TORONTO — Midway through the Toronto Blue Jays’ celebration Sunday evening, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. grabbed the giant hose the Rogers Centre grounds crew uses to treat the infield dirt and turned it on the fans.
Thousands had stayed in their seats to watch the Blue Jays celebrate their first division title since 2015 and they were delighted by the attention from Guerrero Jr., who wore slides, goggles, athletic shorts and a navy blue Division Champs t-shirt as he soaked the fans.
“You have to enjoy yourself,” Guerrero Jr. said, dripping with champagne and beer shortly after the team clinched the division over the Yankees. “This means a lot. We finished in last place last year and this year we finished in first.”
Soon afterwards, catcher Tyler Heineman grabbed a bottle of champagne and poured it into the mouths of eager fans. Nearby, Ernie Clement and a shirtless Davis Schneider conducted a joint interview on live TV as the Blue Jays celebrated their best regular-season record since 1993 and their seventh-ever division title. Somewhere in the background, Alejandro Kirk quietly sipped a beer.
Moments like this underscore what this achievement means to the players, who have been working daily toward this goal since February. And yes, bigger goals are ahead for Guerrero Jr. and the Blue Jays. If they don’t win a playoff game for the first time since 2016, it’ll all feel pretty hollow.
Yet at the end of a 162-game season, teams end up where they deserve to be. Day by day, the Blue Jays earned this. Then on Sunday, Kirk broke open game 162 with a grand slam, the first of two home runs he’d hit in the series finale — an accomplishment both impressive and unsurprising to those who know him.
As George Springer said, “What a swing from Alejandro. That turned the whole game around.”
In the coming days there will be plenty of time to focus on the Division Series and what comes next. For now, it’s worth stopping to appreciate what’s actually happened here and recognizing the significance not only of the AL East title but of Toronto’s first-ever playoff bye.
Zooming out beyond this current season, the Blue Jays have been consistent contenders for the past six seasons. Over the last half-decade, the Blue Jays have averaged 88 wins per season, ninth-best in MLB during that period trailing only the Dodgers, Astros, Brewers, Yankees, Braves, Phillies, Mariners and Rays.
But until now, the Blue Jays have not quite been an elite team, either, never winning more than 92 games under president Mark Shapiro and GM Ross Atkins. So while they’ve made the playoffs, they hadn’t earned this kind of security before.
“It’s one less series you’ve gotta win,” said outfielder Myles Straw. “What, we’ve got to win three now? So, three series. We’ve done that a lot this year. I like our team against anyone. We’re ready to roll, get a few days off, get some practice in and get right back to it.”
Each of the last three times the Blue Jays have reached the post-season, it’s been as a Wild-Card team, and they have yet to win a game in that round. In 2020, under Charlie Montoyo, they were swept by the Rays. In 2022, John Schneider’s first season as manager, they blew an 8-1 lead to the Mariners on the way to another sweep. And in 2023, the bats went cold, Yusei Kikuchi replaced Jose Berrios in Minneapolis and a third sweep ensued.
As Schneider said recently: “The season will chew you up and spit you out.”
“This game can lead you down some weird paths,” he continued. “It can hurt you. It can taunt you a little bit.”
Every year around this time, executives around baseball point to the frustrating nature of short series, when one or two plays can have an outsized impact on the trajectory of a franchise. As they say, a Wild-Card series is by no means representative of a team’s true talent level.
But while that point is technically true, others in the game counter with a point that’s perhaps stronger. We all know how unpredictable baseball is, but there’s a way to avoid the perils of a three-game series — win your division and earn a first-round bye.
Since 2022, when MLB introduced the current playoff format, the Blue Jays have never been able to accomplish that. They’ve been playing and losing wild-card games while better teams rested up and avoided the experience altogether.
Now, they’re that team. Let the Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers and Guardians stress for 72 hours in early October. The Blue Jays can rest and strategize without a doubt that an ALDS berth awaits them.
It’s a huge achievement — one that wouldn’t have been possible without contributions from every level of the organization. At long last, they’ve led the Blue Jays to a position of power they haven’t earned previously. So for one day in the course of a long season, it’s well worth celebrating what they’ve achieved. It’s significant. Really, it’s the best-case scenario for a regular season.
And starting soon, it’ll be time to take full advantage of the coveted position they’ve gained and push for much more.
“I feel good,” Guerrero Jr. said. “And tomorrow I’ll feel great. But the job’s not finished.”
