The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian
professional baseball team based in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...
. The Blue Jays compete in
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...
(MLB) as a member club of the
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...
(AL)
East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games primarily at
Rogers Centre in downtown Toronto.
The name "Blue Jays" originates from the
bird of the same name, and blue is also the
traditional colour of Toronto's collegiate and
professional sports teams
In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought lar ...
including the
Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic ...
(
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...
) and the
Argonauts
The Argonauts (; Ancient Greek: ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War (around 1300 BC) accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, '' Argo ...
(
Canadian football
Canadian football () is a sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's scoring area ( ...
). In 1976, out of the over 4,000 suggestions, 154 people selected the name "Blue Jays." In addition, the team was originally owned by the
Labatt Brewing Company, makers of the popular beer Labatt Blue. Colloquially nicknamed the "Jays", the team's official colours are royal blue, navy blue, red, and white.
An
expansion franchise, the club was founded in Toronto in 1977. Originally based at
Exhibition Stadium
Canadian National Exhibition Stadium (commonly known as Exhibition Stadium or CNE Stadium) was a multi-purpose stadium that formerly stood on the Exhibition Place grounds, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Originally built for Canadian National Exhi ...
, the team began playing its home games at SkyDome upon its opening in 1989. Since 2000, the Blue Jays have been owned by
Rogers Communications
Rogers Communications Inc. is a Telecommunications in Canada, Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of mobile phone operator, wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet access, Intern ...
and in 2004, SkyDome was purchased by that company, which renamed it Rogers Centre. Due to border restrictions brought about by the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
, the Blue Jays played home games at
TD Ballpark in
Dunedin, Florida for April and May of the
2021 season, and
Sahlen Field
Sahlen Field is a baseball park in Buffalo, New York, United States. Originally known as Pilot Field, the venue has since been named Downtown Ballpark, North AmeriCare Park, Dunn Tire Park, and Coca-Cola Field. Home to the Buffalo Bisons of the ...
in
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...
for the
2020 season as well as June and July 2021, returning home to Toronto as of July 30 of that year. They are the second MLB franchise to be based outside the United States, and currently the only team based outside the U.S. after the first Canadian franchise, the
Montreal Expos, became the
Washington Nationals
The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadi ...
in 2005.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Blue Jays went through struggles typical of an expansion team, frequently finishing last in their division. In 1983, they had their
first winning season and two years later, became
division champions. From 1985 to 1993, the Blue Jays were an AL East powerhouse, winning five division championships in nine seasons, including three consecutive from
1991
File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the ...
to
1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
. During that run, the team also became back-to-back
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 World Series, 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The ...
champions in
1992 and
1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
, led by a core group of
award
An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration.
An awar ...
-winning
All-Star players, including
Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar,
Joe Carter,
John Olerud, and
Devon White. The Blue Jays became the first (and, to date, only) team outside the U.S. to appear in and win a World Series, and the fastest AL expansion team to do so, winning in its 16th year. As of
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
, they are one of only two MLB franchises that are undefeated through multiple World Series appearances, along with the
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...
's
Miami Marlins
The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park.
The fra ...
. After 1993, the Blue Jays failed to qualify for the playoffs for 21 consecutive seasons, until clinching a playoff berth and division championship in
2015. The team clinched a second consecutive playoff berth in
2016, after securing an
AL wild card position. In both years, the Blue Jays beat the
Texas Rangers in the
AL Division Series, but lost the
AL Championship Series. Most recently, they qualified for the playoffs as a wild card team in
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...
and
2022. The Blue Jays and the
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in B ...
are the only two MLB teams under corporate ownership; the Blue Jays are the only American League team to be under such ownership.
From 1977 to 2022, the Blue Jays' overall win–loss record is 3,598–3,627 ().
History
Expansion team
The Blue Jays were approved as part of the
1977 Major League Baseball expansion discussions, after Toronto's original plan of getting a Major League Baseball team by buying and moving the
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...
fell through; they would be added alongside the
Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...
. The team was represented by legal counsel
Herb Solway and
Gord Kirke. Kirke prepared the original documents which led to the founding of the team in 1976.
1977–1994: The Pat Gillick era
1977–1981
The Blue Jays played their first game on April 7, 1977, against the
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...
before a home crowd of 44,649. The game is now perhaps best remembered for the minor snowstorm which began just before the game started. Toronto won the snowy affair 9–5, led by
Doug Ault's two
home run
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run is ...
s. That win would be one of only 54 of the 1977 season, as the
Blue Jays finished last in the AL East, with a record of 54–107. After the season, assistant general manager
Pat Gillick succeeded
Peter Bavasi as general manager of the team, a position he would hold until 1994.
In 1978, the team
improved their record by five games, but remained last, with a record of 59–102. In 1979, after a 53–109
last place finish, shortstop
Alfredo Griffin was named American League co-
Rookie of the Year. In addition, the Blue Jays' first mascot,
BJ Birdy, made its debut in 1979.
In 1980,
Bobby Mattick became manager, succeeding
Roy Hartsfield, the Blue Jays' original manager. In Mattick's first season as manager, although the team remained at the bottom, Toronto
nearly reached the 70-win mark, finishing with a record of 67–95, a 14-win improvement on 1979.
Jim Clancy Jim Clancy may refer to:
* Jim Clancy (baseball) (born 1955), former Major League Baseball pitcher
* Jim Clancy (journalist), former journalist for CNN
* Jim Clancy (Ghost Whisperer), a character from the U.S. television show ''Ghost Whisperer''
...
led with 13 wins and
John Mayberry became the first Jay to hit 30 home runs in a season.
In the
strike-divided season of 1981, the
Blue Jays finished last in the AL East in both halves of the season. They were a dismal 16–42 in the first half but improved dramatically in the second, finishing the 48-game second half at 21–27, for a combined record of 37–69.
1982–1984
Under new manager
Bobby Cox
Robert Joe Cox (born May 21, 1941) is an American former professional baseball third baseman and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). Cox played for the New York Yankees and managed the Atlanta Braves and Toronto Blue Jays. He is a member of ...
, Toronto's first solid season came in 1982 as the Jays finished 78–84. Their pitching staff was led by starters
Dave Stieb
Dave Andrew Stieb (; born July 22, 1957) is a former Major League Baseball right-handed starting pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays. A seven-time All-Star, he also won ''The Sporting News'' Pitcher of the Year Award in 1982. Stieb won 140 games i ...
,
Jim Clancy Jim Clancy may refer to:
* Jim Clancy (baseball) (born 1955), former Major League Baseball pitcher
* Jim Clancy (journalist), former journalist for CNN
* Jim Clancy (Ghost Whisperer), a character from the U.S. television show ''Ghost Whisperer''
...
, and
Luis Leal, and the outfield featured a young
Lloyd Moseby
Lloyd Anthony Moseby (born November 5, 1959) is an American former Major League Baseball player. A center fielder, and good all-around athlete, Moseby's nickname, Shaker, was said to stem from his ability to get away from or "shake" players who at ...
and
Jesse Barfield. 1982 was also the first year the Jays did
not place last, finishing sixth in the East out of seven teams.
In 1983, the Blue Jays compiled their
first winning record, 89–73, finishing in fourth place, nine games behind the eventual
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 World Series, 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The ...
champions, the
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...
. First baseman
Willie Upshaw became the first Blue Jay to get at least 100
RBIs in a season.
The
Jays' progress continued in 1984, finishing with the same 89–73 record, but this time in a distant second place behind another
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 World Series, 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The ...
champion, the
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...
. After 1984, Alfredo Griffin went to the
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The t ...
, thus giving a permanent spot to young
Dominican shortstop
Tony Fernández, who would become a fan favourite for many years.
1985: The "Drive of '85" and first AL East title
In 1985, Toronto won its first championship of any sort: the first of its six American League East division titles. The Blue Jays featured strong pitching and a balanced offense. Tony Fernández excelled in his first full season, and veteran pitcher
Doyle Alexander led the team with 17 wins, including a division-clinching complete-game win. Their mid-season call-up of relief pitcher
Tom Henke also proved to be important. The team finished 99–62 (the franchise record for most wins), two games in front of the
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one o ...
. The Jays faced the
Kansas City Royals
The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expa ...
in the
American League Championship Series
The American League Championship Series (ALCS) is a best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) postseason. It is contested by the two winners of the America ...
(ALCS), and took a three-game-to-one lead. However, Kansas City won three consecutive games to win the series 4–3, on the way to their first
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 World Series, 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The ...
championship. The Blue Jays' successful season was dubbed the "Drive of '85".
After the playoffs, Cox, the
AL Manager of the Year, suddenly left the Blue Jays to become general manager of the
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in B ...
, the team he had previously managed.
1986–1988
With
Jimy Williams taking over as manager, the
Blue Jays could not duplicate their success in 1986, sliding to a fourth-place tie at 86–76.
Jesse Barfield and
George Bell led the way with 40 and 31 home runs, respectively, while
Jim Clancy Jim Clancy may refer to:
* Jim Clancy (baseball) (born 1955), former Major League Baseball pitcher
* Jim Clancy (journalist), former journalist for CNN
* Jim Clancy (Ghost Whisperer), a character from the U.S. television show ''Ghost Whisperer''
...
,
Mark Eichhorn, and
Jimmy Key
James Edward Key (born April 22, 1961) is a former left-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Toronto Blue Jays (1984–1992), New York Yankees (1993–1996), and Baltimore Orioles (1997–1998). His best personal y ...
tied for the team wins lead with 14 each.
In 1987, the Blue Jays held a -game lead with a week to go
in the season, then lost their last seven in a row to finish two games behind the
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...
, getting swept on the last weekend by the Tigers. The Jays finished with a 96–66 record, second-best in the major leagues, but to no avail. However, George Bell (.308
batting average, 47 home runs, 134 RBI) was named the AL's
Most Valuable Player (MVP), the first Blue Jay to earn that honor.
In 1988, however, Toronto
could not duplicate the successes of the previous season. The team tied the
Milwaukee Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. The Brewers are named for the city's association wi ...
for third in the division at 87–75, only two games behind the division champion
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eig ...
. Still, the season had numerous highlights. First baseman
Fred McGriff hit 34 home runs, and Dave Stieb had back-to-back starts in which he lost a
no-hitter
In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher w ...
with two out and two strikes in the ninth inning.
