Jays are Going to the World Series

 Ok, I've taken a bit of a hiatus on this blog with work getting busy and me just reevaluating if I want to continue these or how I want to if I do. I missed a Steelers reaction from their Thursday night loss, I'll try to come back late with that as well. Today is a special day though, for the first time in my life the Toronto Blue Jays are going to the World Series. If that doesn't call for a blog post, I don't know what does. Honestly I'm just going to memory dump as many of my Jays memories as I can in this one. 

My first ever sports love was the Toronto Blue Jays. It's easy to see why. My whole life Raptors and Leafs tickets were >$100 per game, not really something you can take your family of 5 to regularly unless you're pulling in the big bucks.  The Jays though you could get 500 level tickets for $15 each, and with my dad being a sports fan that meant we went to a lot of Jays games. I distinctly remember going as a kid to a baseball card giveaway day and trading with my cousins and brothers for the Jays players we wanted most. Nobody wanted BJ Ryan. I remember distinctly being disappointed one day when we had tickets to a Roy Halladay start but he was scratched due to injury and we had to watch Brett Cecil instead. Every day on TV I would analyze the lineups and the pitcher, memorizing everyone's batting average and ERA. You could ask me at any time what Lyle Overbay's home run total was and I'd be able to recall it. Those Jays teams were never bad, but they also were never good. Luckily in my childhood innocence without the internet, there was nobody around to tell me that a mid team isn't fun and so watching my mid Blue Jays became my favorite pass time. 

Time went on and the Jays evolved, still mid, but trying to dig out of it. 2010 when I was 12 years old, Jose Bautista broke out hitting 54 home runs to lead the majors that year. That team finished 4th in the AL East, a usual spot for my Jays, but I distinctly remember locking in for every game just to see how many Jose could hit. The next year would be the rookie seasons for Brett Lawrie and JP Arencibia. I still recall texting in to a Blue Jays radio show that Arencibia would be the catcher of the future and we need to hold on to this guy. Yunel Escobar was our short stop and I'll never forget going to a game with my entire family and having an usher named Maureen who was super into fan engagement. She would start chants: "when I say Yunel you say hit, Yunel: HIT, Yunel: HIT, Yunel: HIT HIT HIT." Or watching a game in September where Brett Lawrie in a fit of rage threw his helmet just to see it bounce up and hit the umpire resulting in a suspension. I don't know how I remember this so clearly but I know I was super excited to talk about it with my elementary school gym teacher the next day. The year after that was a borderline disaster for the Jays finishing with just 73 wins despite a breakout season from now legend Edwin Encarnacion. I'll never forget the devastation I felt when the Jays lost 3 starting pitchers in a single week to long term injuries, essentially blowing the season up. Even in this objectively boring season, I still remember taking my brother to the mall and waiting 3 hours in line to get a baseball signed by Adeiny Hechavarria and Henderson Alvarez. Two players that only true sickos would know now, but it was a genuine thing I needed to do at the time. I still remember Henderson Alvarez was my favorite pitcher on that team. He never struck guys out but he got a ton of ground balls with his sinker and I remember just thinking about how effective that was all the time. I was truly a nerd for this. 

The next season was the first real heartbreak for my Jays fandom. Over the summer before the 2013 season the Jays swung a massive trade that seemingly upgraded their team that still had Jose Bautista and a new star in Edwin Encarnacion. They acquired Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle and Emilio Bonifacio in a blockbuster trade with the Marlins. I remember the hype around Josh Johnson at the time was unreal. He was coming off 4 straight awesome seasons with the Marlins and was slotted to be the Jays next ace. 2013 would be the last year of his MLB career as he was straight up terrible with the Jays. This team had the makings of something though and was the same team that would call up Munenori Kawasaki in May which delivered an 11 game winning streak on pure vibes alone. I remember going to my baseball games in the evening and just talking about how hot the Jays were. The next season we'd see some semblance of a real team building. Kevin Pillar was now a mainstay on the MLB team, Ryan Goins got his first look, Marcus Stroman busted on the scene in September and I was at a ton of these games. You almost can't accomplish what I accomplished in 2014 ever again. On a random game in August, the Jays went to extra innings with my family in attendance. By the 12th inning, my family had enough and wanted to go home, but I was too big of a fan to leave before the final out. I stuck around in my section in the 500 level until it was just me and the usher sitting together watching neither team be able to score the go ahead run. I distinctly remember how the Jays had already used their whole bench, forcing Juan Francisco to keep coming up in key moments, and of course keep coming up short. Seriously, I pasted the box score above, check it out Francisco had 6 plate appearances as a pinch hitter and went 0-5, it was incredible how frustrated I felt. Eventually Bautista finally came through with a walk-off single in the 19th inning. I hope that usher is chilling now. That team didn't even sniff the playoffs, there was no reason for me to be the last person in the stadium for a 19 inning grind other than just pure love for the game. 

