoes, the minor league franchises closed shop, leaving nothing but empty stadiums in their rearview mirror. The only thing that was left from the glory days of baseball in Canada was the Jays who swung and missed for 22 years straight, never coming close to making the playoffs and igniting the country like Joe Carter did when he took a Mitch Williams fastball over the left field porch in the ninth inning of game six to win the 1993 World Series.
Here we are now. The Jays are in the American league Championship Series and it feels like a dream. Whatever happens from here, we should look back on the 2015 Toronto Blue Jays fondly, because they did a damn good job of bringing baseball back to Canada.
The 22-year playoff drought is over
I’ve been watching the Blue Jays since I was nine years old. Before this year, the only time I had ever experienced them in the playoffs was when they won the 1993 World Series as an infant. Unfortunately for me, I can’t remember those days, so I had to take everybody’s word for it when they told me the back-to-back World Series teams weren’t just clever propaganda created to lull me into a false sense of reality that the Blue Jays could actually somehow win a championship.
A lot of things have happened since the last time this team was good. To put it in perspective, we went through a few weeks of Kim Campbell, a decade of Jean Chretien, a few years of Paul Martin and then the reign of Stephen Harper as our Prime Minister between playoff berths. In baseball terms, we saw Roger Clemens, Jose Canseco, Roy Halladay, A.J. Burnett, Carlos Delgado, and Vernon Wells all come and go without a hint of October baseball.
We went through a revolving door of managers, starting with Cito Gaston, who was followed by Mel Queen, Tim Johnson, Jim Fregosi, Cookie Rojas, Buck Martinez (yeah, the guy who does the play-by-play), and John Gibbons before Cito rose from the dead for a couple years. After he finally retired for good, we got John Farrell who eventually jumped ship and went to Boston before being replaced by John Gibbons again.
We were told time and time again that this would be the year. This free agent signing would push us over the top, this trade was what we were looking for, or this prospect would step up and make it happen — but it never happened. Finally, this year, it did. At the beginning of the season, if you had told me I would get to watch the Blue Jays play in the playoffs, I would have taken it in a heartbeat without even thinking because the concept seemed so farfetched. The team spent the first half of the season teetering around the .500 mark, finding new, creative ways to lose games despite owning the best run differential in baseball.
Then, suddenly, at the trade deadline, it all came together. They brought in Tulo and Revere to shore up the defence, Price to push everybody back a spot and make the pitching rotation legitimate, and Mark Lowe and LaTroy Hawkins to transform a dumpster fire of a bullpen into one of the best in the game. Every single night, it seemed like the Jays were going to win. We went from watching a team that could sock a few dingers and hopefully out-slug the other team to the occasional victory to watching possibly the most dominant team seen in years.
They’ll be good again next season:
I really don’t think we’re going to witness the beginning of another 22-year run of futility next year. Despite the fact they traded away the majority of their prospects at the trade deadline to bolster their chances of going on a playoff run, the Jays boast a nice group of both young and veteran talent who are under team control for the foreseeable future.
They managed to acquire Josh Donaldson and Troy Tulowtzki via trade without having to give up arguably their best young pitcher in Marcus Stroman, and they were able to hang on to both Roberto Osuna and Aaron Sanchez, which makes up for the losses of promoting prospects like Dan Norris and Jeff Hoffman. Besides, the Jays sold the farm in 2013 when they went “all in” the first time, and Alex Anthopolous managed to restock the prospect shelf within a matter of two years with phenomenal scouting through the draft and the international free agent market. Who knows, maybe Sean Reid-Foley or Connor Greene could be as good, if not better than Dan Norris was when he worked his way through the system.
Outside of David Price, nearly the entire veteran core of this team will be back next year. Hell, Price could still be re-signed, but even if he doesn’t, Donaldson, Tulo, Encarnacion, Bautista, and Martin will all be back to form the most potent lineup in baseball once again next season. Along with them, we’re also watching Kevin Pillar, Devon Travis, Ryan Goins, and Dalton Pompey bud into solid players. It may seem like they went all in for a do or die season, but in reality, this group can and should be competitive for years to come.
It’s a game and it should be fun
Regardless of what happens, it’s been a hell of a ride.
[pullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Over the last few months, I’ve witnessed the birth of a lot of new Jays fans.[/pullquote]Even when the team wasn’t doing well, they provided us with a lot of ridiculous memories. Kevin Pillar became superman and seemed to make a highlight catch every single game. Liam Hendriks, a career minor leaguer from Australia, came into a game at Fenway Park in Boston and struck out the meat of the Red Sox order with the bases loaded to preserve a victory. The day before, they erased an 8-1 deficit to the same Red Sox in the second inning to win 13-10, giving a hint of what this team was all about. Justin Smoak hit the first ever grand slam by a Jay in Yankee stadium, Marco Estrada almost threw a perfect game, and Marcus Stroman healed a torn ACL in just a few months to make it back in time for the playoff run. It was great.
Over the last few months, I’ve witnessed the birth of a lot of new Jays fans. Sure, you can call them bandwagoners, but to me they’re people who have captured why baseball is so great. It’s a slow, confusing game with a lot of rules where a bunch of really weird, and unpredictable stuff happens. There’s also a lot of breaks where nothing will happen for a really long period of time, which leaves a lot of room for aimless conversation, but can also create nail biting suspense. It’s really hard to encapsulate while baseball is so great, but if you really want to know, I suggest you go back and watch the seventh inning of game five of the American League Divisional Series. That’ll pretty much sum it up.
If you’re new to all this, stick around next year — it’ll be a good time.