1989–1991: Cito Gaston takes charge, two more AL East titles
In 1989, the Blue Jays' new
retractable roofed home,
SkyDome, opened mid-season. It also marked the beginning of an extremely successful five-year period for the team. In May, management fired manager Jimy Williams and replaced him with
Cito Gaston, the team's hitting instructor. The club had a dismal 12–24 record at the time of the firing, but went 77–49 under Gaston to win the AL East title by two games, with an 89–73 record. Fred McGriff's 36 home runs led the AL. On May 28, George Bell's
walk-off home run, off of
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...
closer
Bobby Thigpen, marked the end of the Exhibition Stadium era. The first game at the new stadium took place on June 5 against the
Milwaukee Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. The Brewers are named for the city's association wi ...
; the Jays lost 5–3. In the
1989 ALCS
The 1989 American League Championship Series was played between the Oakland Athletics and the Toronto Blue Jays from October 3 to 8. A dominant Oakland team took the Series four games to one, en route to a sweep of their cross-bay rivals, the San ...
,
Rickey Henderson
Rickey Nelson Henley Henderson (born December 25, 1958) is an American retired professional baseball left fielder who played his 24 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for nine teams from 1979 to 2003, including four separate tenures with hi ...
led the
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 World Series, 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The ...
champion
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The t ...
to a 4–1 series win.
In 1990, the Blue Jays again had
a strong season, but finished second, two games behind the
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eig ...
. Dave Stieb pitched his only no-hitter, beating the
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive ...
3–0 in front of a less-than-capacity crowd at
Cleveland Municipal Stadium. As of 2018, it remains the only no-hitter ever pitched by a Blue Jay. During the
off-season, the Blue Jays made one of the two biggest trades in franchise history, sending All-Star shortstop
Tony Fernández and first baseman
Fred McGriff to the
San Diego Padres
The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...
in exchange for outfielder
Joe Carter and second baseman
Roberto Alomar. The Jays also obtained centre fielder
Devon White from the
California Angels
The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...
. These deals, particularly the trade with San Diego, were instrumental in the team's future success.
Carter, Alomar and White would prove to be extremely effective additions, as the Blue Jays again
won the division in 1991, as Carter drove in Alomar for the division-winning run. Once again, however, the team fell short in the postseason, losing to the
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area ...
, who were on the way to their second
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 World Series, 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The ...
victory in five seasons, in the
ALCS
The American League Championship Series (ALCS) is a best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) postseason. It is contested by the two winners of the American ...
. In 1991, the Blue Jays became the first Major League club ever to draw over
four million fans in one season.
* Team record 1989: 89 wins–73 losses, W%- 0.549
* Team record 1990: 86 wins–76 losses, W%- 0.531, 2 games behind division leader
* Team record 1991: 91 wins–71 losses, W%- 0.562
1992–1993: World Series champions
=1992: Canada's first World Series title
=
After the 1991 season had ended, the Blue Jays acquired pitcher
Jack Morris
John Scott Morris (born May 16, 1955) is an American former professional baseball starting pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1977 and 1994, mainly for the Detroit Tigers. Morris won 254 games throughout his career.
Armed ...
, who had led the Minnesota Twins to victory in the World Series by pitching a 10-inning complete-game shutout in Game 7 and had been named the
World Series MVP. To add veteran leadership to their explosive offence, Toronto signed
Dave Winfield
David Mark Winfield (born October 3, 1951) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) right fielder. He is the special assistant to the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association. Over his 22-year career, he pl ...
to be the team's designated hitter.
The 1992 regular season went well, as the Jays clinched their second straight AL East crown with a final record of 96–66, four games ahead of the
Milwaukee Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. The Brewers are named for the city's association wi ...
. They also went the entire season without being swept in any series, becoming the first team in 49 years to accomplish the feat. The Blue Jays met the
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The t ...
(who had the same record as the Jays and won the
AL West by six games over the defending champion
Twins) in the
ALCS
The American League Championship Series (ALCS) is a best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) postseason. It is contested by the two winners of the American ...
, winning four games to two. The pivotal game of the series was Game 4, considered by many to be one of the most important games in Blue Jays history: the Blue Jays rallied back from a 6–1 deficit after seven innings, capped off by
Roberto Alomar's huge game-tying two-run homer off A's closer
Dennis Eckersley in the top of the ninth. This paved the way for a 7–6 victory in 11 innings, a 3-games-to-1 lead in the series and an eventual 4–2 ALCS series win.
The Blue Jays then faced the
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in B ...
in the
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 World Series, 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The ...
. The Braves returned after being beaten by the Twins the previous year. The pivotal game in this series turned out to be Game 2, in which reserve player
Ed Sprague hit a 9th-inning two-run home run off Braves closer
Jeff Reardon
Jeffrey James Reardon (born October 1, 1955) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1979–1994 with the New York Mets, Montreal Expos, Minnesota Twins, Boston Red Sox, Atlanta B ...
to give the Blue Jays a 5–4 lead, which would hold up. After winning Game 3 thanks to Candy Maldonado's ninth-inning RBI hit and Game 4 due to Jimmy Key's superb -inning pitching effort in which he retired 15 straight batters (five innings), the Jays could not win the Series on home turf as the Braves struck back with a 7–2 win in Game 5. Game 6 in Atlanta, with the Blue Jays leading 3 games to 2, was a very close game. Toronto was one strike away from winning in the bottom of the 9th inning, 2–1, but
Otis Nixon singled in the tying run off the Blue Jays' closer
Tom Henke. It was the first run the Toronto bullpen had given up in the series. The game was decided in the 11th inning, when
Dave Winfield
David Mark Winfield (born October 3, 1951) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) right fielder. He is the special assistant to the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association. Over his 22-year career, he pl ...
doubled down the left-field line, driving in two runs. The Braves would again come within one run in the bottom of the 11th, but Jays reliever
Mike Timlin fielded
Otis Nixon's bunt, throwing to Joe Carter at first base for the final out. The Blue Jays became the first team based outside of the United States to win the World Series.
Pat Borders, the Jays' catcher, was the unlikely player who was named MVP after hitting .450 with one home run in the World Series. Oddly, Morris was acquired in large part for his reputation as a clutch postseason pitcher, but he went 0–3 in the playoffs. Morris, however, pitched well in the regular season, becoming the Blue Jays' first 20-game winner, with a record of 21–6 and an
ERA of 4.04.
* Team record 1992: 96 wins–66 losses, W%- 0.593
=1993: Back-to-back champs
=
After the 1992 season, the Blue Jays let World Series hero Dave Winfield and longtime closer Tom Henke go, but signed two key free agents: designated hitter
Paul Molitor from the Milwaukee Brewers and perennial playoff success
Dave Stewart from the Oakland Athletics.
In 1993, the Blue Jays had seven All-Stars: outfielders Devon White and Joe Carter, infielders
John Olerud and Roberto Alomar, designated hitter Molitor, plus starting pitcher
Pat Hentgen, and closer
Duane Ward. In August, the Jays acquired former nemesis
Rickey Henderson
Rickey Nelson Henley Henderson (born December 25, 1958) is an American retired professional baseball left fielder who played his 24 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for nine teams from 1979 to 2003, including four separate tenures with hi ...
from the Athletics. The Blue Jays cruised to a 95–67 record, seven games ahead of the
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one o ...
, winning their third straight division title. The Jays beat the
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...
four games to two in the
ALCS
The American League Championship Series (ALCS) is a best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) postseason. It is contested by the two winners of the American ...
, and then the
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has been Citize ...
, four games to two, for their second straight
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 World Series, 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The ...
victory. The World Series featured several exciting games, including Game 4, played under a slight rain, in which the Blue Jays came back from a 14–9 deficit to win 15–14 and take a 3 games to 1 lead in the series. It remains the highest-scoring game in World Series history. Game 6 in Toronto saw the Blue Jays lead 5–1, but give up 5 runs in the 7th inning to trail 6–5. In the bottom of the 9th inning, Joe Carter hit a one-out, three-run walk-off home run to clinch the series off of Phillies closer
Mitch Williams. Only the second World Series-winning walk-off home run in the history of Major League Baseball (following
Bill Mazeroski's in Game 7 in
1960), Carter's hit differed from the first in that Toronto, while not facing elimination, was trailing in the bottom of the 9th. The home run is also memorable for late Blue Jays radio broadcaster
Tom Cheek
Thomas F. Cheek (June 13, 1939 – October 9, 2005) was an American sports commentator who is best remembered as the play-by-play radio announcer for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB), from the team's establishment in 19 ...
's call:
Molitor was named the World Series MVP after hitting .500 in the series. In the regular season, three Blue Jays—Olerud, Molitor and Alomar—finished 1–2–3 for the AL
batting crown, led by Olerud's franchise record .363 average. It was the first time in 100 years that the top three hitters in the league were from the same team.
* Team record 1993: 95 wins–67 losses, W%- 0.586
1994 season
Expectations were high for the Blue Jays for the 1994 season, following back-to-back championships, but they slumped to a 55–60 record and a third-place finish (16 games back of the
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one o ...
) before the
players' strike. It was their first losing season since 1982.
Joe Carter,
Paul Molitor and
John Olerud enjoyed good years at the plate, but the pitching fell off.
Juan Guzmán slumped considerably from his first three years (40–11, 3.28 ERA), finishing 1994 at 12–11 with a 5.68 ERA. Three young players,
Alex Gonzalez,
Carlos Delgado and
Shawn Green, did show much promise for the future. At the time of the strike, their fellow Canadian cousins, the
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They p ...
, had the best record in the majors, leading some to consider the possibility of a Canadian three-peat in 1994.
On October 31, 1994, Gillick, the longtime Blue Jays general manager, resigned and handed the reins of the team to assistant general manager and Toronto native
Gord Ash,
who would lead the team in its most tumultuous era yet.
* Team record 1994: 55 wins–60 losses, W%- 0.478, 16 games behind division leader
1995–2001: The Gord Ash era
1995–2000
In
their 1995 season, the Blue Jays showed they had lost their contending swagger of the past 12 years. Although they had most of the World Series teams cast, the Jays dropped dramatically to a dismal 56–88 record, placing last in the AL East, 30 games behind the
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eig ...
. That year, team owner Labatt Breweries was bought by
Belgian-based brewer
Interbrew, making the Blue Jays the second major league team owned by interests outside of North America, after their expansion cousins, the Seattle Mariners (then owned by
Nintendo).