My long standing loyal fandom was rewarded in 2015, which until today was the best season for the Jays in my lifetime. After swinging a trade in the offseason that sent Brett Lawrie to the Athletics in exchange for Josh Donaldson, the Jays were loaded up again and ready to make a real run at things this time. After hovering around .500 right up until the trade deadline, the Jays finally decided to be buyers, and buy they did. I'll never forget hearing that the Jays traded Jose Reyes for Troy Tulowitzki on sports talk radio at around 2am. Being in grade 12, I had no friends up at 2am, especially not ones who liked baseball, so I literally called the radio show just to share my excitement. When I got on, I didn't even have a question, I just told the host that they broke the news to me and how I was feeling hyped. A couple of days later the Jays would trade for David Price to complete one of the more consequential deadlines in Jays history. The Jays would win 11 straight games and launch themselves to the top of the AL east. When the playoffs started, people who used to make fun of me for watching a "boring" sport like baseball were now talking to me about the games and asking for my opinions. For a brief moment, it became cool to be a Jays fan again. Etched in my existence for the rest of my life is how I actually missed the Bautista bat flip live. A teacher in my high school pulled strings to get me on a field trip at a movie theatre. Little did he know it'd take place right as game 5 was happening. I remember being so annoyed as I watched the moment on a Twitter post on my teacher's phone that day. From that point on I vowed to never miss a playoff moment from my favorite team again. 

Of course both 2015 and 2016 were awesome seasons that ended in heartbreak, as I always say it's a privilege to get your heart broken in sports. What was more heart breaking for me was seeing the team go downhill so quickly. 2017 they let Encarnacion walk and Bautista became a shell of himself. Josh Donaldson started the season with "dead arm" and couldn't throw across the diamond. They traded JA Happ mid season, lost RA Dickey to retirement and saw Marco Estrada fall off a cliff. They finished 76-86 and were about to embark on an all out rebuild. Sadly here is where my fandom fell from superfan to casual. I got older, my summers went from being 2 months off to working or being in school and my time and attention shifted away from watching 162 baseball games. Of course I still paid attention to the big moments. I remember Vladimir Guererro Jr and Bo Bichette each hitting .400 in the minor leagues before being called up around the same time, and continuing to rake in the bigs together. I remember them signing Hyun Jin Ryu in 2020 to help right the ship and make the Jays at least a mid team again. They continued to add and build on the young pair of Vladdy and Bo signing Marcus Seimien and George Springer for 2021. That would become the best season since 2016, despite the fact that they lost in embarrassing fashion to the Seattle Mariners in the Wild Card round. Winning one more game in 2022 from 2021 but missing the playoffs completely that year. Making the playoffs in 2023 but getting smoked by the Twins in the wild card round. Then the Jays went out and traded some of their offense first guys for defense first guys setting up an awful 2024 where they couldn't hit the water from a boat. 

2025 we all started the year thinking it'd be more of the same. Not only did the Jays miss out on Roki Sasaki, who we'll now meet in the playoffs, they doubled down on their defense first approach bringing in Andres Gimenez and Myles Straw. Anybody you asked would've told you that this Jays team wasn't going anywhere. I was at opening weekend with Andres Gimenez hitting leadoff and my friend and I were recalling how we thought this season was a wash, but at least the games would be cheap. By May I started to notice the team gelling, and something just felt different about them. I started tuning into more games because they were fun. In this era of everyone hitting bombs or striking out, the Jays were doing the opposite, never striking out, never hitting bombs and it worked. The Jays got breakout seasons from Nathan Lukes, Ernie Clement, Addison Barger and now Trey Yesavage all at once. Bo Bichette went from the worst season of his career in 2024 to the best of his career in 2025. Alejandro Kirk established himself as one of the best catchers in the game. Best of all, the team was just fun. They had an indescribable likeability to them. It seemed like everyone got along, there were no egos or guys wanting to be the hero. Everyone just wanted to have a good time and win games. I think that helped the Jays lead the league in come back victories, they never got too overwhelmed and always knew their teammates would pick them up. This team just made it to the world series. In all of my baseball watching life I've been waiting to say that. Just when I thought my love for the game was waning, this team made the world series. It's always been in me to love the Jays, I mean I sat for 7 hours at a 19 inning game in the middle of a mid season that's forgotten by most, I just needed a reminder of how fun it could be. This next week I plan to soak in all the new fans that come on board for this ride, this is what it's all about. LETS GO BLUE JAYS!