Reliving 4 best playoff runs in Blue Jays history while fans are stuck watching from home in 2024

It has been hard being a Toronto Blue Jays fan for the past three seasons, watching the Jays consistently fail in their quest for an exciting and deep playoff run. Back in 2022, their dream was utterly destroyed in an awkward sequence that involved Jays shortstop Bo Bichette colliding with outfielder George Springer. In the process, it allowed the Seattle Mariners to come all the way back from being down 8-1 at one point to win 10-9 in Game 2 of the AL Wild Card Series. The complete collapse took away from the strong pitching performance by Jays’ ace Kevin Gausman, as well as Teoscar Hernández’s two-home run performance. The comeback stung even more when it hit the record books by becoming the second largest comeback in MLB postseason history.

Then came another playoff run in which the Jays came up way short once again the following year in 2023. Their offense was stymied by the stingy Minnesota Twins’ pitching staff, as they held the Jays to just one run over two games in the AL Wild Card Series. This time around, the highlight (or “low”light) of their demise came when starter José Berríos was taken out of the game by Jays’ manager John Schneider despite cruising along and shutting down the Twins’ hitters. The moment he was removed, the Twins quickly pushed two runs across as it was all that they needed to secure a 2-0 game and series win over Toronto.

This season, the circumstances have been even worse, as the Jays failed to even make the postseason completely. However, despite their disappointing showings in recent years,, it hasn’t been all that bad when taking a look at some of the Jays’ historical playoff runs from the past. In fact, there have actually been a few exciting and successful ones that are worth re-living the moments through once again as a true Jays’ fan.

As a result, let’s take a look back at four of the best postseason runs made by the Jays in franchise history while fans can remorse in being stuck watching from home for this year.

1992 – The first World Series title

After having reached the postseason in 1991, the Jays made the playoffs once again in 1992, marking the first time in franchise history that they accomplished it in consecutive seasons. With big-game veterans Dave Winfield and Jack Morris becoming a vital part of their stacked roster, the Jays believed they had the necessary pieces to win it all this time around. 

But first off, they had to deal with their long-time nemesis Dennis Eckersley and the Oakland Athletics in the ALCS. Having eliminated the Jays from contention back in the 1989 ALCS en route to capturing the World Series championship that season, the Athletics were looking repeat the feat once again in 1992. However, the Jays proved to be a more resilient group this time around. 

After tight matches in each of the first three games of the series in which the final score differential was two runs or less, the Jays managed to hold a 2-1 series lead heading into a pivotal Game 4 in Oakland. Things did not look good for Toronto when the Athletics jumped out to a 6-1 lead with two innings to go. The relentless Jays were able to scratch out three runs in the eighth inning to pull to within two.

That led to the all-time confrontation between Roberto Alomar and Eckersley in the ninth inning. Eckersley had owned the Jays in his career, sporting a 2.93 ERA and 0.98 WHIP with 20 saves against them, while provoking them with his antics following strikeouts from time to time. However, Alomar would do justice by delivering a game-tying, double-hand raising two-run homer to knot the game at six. The Jays would go on to complete the comeback by taking the game 7-6 in extra innings, taking a stranglehold of the series in which they ultimately won 4-2.

Then came the Atlanta Braves in the World Series championship. As perennial contenders during an extended stretch between 1991 to 2005, the Braves were a tough matchup for the Jays, but they sure did not back down from the challenge. The intense series was highlighted with some key moments, including Devon White’s near, but should have been, triple play in Game 3 and Ed Sprague’s pinch-hit two-run homer off Braves’ closer Jeff Reardon to cap a hard-fought, come-from-behind win for the Jays in Game 2. In the end, the Jays’ biggest offseason signing in Winfield delivered when the team needed him most. Despite struggling all series, he registered the most important hit of his life with the go-ahead two run double in extra innings of Game 6. The Jays closed it out in the bottom half of the 11th to secure their first ever World Series title.

2015 – The bat flip heard around the world

After over two decades without getting a taste of the postseason, the Jays were suddenly contenders once again in 2015 when GM Alex Anthopoulos went “all-in” at the trade deadline. With key acquisitions in Cy Young winner David Price, along with star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and leadoff hitter Ben Revere, it vaulted the team into the playoffs after spending most of the season hovering near the .500 mark.