1996 was
another mediocre year for the Jays, despite
Pat Hentgen's
Cy Young Award
The Cy Young Award is given annually to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball (MLB), one each for the American League (AL) and National League (NL). The award was first introduced in 1956 by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick in honor of Ha ...
(20–10, 3.22 ERA).
Ed Sprague had a career year, hitting 36 home runs and driving in 101 runs. And the team's 74 wins did put them in fourth place, improving over 1995's last-place finish.
The Blue Jays started
their 1997 season with high hopes. Not only did they radically change their uniforms, the team signed former Boston Red Sox ace
Roger Clemens
William Roger Clemens (born August 4, 1962), nicknamed "Rocket", is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 24 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily with the Boston Red Sox. Clemens was one of the most dominant pi ...
to a $24.75 million contract. Clemens had one of the best pitching seasons ever, winning the pitcher's
Triple Crown and leading the AL with a record of 21–7, a 2.05 ERA, and 292 strikeouts. This was not enough to lead the Jays to the postseason, however, as they finished last for the second time in three years with a record of 76–86.
Cito Gaston, the longtime manager who led the team to four division titles and two World Series crowns, was fired five games before the end of the season. The season did provide a unique experience for its fans with the advent of
Interleague play
Interleague play in Major League Baseball refers to regular-season baseball games played between an American League (AL) team and a National League (NL) team. Interleague play was first introduced during the 1997 Major League Baseball season. Pr ...
, when the Blue Jays faced their Canadian rival, the
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They p ...
, for the first official games between the two teams. Before the start of
their 1998 season, the Jays acquired closer
Randy Myers and slugger
Jose Canseco. Gaston was replaced with former Blue Jay
Tim Johnson, who was a relative unknown as a manager. Despite mediocre hitting, strong pitching led by Clemens' second straight pitching Triple Crown (20–6, 2.65 ERA, 271 strikeouts) sparked the Blue Jays to an 88–74 record—their first winning season since 1993. However, this was only good enough to finish a distant third, 26 games behind the
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one o ...
, who posted one of the greatest records in all of baseball history at 114–48. The Jays were, however, in contention for the wildcard spot until the final week.
Before the 1999 season, the Blue Jays traded Clemens to the Yankees for starting pitcher
David Wells
David Lee Wells (born May 20, 1963) is an American former baseball pitcher who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for nine teams, most notably the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees. Nicknamed "Boomer", Wells was considered on ...
, second baseman
Homer Bush and relief pitcher
Graeme Lloyd. They also fired manager Tim Johnson during spring training after he lied about several things (including killing people in the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
) to motivate his players. The Blue Jays had initially been willing to stand by Johnson. A blizzard of questions about his credibility during spring training, however, led Ash to fire him less than a month before opening day. Johnson was replaced with
Jim Fregosi, who managed the Phillies when they lost to the Blue Jays in the
1993 World Series
The 1993 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) season. The 90th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the defending World Series champion and American League (AL) champi ...
. The offence picked up somewhat in 1999, but the pitching suffered without Clemens, as the
Blue Jays finished at 84–78, in third place. After the 1999 season, the Blue Jays' original mascot for 20 years, BJ Birdy, was replaced by a duo named
Ace and Diamond.
On November 8, 1999, Toronto traded star outfielder
Shawn Green to the
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brookly ...
for left-handed relief pitcher
Pedro Borbón and right-fielder
Raúl Mondesí
Raúl Ramón Mondesí Avelino (born March 12, 1971) is a Dominican former politician and baseball player. Mondesí played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 13 seasons, primarily for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and made his MLB debut with them in ...
. Green had told the Jays that he would not be re-signing when his contract was up at the end of the year (he wished to play closer to his home in Southern California).
The
2000 season proved similar, as the Blue Jays had an 83–79 record, well out of the wild card race but only a slim games behind the three-time defending World Series champion
Yankees in the AL East, the first time since 1993 they had contended for the division.
Carlos Delgado had a stellar year, hitting .344 with 41 home runs, 57 doubles, 137 RBI, 123 walks and 115 runs. In addition, six other players hit 20 or more home runs, an outstanding feat.
2000–2001
On September 1, 2000,
Rogers Communications
Rogers Communications Inc. is a Telecommunications in Canada, Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of mobile phone operator, wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet access, Intern ...
Inc. purchased 80% of the baseball club for $160 million, with Interbrew (later
InBev) maintaining a 20% interest and the
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce relinquishing its 10% share. Rogers eventually acquired the 20% owned by Interbrew and now has full ownership of the team.
The
2001 season marked the 25th anniversary of the franchise's inception.
Buck Martinez
John Albert "Buck" Martinez (born November 7, 1948) is an American former professional baseball catcher and manager, and is currently the television play-by-play announcer for the Toronto Blue Jays. He played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball ...
, former catcher and broadcast announcer for the Blue Jays, took over as manager before the season began with a home game in Puerto Rico. The team had a disappointing season, falling back under .500 and finishing 80–82, with mediocre pitching and hitting. Delgado led the team again with 39 home runs and 102 RBI. After the season ended, the Jays fired Gord Ash, ending a seven-year tenure as general manager.
J. P. Ricciardi, then director of player development under
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The t ...
general manager
Billy Beane, was named Blue Jays' General Manager; he was expected to slash payroll immediately, stemming the tide of red ink. During the off-season, the team traded or let go of several popular players, including
Alex Gonzalez,
Paul Quantrill,
Brad Fullmer and
closer Billy Koch to let talented youngsters such as
Eric Hinske and
Felipe López get a chance to develop into major leaguers.
2002–2009: The J. P. Ricciardi and Roy Halladay era
2002 season
The Blue Jays started the 2002 season with slow progress in performance.
Buck Martinez
John Albert "Buck" Martinez (born November 7, 1948) is an American former professional baseball catcher and manager, and is currently the television play-by-play announcer for the Toronto Blue Jays. He played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball ...
was fired about a third of the way through the season, with a 20–33 record. He was replaced by third base coach
Carlos Tosca, an experienced minor league manager. They went 58–51 under Tosca to finish the season 78–84.
Roy Halladay was relied on as the team's ace and rose to the challenge of being the team's top pitcher, finishing the season with a 19–7 record and 2.93 ERA. The hitters were led once again by
Carlos Delgado. Promising young players were assigned to key roles; starting third baseman
Eric Hinske won the Rookie of the Year Award at the season's conclusion, and 23-year-old centre fielder
Vernon Wells
Vernon Michael Wells III (born December 8, 1978) is an American former professional baseball center fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and the New York Yankees.
W ...
had his first 100 RBI season.
* Team record 2002: 78 wins–84 losses, W%- 0.481, 25.5 games behind division leader, third in division
2003 season
The 2003 season was a surprise to both team management and baseball analysts. After a poor April, the team had its most successful month ever in May. Carlos Delgado led the majors in RBI, followed closely by Wells. Despite their hitting successes, poor pitching continued to plague the team. Halladay was an exception, winning his first
Cy Young Award
The Cy Young Award is given annually to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball (MLB), one each for the American League (AL) and National League (NL). The award was first introduced in 1956 by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick in honor of Ha ...
, going 22–7, with a 3.25 ERA. In July,
Shannon Stewart was traded to the
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area ...
for
Bobby Kielty, another outfielder with a much lower batting average than Stewart's. Although the Jays finished in third place in their division, Delgado was second in the voting for the
American League MVP Award. In the off-season, Kielty was traded to the
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The t ...
for starter
Ted Lilly.
* Team record 2003: 86 wins–76 losses, W%- 0.531, 15 games behind division leader, third in division
2004 season
The 2004 season was a disappointing year for the Blue Jays right from the beginning. They started the season 0–8 at SkyDome and never started a lengthy winning streak. Much of that was due to injuries to All-Stars Carlos Delgado, Vernon Wells and Roy Halladay among others. Although the additions of starting pitchers Ted Lilly and
Miguel Batista and reliever
Justin Speier were relatively successful, veteran
Pat Hentgen faltered throughout the season and retired on July 24. Rookies and minor league callups
David Bush,
Jason Frasor,
Josh Towers
Joshua Eric Towers (born February 26, 1977) is a former right-handed professional baseball pitcher. Towers stands at 6 ft 1 in tall, and weighs 188 lb.
Professional career
Baltimore Orioles
Towers was drafted by the Baltimore Orio ...
and others filled the void in the rotation and the bullpen; however, inconsistent performances were evident. With the team struggling in last place and mired in a five-game losing streak, manager
Carlos Tosca was fired on August 8, 2004, and was replaced by first base coach
John Gibbons
John Michael Gibbons (born June 8, 1962) is an American former professional baseball player and former manager of the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). Gibbons briefly played in the Major Leagues as a catcher with the New Y ...
. Long-time first baseman Carlos Delgado became a free agent in the off-season. Nevertheless, prospects
Russ Adams,
Gabe Gross, and
Alex Ríos provided excitement for the fans. Rookie pitchers David Bush,
Gustavo Chacín
Gustavo Adolfo Chacín (; born December 4, 1980) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball pitcher.
Career Toronto Blue Jays
In 2004, Chacín led all minor leaguers with 18 wins, and was the 24th pitcher used by the Blue Jays, tying the te ...
and Jason Frasor also showed promise for the club's future. The Blue Jays' lone MLB All-Star Game representative was Lilly.
* Team record 2004: 67 wins–94 losses, W%- 0.416, 33.5 games behind division leader, fifth in division
2005 season
SkyDome was renamed Rogers Centre and was extensively renovated. The Blue Jays had a good start to the 2005 season. They led the AL East from early to mid-April and held their record around .500 until late August. The Jays were hit with the injury bug when third baseman
Corey Koskie broke his finger, taking him out of the line-up, but the club was pleasantly surprised with the performance of rookie call-up
Aaron Hill in his stead. On July 8, just prior to the All-Star break, Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay was struck on the shin by a line drive, resulting in a fractured leg. Though Halladay's injury was hoped to be minor, the recovery process was met with constant delays, and eventually, he was out for the rest of the season. Prior to his injury, the Blue Jays were in serious wild card contention, but soon fell out of the playoff race. The team received glimpses of the future from September call-ups
Guillermo Quiróz
Guillermo Antonio Quiroz (; born November 29, 1981) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball catcher. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox a ...
