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

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.