Blue Jays named Canadian Press Team of the Year (Gasp!)

The Toronto Blue Jays have been named Team of the Year
by the Canadian press following their first MLB playoff appearance in 22 seasons

The Blue Jays continue to rake in the offseason hardware, thus allowing the nation of newly-awakened baseball fans to remain in the ‘glory days’ of 2015 for a few days more. Earlier today, the Canadian press named the 2015 Blue Jays their ‘Team of the Year’.

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It’s quite the accomplishment for a team that didn’t reach the championship in the respective sport, let alone win it, but I think we’re all well aware of how much bigger this season was. Trailing the Blue Jays in second place was Canada’s Gold Medal-winning team from last year’s World Junior hockey tournament. Of the Canadian broadcasters and editors polled, Toronto received 71% of the votes.

We can get ourselves bogged down with hyperbole or reminiscing here, but sometimes, there’s no topping the real thing. Enjoy. [Bautista comes to the plate around the 14:45 mark, if that’s something you’re interested in reliving…]

“There’s so many adjectives that come to mind, but great, exciting, proud. I think it just meant a lot for Canada and the city obviously, but more Canada than anything else,” former general manager Alex Anthopoulos said of the 2015 Jays.

“This was a group that cared about each other, that played for one another. Look, they were talented as well — we had some star players — but they meshed so well together. I had people come up to me and say with so many superstar players, how come? They just bonded together, that’s a credit to the manager, to the staff and to the players themselves.”

Related Story: Impact of New York's Chapman deal on the Blue Jays

Anthopoulos himself has collected some hardware even on the way out the door, while Josh Donaldson‘s electrifying debut season earned him the honor of being named American League MVP. The third baseman also took home the Hank Aaron Award.

It’s also a nice feather in the cap of the Shapiro and Atkins regime, who pick up a Team of the Year nod without even taking the field (I kid). So enjoy the next few days of basking in the warm glow of the season that was. Come midnight on Thursday, we may finally be forced to admit that the 2015 ball season has come to a close.