,
John-Ford Griffin, and
Shaun Marcum. Marcum made himself noteworthy by posting an ERA of 0.00 over five relief appearances and eight innings in September. Josh Towers also stepped up, showing largely unseen potential by going 7–5 with a 2.91 ERA in the second half of the season.
* Team record 2005: 80 wins–82 losses, W%- 0.494, 15 games behind division leader, third in division
2006 season
In 2006, the team experienced its most successful season in years. On July 2, Troy Glaus, Vernon Wells, Roy Halladay,
B. J. Ryan
Robert Victor "B. J." Ryan Jr. (born December 28, 1975) is an American baseball coach and former relief pitcher. He played college baseball at Louisiana, where he played for coach Tony Robichaux in 1997 and 1998. He also played in Major League Bas ...
, and Alex Ríos were picked to represent the Blue Jays at the All-Star Game. It was the largest number of Blue Jay All-Stars selected for the game since 1993. The team played well in the critical month of September, going 18–10. This, combined with the slumping of the
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eig ...
, enabled the Blue Jays to take sole possession of second place in the American League East by the end of the season. This marked the first time that the Jays had finished above third place in their division since their World Championship season of 1993, and with the most wins since the 1998 season. On December 18, the Blue Jays announced that they had re-signed centre fielder Wells to a seven-year contract worth $126 million, which came into effect after the 2007 season.
* Team record 2006: 87 wins–75 losses, W%- 0.537, 10 games behind division leader, second in division
2007 season
The 2007 season was blighted by persistent injuries, with 12 Blue Jays landing on the disabled list. The most serious injury was that of B. J. Ryan, who was out for the entire season having had
Tommy John surgery
Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, colloquially known as Tommy John surgery (TJS), is a surgical graft procedure where the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with either a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's ...
. Prior to the season, the team signed starting pitchers
John Thomson,
Tomo Ohka, and
Víctor Zambrano
Víctor Manuel Zambrano (born August 6, 1975) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball pitcher. He played all or parts of seven seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2001-07.
Professional career
Zambrano had a good repertoire and an a ...
; each of them was released before the end of the season. However, young starters
Shaun Marcum and
Dustin McGowan had break-out years, with 12 wins each. On June 24, McGowan pitched a complete game one-hitter. On June 28,
Frank Thomas became the 21st major league player to hit
500 career home runs. Aaron Hill also had a break-out year, setting a team record for second baseman with 47 doubles.
* Team record 2007: 83 wins–79 losses, W%- 0.512, 13 games behind division leader, third in division
2008 season
The Blue Jays' 2008 season featured a strong pitching staff, which led the major leagues with a 3.49 ERA. For much of the season, however, the team struggled to hit home runs and drive in runs. On May 24, starter
Jesse Litsch set a team record, with 38 consecutive innings without giving up a walk. On June 20, following a five-game losing streak and with the Jays in last place in the AL East, management fired
John Gibbons
John Michael Gibbons (born June 8, 1962) is an American former professional baseball player and former manager of the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). Gibbons briefly played in the Major Leagues as a catcher with the New Y ...
and several members of his coaching staff, and re-hired
Cito Gaston. Meanwhile, Alex Ríos had 32 stolen bases, making him the first Blue Jay with 30 since 2001. On September 5, Roy Halladay earned his 129th career win, moving him into second spot on Toronto's all-time wins list. Halladay also came second in the voting for the Cy Young Award, after posting a 20–11 record and 2.78 ERA.
* Team record 2008: 86 wins–76 losses, W%- 0.531, 11 games behind division leader, fourth in division
2009 season
The 2009 season saw the addition of two new patches on the Blue Jays' uniforms: on the right arm, a bright red
maple leaf (part of the
Canadian flag), and on the left arm, a small black band with "TED" written on it, in reference to the late team owner
Ted Rogers, who died in the off-season.
On Opening Day at the Rogers Centre, the Blue Jays, led by Roy Halladay, beat the
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...
12–5. Aaron Hill and Roy Halladay both had excellent years and represented the Blue Jays at the
2009 All-Star Game
9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding .
Evolution of the Arabic digit
In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra a ...
in St. Louis. The Jays started the season well, posting a 27–14 record; however, immediately afterwards, the Jays fell into a nine-game losing streak and was never able to recover for the remainder of the season. In mid-August, GM J. P. Ricciardi allowed the Chicago White Sox to claim Alex Ríos off waivers. With two games remaining in what was a disappointing season, Ricciardi was fired on October 3. He was replaced by assistant general manager
Alex Anthopoulos.
Despite a 75-win season, the Jays saw the strong return of Aaron Hill, who won the American League
Comeback Player of the Year Award and the
Silver Slugger for second base.
Adam Lind, who also had a strong season, earned the Silver Slugger for designated hitter.
* Team record 2009: 75 wins–87 losses, W%- 0.463, 28 games behind division leader, fourth in division
2010–2015: The Alex Anthopoulos and José Bautista era
2010 season
In the off-season, the Jays' ace
Roy Halladay was traded to the
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has been Citize ...
for
Kyle Drabek,
Travis d'Arnaud, and
Michael Taylor; Taylor was immediately traded to the
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The t ...
for
Brett Wallace. The team's significant free agent signings were that of catcher
John Buck and shortstop
Álex González.
The 2010 season was a surprising 10-win improvement over the last season. It was a career year for
José Bautista, who hit 54 home runs, breaking
George Bell's franchise record of 47. In doing so, he became the 26th player to reach
50 home runs and the first since
Alex Rodriguez
Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez (born July 27, 1975), nicknamed "A-Rod", is an American former professional baseball shortstop and third baseman, businessman and philanthropist. Rodriguez played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the ...
and
Prince Fielder achieved the feat in 2007. The Blue Jays also set a franchise record for the most home runs in a single season as they hit 257, 13 more than their previous record of 244 set by the
2000 Blue Jays. The Blue Jays tied the
1996 Baltimore Orioles for the third-most home runs by a team in a single season. Seven players (José Bautista,
Vernon Wells
Vernon Michael Wells III (born December 8, 1978) is an American former professional baseball center fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and the New York Yankees.
W ...
,
Aaron Hill,
Adam Lind,
Lyle Overbay, John Buck, and
Edwin Encarnación) hit 20 home runs or more throughout the season, tying an MLB record previously set by four teams, including the 2000 Blue Jays.
On July 14, the Jays traded Álex González and two minor league prospects—left-handed pitcher
Tim Collins and shortstop
Tyler Pastornicky
Tyler Brock Pastornicky (born December 13, 1989) is an American former professional baseball shortstop. He was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2008 Major League Baseball draft and made his Major League Baseball debut with the Atlanta Braves i ...
—to the Atlanta Braves for
Jo-Jo Reyes and
Yunel Escobar.
On August 7, catching prospect
J. P. Arencibia made his major league debut. He went 4-for-5 with two home runs, including a home run hit on the first pitch he saw. The next day, starting pitcher
Brandon Morrow came within one out of a
no-hitter
In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher w ...
, finishing with 17 strikeouts in a complete-game one-hitter.
* Team record 2010: 85 wins–77 losses, W%- 0.525, 11 games behind division leader, fourth in division
2011 season
Led by new manager
John Farrell, the 2011 Blue Jays finished with a .500 record. After signing a five-year $64 million contract extension, José Bautista followed up his record-setting 2010 season with an arguably better season. He finished with a Major League-leading 43 home runs, along with 103 RBI, 132 walks, and a .302 average. Rookie J. P. Arencibia also had a successful year, setting a Blue Jays single-season record with 23 home runs by a catcher. In August, third base prospect
Brett Lawrie made his Major League debut and hit .293 with 9 home runs, 4 triples, and 25 RBI, in just 43 games.
Starting pitcher and ace
Ricky Romero led the team with 15 wins and a 2.92 ERA. He also became an All-Star for the first time in his career. The other starting pitchers were inconsistent, and Farrell used 12 different starters over the course of the season.
Jon Rauch and
Frank Francisco
Franklin Thomas Francisco (born September 11, 1979) is a Dominican former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Mets and Chicago White Sox.
Baseball career
Fr ...
, both acquired in the off-season, shared the closer role. They both struggled through the first half of the season, though Francisco improved in the last two months of the season, and had six saves in September.
On July 31, the Blue Jays
retired their first number,
Roberto Alomar's #12, one week after Alomar became the first
Hall of Famer to be inducted as a Blue Jay.
* Team record 2011: 81 wins–81 losses, W%- 0.500, 16 games behind division leader, fourth in division
2012 season
The 2012 season was an injury-plagued year for the Blue Jays, having used 31 total pitchers, which set a franchise record.
In June, three starting pitchers (Brandon Morrow,
Kyle Drabek, and
Drew Hutchison) were lost to injury in a span of four days, two of whom required
Tommy John surgery
Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, colloquially known as Tommy John surgery (TJS), is a surgical graft procedure where the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with either a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's ...
;
in addition, starters
Dustin McGowan and
Jesse Litsch missed the entire season due to injury. In the second half of the season, some key players in Toronto's line-up, including
All-Star José Bautista, missed a significant amount of playing time due to injury, sending the team into a freefall and culminating in a 73–89 record. Despite the underachievements of Ricky Romero and Adam Lind,
Casey Janssen established himself as a reliable closer (22
SV, 2.52 ERA) and Edwin Encarnación developed into one of the league's best power hitters (.280 average, 42 home runs, 110 RBI).
On April 5, 2012, the team opened on the road in Cleveland, where they beat the Indians 7–4 in 16 full innings, during this game they set the record of the longest opening-day game in the Major League history. The previous record of 15 innings had been set by the Washington Senators and Philadelphia Athletics on April 13, 1926, and tied by the Detroit Tigers and the Indians on April 19, 1960.
On April 20, the Jays turned a
triple play against the Kansas City Royals in a 4–3 win. It was the first triple play they turned since September 21, 1979.
* Team record 2012: 73 wins–89 losses, W%- 0.451, 22 games behind division leader, fourth in division
2013 season
During the off-season, the Toronto Blue Jays traded Farrell to the
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eig ...
per his wishes, and former manager
John Gibbons
John Michael Gibbons (born June 8, 1962) is an American former professional baseball player and former manager of the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). Gibbons briefly played in the Major Leagues as a catcher with the New Y ...
returned to manage the Blue Jays. The Jays also made a blockbuster trade with the
Miami Marlins
The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park.
