Are the 2025 Blue Jays being haunted by the 1987 team as they struggle to finish line?

For fans of a certain age, the 1987 season for the Toronto Blue Jays will forever haunt them. That's the year the Blue Jays were leading the AL East by three-and-a-half games, with just one week left to play.

Now it wasn't a foregone conclusion that the Blue Jays would be headed to the postseason. Since the beginning of August, they never had more than a two-and-a-half game lead in the division, and the only reason they managed to build up that cushion was due to a seven game win streak from September 20-September 26.

Those games included winning the finale of a four-game series against the Yankees, sweeping a three game series against Baltimore and taking the first three games against Detroit in a four game series.

That streak gave them the biggest lead they had all season in the fight for the AL East title and it felt like, since the Blue Jays had just beaten the Tigers in three straight one-run games (including two walk-offs at Exhibition Stadium) that they had finally pulled away from everyone else and would be going into the postseason on a hot streak.

Are the 2025 Blue Jays being haunted by the 1987 team as they struggle to finish line

But that hot streak got doused in a hurry. They lost the fourth game of that series to Detroit in a 3-2 defeat in 13 innings. No worries, still up by two-and-a-half games with six games remaining. But the Blue Jays offense sputtered (sound familiar) against the Brewers and Milwaukee swept Toronto in three games.

The final series of the year was in Detroit, it might as well have been called the ALDS - since the winner of the three game set was headed to the ALCS as AL East champions. The Blue Jays scored a combined four runs in the three games, while the pitching staff did their job, but it wasn't good enough as they lost all three games 4-3, a 3-2 walk-off in 12 innings, and a 1-0 shutout.

Toronto missed the postseason entirely - as there was only the one way to get there in '87 and the memories of that final week still haunt long-time Blue Jays fans.

Now, maybe things aren't as dire in 2025 as they were in 1987. The Blue Jays of 2025 have at least secured a spot in the postseason, thanks to the expanded format, although they did had an even bigger lead for the division title than their counterparts from '87, ahead of the Yankees by five games with 11 left to play, including the tiebreaker.

They've let their lead slip away, but thanks to that 8-5 record during the regular season against New York, Toronto can still claim the division and a first-round bye if the teams remain tied. But it's not only the way they've played over the last two weeks that are drawing similarities to those haunting memories.

When the Blue Jays of '87 played the Tigers at home, star shortstop Tony Fernandez was injured when the Tigers Bill Madlock slid into Fernandez trying to break up a double play and the collision resulted in Fernandez breaking his right elbow. He'd miss the remainder of the year and his absence in the lineup was clearly felt. Fernandez was a 25-year-old All-Star that year and he hit .322/.379/.426 with 51 walks and 48 strikeouts with 186 hits in 146 games.

Similarily, the Blue Jays of 2025 lost their star shortstop for the remainder of the season in a game against a division rival. Bo Bichette hasn't played since September 6, when he injured his leg sliding into Yankees catcher Austin Wells. The Blue Jays went 7-1 in the first eight games of Bichette's absences before the offense started to sputter. They are 2-6 since September 17 and have scored more than one run in a game just twice in that span.

While it's not a direct comparison because, again, the Blue Jays will be playing October baseball. The 2025 Blue Jays are drawing similar feelings to the 1987 Blue Jays on how they may be giving up a big opportunity right at the finish line.