Blue Jays: Even without a ring, it’s been a good decade

Playoff Appearances

The obvious place to start would be with the successful teams of the 2015 and 2016 seasons. With star studded lineups over those two seasons, the Blue Jays managed to make back to back postseason appearances, snapping a more than two decade long streak of missing out.

Then-GM Alex Anthopoulos made some bold trades in the summer of 2015 that ignited the fan base, and sending the 2015 squad on a hot streak that would land them in the playoffs. First they acquired Troy Tulowitzki from the Colorado Rockies, fortifying their infield and adding another potentially lethal bat to the lineup. Then came the even bigger fish, getting David Price from the Detroit Tigers to give the Jays a bonafide ace.

Winning the AL East in 2015, the Blue Jays got to skip the Wild Card game and were squared off against the Texas Rangers in the Division series. We’ll get to more of this later, but that series led to one of the most iconic moments in franchise history when Jose Bautista blew the roof of the Rogers Centre. That landed the Blue Jays in the ALCS against the Royals, and while there are some moments we’d love to have back, they put up a valiant effort in a 4-2 series loss.

In 2016 the Blue Jays returned to the playoffs, but this time they had to go through the Wild Card route. This of course provided the opportunity for another franchise defining moment from Edwin Encarnacion, and the Blue Jays ousted the Baltimore Orioles thanks in part to some questionable decision making from Buck Showalter.

This time the Blue Jays had the pleasure of sweeping the Rangers in the division series, before going on to lose in the ALCS for the second consecutive season, this time at the hands of the Cleveland Indians.

While they didn’t end up with a championship, the Blue jays reignited the fan base in Toronto and all across the country. Even ending in disappointment, it was a lot more fun than a 67-win season like the one we had in 2019.