The fra ...
, leading to a series of other blockbuster trades and signings, including with the
New York Mets
The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major leagu ...
for National League
Cy Young winner R. A. Dickey and free agents including
Melky Cabrera. On June 8, the Blue Jays played the then-longest game in franchise history by innings, winning 4–3 in 18 innings against the visiting
Texas Rangers, which would be broken one season later. The Jays matched their franchise record of 11 consecutive wins in a 13–5 home win over the
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...
on June 23. However, the Jays had a losing season overall.
* Team record 2013: 74 wins–88 losses, W%- 0.457, 23 games behind division leader, fifth in division, 17.5 games behind AL wild card cutoff, eighth in AL wild card
2014 season
Pitcher
Roy Halladay signed a one-day contract with the Blue Jays before retiring from baseball, citing injuries. The Jays had a nine-game win streak from May 20 to 28, as well as wins in 18 of 21 between May 15 and June 6.
On August 10, the Blue Jays played the longest game in franchise history by both time and innings, winning 6–5 in 19 innings and playing 6 hours, 37 minutes against the visiting Detroit Tigers.
* Team record 2014: 83 wins–79 losses, W%- , 13 games behind division leader, third in division, 5 games behind AL wild card cutoff, sixth in AL wild card
2015: Return to the playoffs, AL East champions
During the off-season, the Jays signed Toronto-born catcher
Russell Martin through free agency. The Jays acquired
Marco Estrada,
Devon Travis, All-Star third baseman
Josh Donaldson, and
Michael Saunders in trades. The Jays claimed
Justin Smoak,
Andy Dirks,
and
Chris Colabello off waivers. However, Dirks, along with
John Mayberry Jr., were eventually non–tendered; the Jays later signed Dirks to a minor league contract.
Melky Cabrera and
Brandon Morrow left through free agency and
Juan Francisco was claimed off waivers by the Boston Red Sox.
The Jays later traded
José Reyes and pitching prospects
Miguel Castro,
Jeff Hoffman
Jeffrey Robert Hoffman (born January 8, 1993) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He previously played for the Colorado Rockies and Cincinnati Reds. Hoffman played college baseball at East Carolina University.
Earl ...
, and Jesus Tinoco to the
Colorado Rockies
The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fi ...
for All-Star shortstop
Troy Tulowitzki and reliever
LaTroy Hawkins. Two days later, they acquired All-Star pitcher
David Price from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for pitching prospects
Daniel Norris,
Matt Boyd, and
Jairo Labourt
Jairo Snaider Labourt (born March 7, 1994) is a Dominican professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers.
Career Toronto Blue Jays
Labourt signed with the Toronto Blue ...
.
The Jays had two 11-game winning streaks during this season. On September 25, the Blue Jays clinched a playoff berth, ending the longest active playoff drought in North American professional sports (see
List of Major League Baseball franchise postseason droughts). They subsequently claimed the AL East division title on September 30, after defeating the Baltimore Orioles 15–2 in the first game of a doubleheader.
The Blue Jays faced the
Texas Rangers in the
ALDS
In Major League Baseball, the American League Division Series (ALDS) determines which two teams from the American League will advance to the American League Championship Series. The Division Series consists of two best-of-five series, featuring ea ...
. After losing back-to-back home games, they won the next three games in a row to take the five-game series, advancing to the
ALCS
The American League Championship Series (ALCS) is a best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) postseason. It is contested by the two winners of the American ...
; a three-game comeback series victory had not been accomplished since 2012 by the
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...
. During game five of the series in Toronto, Blue Jays'
right fielder José Bautista executed what Andrew Keh of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' described as possibly "the most ostentatious
bat flip in MLB history" after hitting a go-ahead, three-run
home run
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run is ...
off Rangers relief pitcher
Sam Dyson.
Bautista wrote an article about the bat flip published in November 2015 in ''
The Players' Tribune''.
The Blue Jays then faced the
Kansas City Royals
The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expa ...
in the
ALCS
The American League Championship Series (ALCS) is a best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) postseason. It is contested by the two winners of the American ...
, losing the series 4–2 in Kansas City; the Royals would eventually win the
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 World Series, 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The ...
.
After the playoffs, Donaldson was named
AL MVP, becoming the first Blue Jay to win the award since
George Bell in 1987.
* Team record 2015: 93 wins–69 losses, W%-
2016–present: The Ross Atkins era
2016: Wild Card winners
Upon the expiration of
Paul Beeston's contract,
Mark Shapiro replaced him as president of the Blue Jays. Alex Anthopoulos resigned two months after the hiring of Shapiro.
Ross Atkins
Ross Michael Atkins (born 3 November 1989) is an English football goalkeeper.
Career Club career
Born in Derby Atkins came up through the youth system at Championship club Derby County and was sent out on loan to Conference North side Southpo ...
subsequently took his place.
During the off-season,
David Price left the Blue Jays through free agency, signing with the
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eig ...
, while the Blue Jays signed
J. A. Happ. On March 4, 2016, infielder
Maicer Izturis announced his retirement from baseball. A few weeks later,
Brad Penny and
Rafael Soriano, both veterans under minor league contract with the Blue Jays, retired from baseball as well.
On May 15, 2016, the Blue Jays and the Texas Rangers brawled against each other in
Arlington, Texas. The brawl happened when
Matt Bush threw a pitch at Jose Bautista, then Bautista made an illegal slide, and
Rougned Odor punched Bautista. Bautista was later suspended for one game.
On May 31, 2016, the Blue Jays traded for
Jason Grilli from the
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in B ...
. Before the non-waiver trade deadline at 4 pm EDT on August 1, 2016, the Blue Jays traded for
Joaquín Benoit,
Melvin Upton Jr.,
Scott Feldman, and
Francisco Liriano
Francisco Liriano Casillas (born October 26, 1983) is a Dominican former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, Toronto Blue Jays, Houston Astros, ...
. On August 25, 2016, the Blue Jays re-acquired popular backup catcher
Dioner Navarro
Dioner Favian Navarro Vivas (born February 9, 1984) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Tampa Bay Rays, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cub ...
in a trade with the Chicago White Sox. This was done before the August 31 trade deadline making Navarro eligible to be on the postseason roster.
On October 2, 2016, the Blue Jays clinched their first Wild Card berth with a Detroit Tigers loss to the Atlanta Braves. On October 4, 2016, the Blue Jays defeated the
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...
in the
American League Wild Card Game in extra innings, via a walk-off three-run home run by
Edwin Encarnación in the bottom of the 11th inning. On October 9, 2016, the Blue Jays completed a sweep of the Texas Rangers in the
American League Division Series to advance to the American League Championship Series for the second consecutive year. On October 19, 2016, the Blue Jays were eliminated from World Series contention with a 3–0 loss to the
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive ...
in Game 5 of the
American League Championship Series
The American League Championship Series (ALCS) is a best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) postseason. It is contested by the two winners of the America ...
.
* Team record 2016: 89 wins–73 losses, W%-
2017 season
On November 11, 2016, it was announced that Toronto had signed designated hitter
Kendrys Morales to a three-year, $33 million deal. The contract became official on November 18.
On December 5, 2016,
Steve Pearce signed a two-year, $12.5 million contract with Toronto. On January 5, 2017,
Edwin Encarnación signed a three-year, $60 million contract with the Cleveland Indians. On January 18, 2017, Bautista signed a one-year, $18 million contract with the Blue Jays. The contract includes a $17 million mutual option for the 2018 season, as well as a $20 million vesting option for 2019. The following day, Michael Saunders signed with the
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has been Citize ...
. However, in late June, the Phillies released Saunders and the Jays signed him to a minor league contract.
On April 2, one day before the start of the regular season, Melvin Upton Jr. was released. By the end of April, the Jays had the worst record in all of MLB.
On July 2, the Jays traded Grilli to the Texas Rangers for Eduard Pinto. Pearce hit two walk-off grand slams in a span of three days: one against the Oakland Athletics on July 27 and another against the Los Angeles Angels on July 30, the latter of which is an ultimate grand slam.
The Blue Jays wore special
red-and-white uniforms at select games during the 2017 season to celebrate the
150th anniversary of Canada.
* Team record 2017: 76 wins–86 losses, W%- , 17 games behind division leader, fourth in division, 9 games behind AL wild card cutoff, eighth in AL wild card
2018 season
The Blue Jays declined their mutual option on
José Bautista, allowing him to enter free agency. He then signed with the
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in B ...
, later the
New York Mets
The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major leagu ...
, and eventually with the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Blue Jays traded two prospects to the
San Diego Padres
The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...
for
Yangervis Solarte. The Blue Jays also acquired
Curtis Granderson and
Seung-hwan Oh as free agents.
On June 22, Roberto Osuna was
suspended for 75 games after being accused of
sexual assault
Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, whi ...
on May 8 and applied retroactively from the date of the incident.
In July, the Blue Jays traded Pearce to the Boston Red Sox for a prospect,
Santiago Espinal
Santiago Roman Espinal (born November 13, 1994) is a Dominican professional baseball infielder for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 10th round of the 2016 Major League Baseball draft ...
. They also dealt three pitchers: J. A. Happ to the New York Yankees, Seung-hwan Oh to the Colorado Rockies, and Roberto Osuna to the Houston Astros.
In August, the Blue Jays traded Josh Donaldson to the Cleveland Indians for a player to be named later, later revealed to be a pitching prospect,
Julian Merryweather. The Blue Jays also traded Curtis Granderson to the
Milwaukee Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. The Brewers are named for the city's association wi ...
for a prospect.
On September 26, it was confirmed by the Blue Jays that manager
John Gibbons
John Michael Gibbons (born June 8, 1962) is an American former professional baseball player and former manager of the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). Gibbons briefly played in the Major Leagues as a catcher with the New Y ...
would not return for the
2019 season.
* Team record 2018: 73 wins–89 losses, W%- , 35 games behind division leader, fourth in division, 24 games behind AL wild card cutoff, seventh in AL wild card
2019 season
On October 25, 2018, the Blue Jays announced that
Charlie Montoyo
José Carlos Montoyo Díaz (born October 17, 1965) is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball second baseman and coach. He is currently the bench coach of the Chicago White Sox, and was previously the manager of the Toronto Blue Jays of Maj ...
had been hired as their new manager.
