Blue Jays have historically great start to playoffs, and can't let up now

It was the 2015 ALDS against the Texas Rangers and their first Postseason appearance since 1993. It was a long time coming for the Blue Jays, and they had home-field advantage. Unfortunately, their return to the playoffs did not receive the fanfare they had hoped for.

Game 1 got off to a tough start, with the Rangers jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the third inning. The Blue Jays would chip away at the lead, but it was Rougned Odor who homered off David Price in the seventh to seal a 1-0 series lead for the Rangers.

Game 2 was a neck-and-neck battle between Toronto and Texas. With a 4-4 tie into the 14th inning, Hanser Alberto and Delino DeShields each brought it a run to give Texas a 2-0 series lead.

The series moved to Texas, and what seemed to be the end of the road for the Blue Jays, they began to fight back. Game 3 saw the bats come alive, led by Troy Tulowitzki's three-run homer. Meanwhile, Marco Estrada threw six and a third strong innings en route to a 5-1 win. Game 4 saw an even stronger performance with home runs from Josh Donaldson, Chris Colabello, and Kevin Pillar to help the Blue Jays even the series and send it back to Toronto for a do-or-die Game 5.

Of course, the Blue Jays would ultimately win Game 5 behind Jose Bautista's legendary bat flip and move on to the ALCS. As of 2025, teams that have a 2-0 series lead in a best-of-five are 80-10 and are 60-7 since MLB introduced the divisional series in 1995. The Blue Jays were one of those teams that beat the odds, something that the New York Yankees will probably remind themselves of going into Game 3 of this year's ALDS.