32 all-time great Blue Jays who never got this close to winning it all in Toronto

32 years is a long time to go between winning a World Series and getting to your next Fall Classic. That's what makes this 2025 run for the Toronto Blue Jays so special. The entire city of Toronto has had only one of it's major sports franchises win a championship since the Blue Jays in 1993 - the Toronto Raptors were NBA champions in 2019.

Sure, the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL have won several Grey Cups and Toronto FC which has an enormous following and are absolutely a part of Toronto's sports fabric and they took home the MLS Cup in 2017. But the CFL and MLS do not equate to the heights of popularity of Major League Baseball. So for all intents and purposes, Toronto's sports fans have had very little to celebrate in three decades.

And for the Blue Jays, a franchise that has been around for almost 50 years - this is a scenario they have only been in three times. That is so many summers that have come and gone where so many great players have worn a Blue Jays uniform that never got to within one win of a World Series title.

32 all-time great Blue Jays who never got this close to winning it all in Toronto

1980's

The Toronto Blue Jays first full decade of existence were defined as a team that was always on the cusp but never able to get over the hump. They were a young team, built from a philisophical foundation laid out by Pat Gillick to scour the ends of the earth for raw talent and develop that talent in house. Gillick also exploited other GMs through the Rule 5 draft for years and made many trades for younger guys with untapped potential only to see them blossom with the Blue Jays.

From roughly 1983 to 1989 this list reads as a who's who of Blue Jay greats. From the Blue Jays first true ace Dave Stieb, to their first MVP in George Bell and his formidable outfield teammates in Jesse Barfield and Llyod Moseby this was a group of players that go agonizingly close several times. (fWAR in parenthesis) Barfield (27.7) Moseby (24.2) and Bell (19.2) were no doubt the anchors in that lineup and carried that offense throughout most of the decade as indicated by their accumulated fWARs from '83-89.

You can also throw Fred McGriff on this list who accumulated a 19.4 bWAR in his time as a Blue Jays. But trading McGriff led to the Blue Jays winning the World Series and the Hall of Famer also captured a title later in his career.

Catcher Ernie Whitt (20.1) was also a part of this group and was a member of the original 1977 Blue Jays, playing in 23 games in their inaugural year and just missed out on the World Series years with his Blue Jays tenure ending after the '89 season.

He caught Stieb (24.3) for many of those seasons, where Stieb was the focus, but long time fan will also remember Jim Clancy (16.1) and Doyle Alexander (11.2) as players who would have looked great making World Series starts for the Blue Jays.

Rance Mulliniks (15.8), Willie Upshaw (12.7) and Damaso Garcia (8.7) were also staples on those Blue Jays teams and for many fans were the first real superstars to play baseball in Toronto. But the closest any of these guys came was getting to Game 7 of the ALCS against the Kansas City Royals which ended with the Royals winning the pennant.

1990's and 2000's

When the Blue Jays did win in 1992 and 1993 it was thanks to the work of that next set of star players and guys that will forever be remembered. Joe Carter, Roberto Alomar, John Olerud, Dave Winfield, Paul Molitor, Devon White, Juan Guzman, Pat Hentgen, Jack Morris, Dave Stewart, Tom Henke and Duane Ward, just to name a few.

But after those years, the Blue Jays began to hit a low point, and even though they were churning out some good, home grown talent over the next few seasons, it became increasingly harder to compete with the deep pockets of the Yankees and the Red Sox.

There were a few seasons from 1995 - 2010 where the Blue Jays were really good, but some of the best players of those eras never even made the postseason. That includes Carlos Delgado (36.8), Roy Halladay (48.4), Vernon Wells (28.7), Alex Rios (20.4), Shannon Stewart (18.7), Aaron Hill (17.1), Shawn Green (13.3), Orlando Hudson (12.6), Adam Lind (8.5), Ricky Romero (10.1), and Shaun Marcum (9.8).

These players produced some big individual seasons. Delgado for instance had four consecutive years where he put up MVP type numbers. while Wells, when healthy, was one of the best hitters in the game. Of course Halladay pitched like a future Hall of Famer and Hill and Lind were the focal points of the offense for several seasonsn. And while technically Delgado (and Stieb) both have rings from '93 and '92 respectively - neither contributed in the Blue Jays postseason runs.

During these years the Blue Jays also brought in some high end talent like Roger Clemens (20.1), José Cruz (11.5) and Paul Quantrill (11.2) who put up tremendous seasons in their time in Toronto, but never got to the level of the teams from those championship years.

2010's

This decade began with a bang for the Blue Jays and a renewed sense of optimism thanks in large part to one guy; José Bautista. He broke the franchise record for home runs in a single season and became the first Blue Jay to reach 50 in a year. He kick started a movement that really felt like baseball was not only fun to watch again in Toronto, but he brought an attitude that the team had seemed to be missing for years.

Bautista (38.4) led the charge as the Blue Jays finally put together another postseason run aided by the talents of Edwin Encarnacion (24.9) Josh Donaldson (19.4), Kevin Pillar (14), J.A. Happ (10.2) Marco Estrada (9.6), and Russell Martin (8.1).

These weren't the only guys that made those runs in 2015 and 2016 a possibility, but their career WARs as Blue Jays standout among their peers. They were also a part of a group that fell agonizingly short of their ultimate goal, losing back to back American League Championship Series.

2020's

There's one player on the Blue Jays all-time career WAR list who standout as a great Blue Jay but never got this close to the World Series, and that player is Teoscar Hernandez. Teo, like Bautista, started to solidify himself as a guy that could be the main power threat in a Blue Jays lineup that was starting to blossom.

But after a disappointing finish in the 2022 postseason, Hernandez was traded, meaning he would only get as close as the Wild Card series in a Blue Jays uniform, despite his 10.6 bWAR.

Full List:
Dave Stieb, George Bell, Jesse Barfield, Lloyd Moseby, Ernie Whitt, Jim Clancy, Doyle Alexander. Rance Mulliniks, Willie Upshaw, Damaso Garcia,
Carlos Delgado, Roy Halladay, Vernon Wells, Alex Rios, Shannon Stewart, Aaron Hill, Shawn Green, Orlando Hudson, Adam Lind, Roger Clemens, José Cruz, Paul Quantrill, Ricky Romero, Shaun Marcum.
José Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Josh Donaldson, Kevin Pillar, J.A. Happ, Marco Estrada, Russell Martin.
Teoscar Hernandez.