Early in the season, the Blue Jays traded
Kendrys Morales to the
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The t ...
and
Kevin Pillar to the
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...
.
During the season, the Blue Jays called up
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.,
Cavan Biggio, and
Bo Bichette for the first time. The three are
second-generation Major League Baseball players with the first two also being sons of
Hall of Famers
A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...
Vladimir Guerrero Sr. and
Craig Biggio
Craig Alan Biggio (; born December 14, 1965) is an American former second baseman, outfielder and catcher in Major League Baseball who played his entire career from 1988 through 2007 for the Houston Astros. A seven-time National League (NL) Al ...
, respectively; Bo Bichette is the son of
Dante Bichette
Alphonse Dante Bichette Sr. (; born November 18, 1963) is an American former professional baseball player, currently employed by the Toronto Blue Jays organization. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder for the California An ...
.
Nearing the trade deadline, the Blue Jays traded
Marcus Stroman to the New York Mets and
Aaron Sanchez to the Houston Astros.
* Team record 2019: 67 wins–95 losses, W%- , 36 games behind division leader, fourth in division, 29 games behind AL wild card cutoff, ninth in AL wild card
2020 season: Temporarily in Buffalo
Over the 2019–20 off-season, the Blue Jays signed free agents
Tanner Roark and
Hyun-jin Ryu. The Blue Jays also signed
Shun Yamaguchi from the
Yomiuri Giants
The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They ...
, the first player the Blue Jays successfully signed via the
posting system.
On January 18, 2020, the Toronto Blue Jays unveiled a new blue alternate uniform.
On July 24, 2020, it was announced that the Toronto Blue Jays would play a majority of their home games in
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...
, at their
Triple-A affiliate
Buffalo Bisons
The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen ...
ballpark,
Sahlen Field
Sahlen Field is a baseball park in Buffalo, New York, United States. Originally known as Pilot Field, the venue has since been named Downtown Ballpark, North AmeriCare Park, Dunn Tire Park, and Coca-Cola Field. Home to the Buffalo Bisons of the ...
, as the Canadian government disallowed the Blue Jays and their opponents from playing in Canada during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
.
The Blue Jays reached
the Wild Card series of the postseason, only to be swept by the Tampa Bay Rays in two games. The Blue Jays scored only three runs total in the two games.
* Team record 2020: 32 wins–28 losses, W%-
2021 season: Temporarily in Dunedin and Buffalo
On successive days in January 2021, the Blue Jays signed relief pitchers
Kirby Yates and
Tyler Chatwood, and outfielder
George Springer. The Blue Jays also signed infielder
Marcus Semien. However, Yates was out for the entire season to recover from Tommy John surgery.
The Toronto Blue Jays played their home games in
TD Ballpark in
Dunedin, Florida until June 1 when they moved back to Sahlen Field in Buffalo. On July 16, the Blue Jays announced that they would finally return to Rogers Centre in Toronto on July 30 after the Canadian government allowed the Blue Jays and their opponents to play in Canada.
Alek Manoah was called up to the majors for the first time this season.
Despite having 91 wins in 2021, the Toronto Blue Jays were fourth in the American League East and one game back of the Wild Card cutoff, preventing them from reaching the postseason.
* Team record 2021: 91 wins–71 losses, W%- , 9 games behind division leader, fourth in division, 1 game behind AL wild card cutoff, third in AL wild card.
2022 season
During the off-season, the Blue Jays signed
Kevin Gausman,
Yimi Garcia, and
Yusei Kikuchi as
Robbie Ray, Marcus Semien, and Kirby Yates left for free agency. The off-season is mainly affected by
a lockout that lasted from December 2021 to March 2022. After the lockout, the Blue Jays traded for
Matt Chapman from the
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The t ...
, as well as traded Randal Grichuk for
Raimel Tapia. On July 13, the team released
Charlie Montoyo
José Carlos Montoyo Díaz (born October 17, 1965) is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball second baseman and coach. He is currently the bench coach of the Chicago White Sox, and was previously the manager of the Toronto Blue Jays of Maj ...
as the manager for the team. With his four seasons with Toronto (2019–2022), he had a win-loss record of 236–235 (.500), and made it to the playoffs once (
2020 ALWC). The new interim manager is bench coach
John Schneider. At the trade deadline, the Blue Jays traded for
Whit Merrifield
Whitley David Merrifield (born January 24, 1989) is an American professional baseball second baseman and outfielder for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Kansas City Royals. He is a tw ...
from the
Kansas City Royals
The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expa ...
. After the trade deadline, the Blue Jays claimed
Jackie Bradley Jr. from waivers.
The Blue Jays clinched home advantage for the
American League Wild Card Series
The Wild Card Series (formerly known as Wild Card Game from 2012 to 2019 and in 2021) are games that serve as the opening round of the Major League Baseball (MLB) postseason. A single wild card game was first instituted in 2012; best-of-three ...
and hosted the
Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...
. However, the Mariners swept the Blue Jays in two games.
* Team record 2022: 92 wins–70 losses, W%-
2023 season
During the off-season, the Blue Jays traded
Teoscar Hernández to the Seattle Mariners for
Erik Swanson and
Adam Macko
Below is a partial list of Minor League Baseball players in the Toronto Blue Jays and rosters of their minor league affiliates.
Players Addison Barger
Addison Barger (born November 12, 1999) is an American professional baseball infielder in th ...
. The Blue Jays hired Don Mattingly as the new bench coach. The Blue Jays later signed Chris Bassitt and Kevin Kiermaier.
Popularity
In 1977, after just 50 home games, the Blue Jays set an MLB record for a first-year expansion team, with an overall attendance of 1,219,551 during those games. By the end of the season, 1,701,152 fans had attended. After setting an attendance record in 1990, with 3,885,284 fans, in 1991, the Blue Jays became the first MLB team to attract over
four million fans, with an attendance of 4,001,526, followed by 4,028,318 in 1992.
[Blue Jays Timeline](_blank)
BlueJays.com. Accessed on December 7, 2011. Each of those records were broken in 1993 by the expansion
Colorado Rockies
The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fi ...
, although the Blue Jays' 1993 attendance of 4,057,947 stood as an AL record for 12 years until it was broken by the
2005 New York Yankees.
Several Blue Jays became very popular in Toronto and across the major leagues, starting with
Dave Stieb
Dave Andrew Stieb (; born July 22, 1957) is a former Major League Baseball right-handed starting pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays. A seven-time All-Star, he also won ''The Sporting News'' Pitcher of the Year Award in 1982. Stieb won 140 games i ...
, whose seven All-Star selections is a franchise record. He is closely followed by
Roy Halladay and
José Bautista, who were selected six times each, and by
Roberto Alomar and
Joe Carter, who were selected five times each. Bautista set a major league record in 2011 (which only stood for just one year), with 7,454,753 All-Star votes. In his first season with the Blue Jays in 2015, Josh Donaldson set a new major league record by receiving 14,090,188 All-Star votes.
Culture
"OK Blue Jays"
During the
seventh-inning stretch of home games, before singing "
Take Me Out to the Ball Game", Blue Jay fans sing and clap to "
OK Blue Jays
"OK Blue Jays" is a baseball song played during the seventh-inning stretch of home games of the Toronto Blue Jays, a Major League Baseball team based in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The song includes references to the team's roster and e ...
" by
Keith Hampshire and The Bat Boys, which was released in 1983. The song was remixed in 2003, and since then, the new, shortened version is played at home games.
Mascots
From 1979 to 1999, BJ Birdy served as the Blue Jays' sole mascot, played by Kevin Shanahan. In 2000, he was replaced by a duo named Ace and Diamond. After the 2003 season, Diamond was removed by the team, leaving Ace as the team's sole mascot. Since the 2010s, Ace has been accompanied by his younger brother, Junior. This usually happens on the Jr. Jay Saturday promotions until the end of the
2017 season. The promotions were moved to select Sundays since the
2018 season, since the Blue Jays can no longer hold early Saturday afternoon games to accommodate
American national broadcasts on Fox, though Fox did occasionally broadcast Blue Jays games at the Rogers Centre.
Sunday Salute
Since 2012, every Sunday home game, the Blue Jays pay tribute to a member of the
Canadian Armed Forces. During the third inning, the team presents the honoured member a personalized jersey.
National anthems
Since 2005, "
The Star-Spangled Banner
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the bo ...
" has been sung before "
O Canada
"O Canada" (french: Ô Canada, italic=no) is the national anthem of Canada. The song was originally commissioned by Lieutenant Governor of Quebec Théodore Robitaille for the 1880 Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony; Calixa Lavallée composed the mus ...
" at every home game. In some home games (including Canada Day home games and playoffs), "O Canada" is sung in English and French. When O Canada was sung during the Home Opener, Canada Day, and playoff games, a giant Canadian flag was carried by members of the Canadian Armed Forces. On June 29, 2019, "O Canada" was sung in
Cree and English. On September 30, 2021, the
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, "O Canada" was sung in English, French, and Anishinaabemowin. On September 30, 2022, O Canada was sung in French, English, and Blackfoot. For Blue Jays road games, "O Canada" is sung before the "Star Spangled Banner" as all road games (since the Expos moved to Washington, DC) for the Blue Jays are in the United States.
Canada Day
The Blue Jays traditionally host a home game during
Canada Day. During the game, the team wears red jerseys instead of blue jerseys. During the pre-game ceremony, a giant Canadian flag is carried by members of the Canadian Armed Forces while O Canada is sung in English and French. The game was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, the game was held in
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...
due to Canada–U.S. travel restrictions.
Jays Shop
The Blue Jays operate a store that sells primarily Blue Jays merchandise called the Jays Shop. This store has three locations: two at Rogers Centre and one in the
Toronto Eaton Centre.
Uniforms
1977–1988
The Blue Jays wore pullover uniforms during their first decade of existence. The front of the home white uniforms contained the team name in a unique blue/white/blue split-letter style, with the team logo centred below. The road uniforms were powder blue, with the city name in front and the team logo centred below. Initially, the city name was rendered in bold blue letters, before gaining a white outline the following season. By 1979 it was replaced by the team name in split-lettered white/blue/white style. Player numerals also used the split-letter style, except on the road uniform during its first two seasons. Player names in blue were added to both uniforms for the 1980 season, but were dropped from the road uniform in 1981. Caps were blue with the Blue Jays logo on a white panel in front.