In the ALDS, the Jays were up against the pesky Texas Rangers. Despite having both aces Price and Marcus Stroman lined up for the first two games in the series at home, Toronto somehow came out of it down 2-0 and facing elimination heading into Texas. The Jays would manage to get surprisingly strong starts from both Marco Estrada and R.A. Dickey to even up the series, bringing it back to Toronto for the fifth and series-deciding game.

Game 5 will certainly go down as perhaps one of the most exciting, controversial, yet intense games in Jays’ history. After the Rangers went ahead 3-2 in the top of the seventh inning on a bizarre toss back play by Jays’ catcher Russell Martin, a series of errors made by the Rangers in the bottom half of the inning help set up the hit heard around the world. With Jays’ slugger José Bautista at the plate, he delivered his biggest moment of his illustrious career by connecting on a go-ahead, three-run home run off Rangers’ reliever Sam Dyson. In doing so, his infamous bat flip became immortalized in baseball history. As a result, the Jays completed the huge series comeback from being down 2-0 to defeat the Rangers in five games.

However, the Jays would lose their playoff magic by the time they faced the Kansas City Royals in the ALCS. It would be a series filled with missed opportunities and misplays by Toronto, especially during the pivotal Game 6. With the game tied 3-3 in the eighth inning, Royals’ outfielder Lorenzo Cain managed to score all the way from first on an Eric Hosmer single when Bautista nonchalantly pursued the ball and threw it in casually to second base. 

Also in the ninth, the Jays managed to get a runner to third with nobody out thanks to two stolen bases by pinch-runner Dalton Pompey. Unfortunately, their star players would come up empty at the plate as the Jays lost the game 4-3 and the series 4-2 to the Royals, ending their spirited run.

2016 – The revenge on Odor and the Rangers

The Jays managed to make the postseason for the second consecutive season the following year in 2016. But for the first time in franchise history, the Jays had to take part in the one-game, winner-takes-all elimination AL Wild Card game against the Baltimore Orioles. The game was a close affair, as it remained tied at two from the fifth inning onwards. It ended up requiring extra innings to decide the match. It was then when Orioles’ manager Buck Showalter made the controversial call of using Ubaldo Jiménez instead of 2016 AL Reliever of the Year Zach Britton in the tight match. That move backfired big time as Edwin Encarnación went on to deliver the game-winning three-run homer in the bottom of the 11th inning to secure a 5-2 Jays win.

That put the Jays through to the ALDS in a rematch against their newly created rivals in the Rangers. The rivalry between the two teams started the previous season when the Jays made the improbable comeback to take the 2015 ALDS 3-2 from the Rangers. It quickly escalated during the 2016 season during a regular season game between the two clubs as a result of an aggressive slide by Bautista into second base. In doing so, Rangers’ second baseman Rougned Odor took exception of it and started a heated exchange with Bautista. In the process, Odor delivered a blow to Bautista’s face as the benches emptied.

Consequently, the drama helped build up the must-see playoff matchup between the two clubs. The Rangers were hoping for redemption from the previous season whereas the Jays were looking to exact some revenge for what they did to their star player. Bautista and the Jays sure got the last laugh when they ended up sweeping the Rangers handily in three games. The main highlight came in Game 3 in Toronto with the game tied at six heading into the bottom of the 10th inning. With Josh Donaldson on second with a leadoff double and Encarnación on first from an intentional walk, Martin hit a ground ball to Rangers’ shortstop Elvis Andrus. Andrus threw the ball to Odor covering second to get the out there. But when Odor transferred the ball to first in an attempt to complete the double play, the ball went way wide, allowing Donaldson to dash all the way home to seal the win for the Jays. 

Unfortunately, the Jays couldn’t carry that huge momentum that they gained from the ALDS into the ALCS against the Cleveland Indians at the time. In fact, their entire offense suffered a huge power outage as the Indians’ pitching staff, led by the infallible reliever Andrew Miller, held the Jays to just 2 home runs and 8 total runs over five games. As a result, the Indians took the series easily 4-1, ending the Jays’ last deep playoff run to date.

Hopefully, the Jays will be able to produce some more memorable postseason runs in the near future, but for this year, they can only sit back and wait for next season.