1989–1996
The Blue Jays adopted buttoned uniforms upon moving to
Rogers Centre (then SkyDome) in 1989. Aside from the additions of buttons and belts, the only change affecting the home uniforms was the relocation of the team logo to the left chest. The road uniforms changed from powder blue to grey, while the city name and numerals in blue/white/blue split-letters was emblazoned and the logo moved to the left chest. Player names were also added to the road uniform. All-blue caps were worn with their road uniform while keeping the white-paneled blue caps at home. By 1993, the all-blue caps were worn universally, supplanting and eventually retiring the original cap design.
[
In 1994 the Blue Jays began wearing blue alternate uniforms with the team name and numerals in white/blue/white split letters.][
]
1997–2003
The Blue Jays updated their logo prior to the 1997 season, with a new bird design and enlarged red maple leaf at the back. The usage of red was greatly increased on the team's new uniforms. On the home uniforms, the letters and numerals were changed to blue/teal/blue split letters, while road uniform letters and numerals were changed to blue/red/blue split letters. On the alternate blue uniforms, split letters and numerals became red/blue/red. Red also appeared on the pant and sleeve stripes while the new logo occupied the left sleeve. Player names also took on the new block split-letter style. An updated all-blue cap was paired with the home and road uniforms, while a red-brimmed blue cap (with a modified logo without a baseball) was used with the blue alternates.
In 1999 the Blue Jays unveiled an alternate sleeveless white uniform, featuring the same lettering style as the regular home uniform. However, the chest numerals were replaced with the primary logo. Blue undershirts were worn with this uniform.[
Before the 2001 season slight modifications were made with the uniforms, eliminating the tricolour stripes and adding a single colour piping along the chest and neck. While the home uniforms remained mostly intact, the road uniforms gained blue sleeves in a faux-vest design. On the alternate white uniform (now a faux-vest instead of a straight sleeveless design), the new "T-bird" logo replaced the primary "jay leaf" logo, which moved to the left sleeve. In 2003, the "T-bird" logo became the primary, taking over the previous logo's placement on the caps and sleeve, while the alternate white uniforms brought back chest numerals.][
]
2004–2011
Before the 2004 season, the Blue Jays adopted a new visual identity, going with a black, silver and graphite motif. The home and black alternates simply read "Jays" in front and in a 3D-oriented diagonal arrangement, with the bird connected to the letter "J". Letters and numerals were in graphite with light blue and silver trim. The road uniforms featured the city name in a similar letter style as the logo, with graphite letters and numerals trimmed in light blue and silver. In 2008, however, amid complaints of illegibility, the Blue Jays tweaked their road uniforms to include 3D-style block letters and numerals in light blue trimmed in black and white, along with chest numerals. The "J-bird" alternate was added to the left sleeve. A red maple leaf would be added on the right sleeve starting in 2009. The Blue Jays wore all-black caps with the "J-bird" logo for much of the uniforms' existence, save for the 2004 and 2005 seasons when they wore all-graphite caps at home, and in 2007 when an alternate all-black cap with the "T" from the previous road uniform was used.
2012–present
Prior to the 2012 season, the Blue Jays unveiled new uniforms and a new logo. The logo is a modernized version of the original logo used from 1977 to 1996. While the original logo contained a baseball behind the Blue Jay head, the new logo removed the baseball altogether. The bird's head was also made sleeker than its 1977-1996 predecessor. The uniforms are similar to the ones used from 1989 to 1996, the team's most successful era. New serifed split-letters were also released. In 2015, the Blue Jays began wearing a modernized version of the white-paneled blue caps they originally wore from 1977 to 1993 as an alternate.
Before the 2020 season, the Blue Jays unveiled a modernized version of the powder blue uniforms, featuring navy/white/navy serifed split letters and numerals. These uniforms are paired with a powder-brimmed navy cap and an all-navy helmet.
Canada Day uniforms
Since 1996, the Blue Jays wore predominantly red or red-accented uniforms every July 1, Canada Day. The uniforms were based on the team's alternate uniforms they wore at the time, but with red as the primary colour. On a few occasions, the Blue Jays added red trim to an existing white uniform (or in the case of the 2006 uniforms, their black alternates), and sometimes add the flag of Canada
The national flag of Canada (french: le Drapeau national du Canada), often simply referred to as the Canadian flag or, unofficially, as the Maple Leaf or ' (; ), consists of a red field with a white square at its centre in the ratio of , in ...
or a red maple leaf on the uniform.
Rivalries
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos were the Blue Jays' geographic National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...
rival, being the other Canadian MLB team before it was relocated. From 1978 to 1986, the teams played an annual mid-season exhibition game, known as the Pearson Cup, named after former Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
Lester B. Pearson. The teams began facing each other in the regular season in 1997, with the advent of interleague play
Interleague play in Major League Baseball refers to regular-season baseball games played between an American League (AL) team and a National League (NL) team. Interleague play was first introduced during the 1997 Major League Baseball season. Pr ...
. During the 2003 and 2004 seasons, the Expos' last two seasons before relocating to Washington, D.C., as the Nationals, the Pearson Cup was awarded after a pair of three-game sets.
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...
are the Blue Jays' geographic and traditional rival, dating back to the 1980s, when the teams were AL East contenders. The Tigers moved to the AL Central in 1998, and the rivalry has died down as a result, with the teams facing each other only six to seven times per year since 2011. Depending on traffic and border delays, Detroit is about a four-hour drive from Toronto. According to ''The Detroit News
''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival '' Detroit Free Press'' building. ''The News'' absorbed the '' Detroit Tribune'' on Febru ...
'', a July 2017 three-game series at Comerica Park against the Blue Jays drew a season-best-to-date total attendance of 115,088.
Seattle Mariners
Although the Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...
are not a divisional rival, many Blue Jays fans from Western Canada travel to Seattle when the Blue Jays play there as Seattle is geographically closer to Western Canada than Toronto is. Depending on traffic and border delays, Seattle is about a three-hour drive from Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...
. ''The Seattle Times
''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington s ...
'' estimated that Blue Jays fans represented around 70 percent of the crowd in Safeco Field
T-Mobile Park is a retractable roof stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners and has a seating capacity of 47,929. It is in Seattle's SoDo neighborhood, near the weste ...
for a June 2017 weekend series.
Broadcasting
Radio
The Blue Jays' former radio play-by-play announcer, Tom Cheek
Thomas F. Cheek (June 13, 1939 – October 9, 2005) was an American sports commentator who is best remembered as the play-by-play radio announcer for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB), from the team's establishment in 19 ...
, called every Toronto Blue Jays game from the team's inaugural contest on April 7, 1977, until June 3, 2004, when he took two games off following the death of his father—a streak of 4,306 consecutive regular-season games and 41 postseason games. Cheek later died on October 9, 2005, and the team commemorated him during their 2006 season by wearing a circular patch on the left sleeve of their home and road game jerseys. The patch was adorned with the letters 'TC', Cheek's initials, as well as a stylized microphone
A microphone, colloquially called a mic or mike (), is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and pub ...
. Cheek is also honoured with a place in the Blue Jays' "Level of Excellence" in the upper level of the Rogers Centre; the number 4,306 is depicted beside his name. In 2008, Cheek received the third most votes by fans to be nominated for the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting excellence. Cheek finally received the Frick Award, posthumously, in 2013 after nine years on the ballot.
Radio broadcasts of Blue Jays games are originated from Sportsnet 590 CJCL in Toronto which, like the Blue Jays, is owned by Rogers Communications. After Cheek's retirement in 2005, Jerry Howarth, who had been Cheek's broadcasting partner since 1982, took over as lead play-by-play announcer, with Mike Wilner as the secondary play-by-play announcer. During the 2007 to 2012 seasons, former Blue Jays catcher Alan Ashby
Alan Dean Ashby (born July 8, 1951) is an American former professional baseball catcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) and current radio and television sports commentator. A switch hitter, he played for the Cleveland Indians, Toronto Blue Jays, ...
was the colour commentator. Former Blue Jays pitcher Jack Morris
John Scott Morris (born May 16, 1955) is an American former professional baseball starting pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1977 and 1994, mainly for the Detroit Tigers. Morris won 254 games throughout his career.
Armed ...
served as the colour commentator during the 2013 season, after which he was replaced by former Montreal Expos catcher Joe Siddall since the 2014 season.
Former Blue Jays pitcher Dirk Hayhurst filled in for Morris for some games during the 2013 season.
Another former catcher for the Blue Jays, Gregg Zaun, has served as the occasional colour commentator from the 2011 season until the end of the 2017 season when he was terminated amid accusations of improper conduct from several female employees.
Following Howarth's retirement in the 2017 season, Ben Wagner was hired as the primary radio play-by-play announcer, splitting said duties with Dan Shulman and Mike Wilner.
In November 2020, Mike Wilner was laid off by the team. In February 2021, it was announced that "in an effort to minimize travel and closely adhere to team, league, and government protocols related to the pandemic
A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic disease with a stable number of i ...
", all radio broadcasts for the 2021 season will be a simulcast of the television broadcast. Wagner will assume an alternative role. However, once the Blue Jays returned to Rogers Centre in late July 2021, dedicated radio broadcasts resumed.
The Blue Jays have the largest geographical home market in all of baseball, encompassing all of Canada. Despite this, the number of radio stations that broadcast games is actually quite small. Only 18 radio stations across the country aired at least some Blue Jays games during the 2021 season, which is fewer affiliates than most MLB teams, which have more stations covering smaller geographic areas.
Television
All Blue Jays games are carried nationally on Sportsnet (which, like the Blue Jays, is owned by Rogers Communications), with Buck Martinez
John Albert "Buck" Martinez (born November 7, 1948) is an American former professional baseball catcher and manager, and is currently the television play-by-play announcer for the Toronto Blue Jays. He played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball ...
as the play-by-play announcer, and Pat Tabler as the primary colour analyst. On select games, play-by-play is handled by Dan Shulman, with Martinez and Tabler on commentary. Toronto Raptors play-by-play announcer Matt Devlin has also filled in for Martinez in a select number of games. In previous years, the colour analyst role rotated between Pat Tabler, Rance Mulliniks
Steven Rance Mulliniks (born January 15, 1956) is an American former Major League Baseball player.
Playing career
Originally drafted as a shortstop, Mulliniks made his major league debut in for the California Angels, batting .269 in 78 games. ...
, Darrin Fletcher, and from 2011 to 2017, Gregg Zaun. Sportsnet became the team's primary carrier soon after it launched in the late 1990s, and became the team's exclusive broadcaster in 2010. As of August 2010, Sportsnet One also broadcasts Blue Jays games (often in case of scheduling conflicts with the main Sportsnet channels). Rogers was, however, criticized by fans and critics due to Sportsnet One only being carried by Rogers Cable systems on launch.
Sportsnet's broadcasts of the 2015 American League Division Series
The 2015 American League Division Series were two best-of-five-game series to determine the participating teams in the 2015 American League Championship Series. The three divisional winners (seeded 1-3) and a fourth team—the winner of a one-g ...
involving the Blue Jays were among the highest-rated telecasts in network history, with Game 4 drawing an audience of 4.38 million viewers.
In September 2012, AMI-tv simulcast three Blue Jays games with described video provided by CJCL correspondent Sam Cosentino, which included explanations of on-screen graphics. Paul Beeston praised AMI's involvement, stating that "to our knowledge, we are the first sports organization to have our games provided through this revolutionary approach to accommodating the needs of the blind and low-vision community."
On June 27, 2013, Rogers' over-the-air Toronto multicultural Omni Television
Omni Television (stylized as OMNI Television) is a Canadian television system and specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media, a subsidiary of Rogers Communications. It currently consists of all six of Canada's conventional multicultur ...
station CJMT-DT
CJMT-DT (channel 40) is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is one of two flagship stations of the Canadian multilingual network Omni Television. CJMT-DT is owned and operated by Rogers Sports & Media alongside sister Omni ou ...
simulcast a Blue Jays game, scheduled to be started by Taiwanese player Chien-Ming Wang, with commentary in Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
, marking the first ever Canadian MLB broadcast in the language. In June 2018, Omni announced that it would air Sunday afternoon games in Tagalog
Tagalog may refer to:
Language
* Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines
** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language
** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language
* Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Tagal ...
, the most spoken language of the Philippines, through the remainder of the season. Sportsnet and Omni announced a regular season of Sunday broadcasts in Tagalog for the 2019 season.
TVA Sports has aired games in French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
since 2011, with Jacques Doucet on play-by-play and Rodger Brulotte on colour.
The Sports Network (TSN), which (like the Jays) was owned by Labatt from 1984 to 1995, served as the primary cable television outlet for the Blue Jays prior to the launch of Sportsnet. TSN (and later, its sister channel TSN2) continued to carry approximately ten Jays games through the 2009 season until May 2010; most recently, Rod Black handled play-by-play while Tabler served as colour commentator on these telecasts. CBC has carried Blue Jays games intermittently throughout the team's history, most recently in 2007 and 2008; those broadcasts featured Jim Hughson as the play-by-play announcer, and former Blue Jays Rance Mulliniks
Steven Rance Mulliniks (born January 15, 1956) is an American former Major League Baseball player.
Playing career
Originally drafted as a shortstop, Mulliniks made his major league debut in for the California Angels, batting .269 in 78 games. ...
and Jesse Barfield on colour commentary. Games also aired on CTV
CTV may refer to:
Television
* Connected TV, or Smart TV, a TV set with integrated internet
North America and South America
* CTV Television Network, a Canadian television network owned by Bell Media
** CTV 2, a secondary Canadian televisio ...
(except in Montreal) from the team's inception until the late 1990s. The Blue Jays have not appeared over-the-air in Canada in English since 2008.
In 2008, Rogers Communications, owner of the Jays, was granted a license by the Canadian Radio-Television Commission (CRTC) for a "Baseball TV" specialty channel
A specialty channel (also known in the United States as a cable channel or cable network) can be a commercial broadcasting or non-commercial television channel which consists of television programming focused on a single genre, subject or target ...
. The channel would have been dedicated to coverage of baseball, combining content from the United States-based MLB Network with original Canadian content. However, the channel was never launched, and Rogers sponsored an application to allow distribution of the U.S. MLB Network on Canadian providers instead.
Due to the structure of Rogers' MLB broadcast contracts, Sportsnet is not permitted to use its domestic production for Blue Jays games if the team is in postseason play (as it is technically still considered a regional broadcaster), and instead carries the U.S. broadcast (such as Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelv ...
in 2015, and TBS in 2016). This is in contrast to the NBA's Toronto Raptors (via TSN and Sportsnet), as well as the NHL
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
and MLS's Canadian-based teams (via Hockey Night in Canada on CBC and Sportsnet, and TSN respectively) who were allowed to produce their own broadcasts during postseason games. Buck Martinez has served as a colour commentator for post-season coverage ultimately simulcast by Sportsnet, however, having formerly worked Division Series games for TBS, and on the MLB International broadcast of the 2016 World Series. In 2022, however, MLB allowed Sportsnet to carry its own production of Blue Jays postseason games.
Roster
Minor league affiliations
The Toronto Blue Jays farm system consists of seven minor league affiliates.
Season by season record
Awards and other achievements
Award winners and league leaders
Franchise records
No-hitters
Only one Blue Jays pitcher has thrown a no-hitter
In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher w ...
in franchise history. It was accomplished by Dave Stieb
Dave Andrew Stieb (; born July 22, 1957) is a former Major League Baseball right-handed starting pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays. A seven-time All-Star, he also won ''The Sporting News'' Pitcher of the Year Award in 1982. Stieb won 140 games i ...
on September 2, 1990, after losing three no-hit bids with two outs in the ninth inning.
No perfect games, a special subcategory of no-hitter, have been thrown in Blue Jays history. The franchise came closest on August 4, 1989, when Stieb gave up a double to Yankees' batter Roberto Kelly with two outs in the ninth and he scored by the next batter.
Triple Crown champions
Roger Clemens
William Roger Clemens (born August 4, 1962), nicknamed "Rocket", is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 24 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily with the Boston Red Sox. Clemens was one of the most dominant pi ...
won the pitching Triple Crown in 1997 and 1998.
Baseball Hall of Famers
Nine former Blue Jays, one former manager, and one former general manager, have been elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball ...
. Second baseman Roberto Alomar, elected to the Hall of Fame in 2011, is the first player to be inducted based primarily on service as a player for the Blue Jays.
Bobby Doerr, a second baseman with the Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eig ...
, served as a hitting coach with the Blue Jays early in their history, 1977–1981, and was the first person associated with the franchise to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, in 1986.
Early Wynn, the Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher (1972) and career 300-game winner, was a radio broadcaster for the Blue Jays with Tom Cheek
Thomas F. Cheek (June 13, 1939 – October 9, 2005) was an American sports commentator who is best remembered as the play-by-play radio announcer for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB), from the team's establishment in 19 ...
during their first few years, 1977–1981.
Ford C. Frick Award recipients
BBWAA Career Excellence Award recipients
Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame
Retired numbers
Soon after becoming the first person to be inducted in the Hall of Fame as a Blue Jay, on July 31, 2011, second baseman Roberto Alomar was the first person to have his number, #12, retired by the Blue Jays.
On March 29, 2018, the Blue Jays retired #32 in honour of Roy Halladay, who died in an airplane crash on November 7, 2017, becoming the second number to be retired by the Blue Jays.
Level of Excellence
In 1996, the Blue Jays instituted a "Level of Excellence" on the 500 level of the Rogers Centre, honouring "tremendous individual achievement."
*'' Roberto Alomar was inducted into the Level of Excellence in 2008, but was removed in 2021 after he was banned from baseball.''
Players' uniform numbers were listed—and in Tom Cheek's case, the number of consecutive games he called for the Blue Jays—until the 2013 All-Star Break, even though, with the exception of Roberto Alomar and Roy Halladay these numbers have not been retired. During the 2013 All-Star Break, the Level of Excellence was redesigned for the addition of Carlos Delgado's name. The redesign removed all uniform numbers from the Level of Excellence aside from Roberto Alomar's retired #12, Roy Halladay's retired #32 and Tom Cheek's 4306 consecutive games called streak. On April 30, 2021, the Blue Jays announced that they would remove Alomar from the Level of Excellence and take down his banner at Rogers Centre after he was banned from baseball for sexual harassment.
Charity and partnerships
The Jays Care Foundation is the charitable arm of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball organization and conducts events to support local organizations and community members. They also provide baseball education and life skill workshops to the youth of communities across Canada.
Notes
References
:Some text copied via the GFDL fro
BR Bullpen article on the 2009 Blue Jays
External links
*
, colspan="3" style="text-align:center;", World Series champions
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) and concludes the MLB postseason. First played in 1903, the World Series championship is a best-of-seven playoff and is a contest between the champions of bas ...
, -
, style="width:30%; text-align:center;", Preceded by:
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area ...
1991
File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the ...
, style="width:40%; text-align:center;", 1992 and 1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
, style="width:30%; text-align:center;", Succeeded by:
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in B ...
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...
, -
, colspan="3" style="text-align:center;", American League champions
, -
, style="width:30%; text-align:center;", Preceded by:
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area ...
1991
File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the ...
, style="width:40%; text-align:center;", 1992 and 1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
, style="width:30%; text-align:center;", Succeeded by:
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive ...
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...
, -
, colspan="3" style="text-align:center;", American League Eastern Division champions
, -
, style="width:30%; text-align:center;", Preceded by:
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...
1984
, style="width:40%; text-align:center;", 1985
, style="width:30%; text-align:center;", Succeeded by:
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eig ...
1986
, -
, style="width:30%; text-align:center;", Preceded by:
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eig ...
1988
, style="width:40%; text-align:center;", 1989
, style="width:30%; text-align:center;", Succeeded by:
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eig ...
1990
, -
, style="width:30%; text-align:center;", Preceded by:
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eig ...
1990
, style="width:40%; text-align:center;", 1991
File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the ...
– 1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
, style="width:30%; text-align:center;", Succeeded by:
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eig ...
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...
, -
, style="width:30%; text-align:center;", Preceded by:
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
, style="width:40%; text-align:center;", 2015
, style="width:30%; text-align:center;", Succeeded by:
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eig ...
2016
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{{Authority control
Major League Baseball teams
Grapefruit League
Baseball teams established in 1977
1977 establishments in Ontario