It’s August 2, 2016. The Blue Jays are languishing in fourth place in the American League East, 17 games behind the division leading Boston Red Sox, who have been pile-driving opponents since the acquisition of David Price in the off-season. Adding insult to injury, they also have Edwin Encarnacion, who the Jays recently traded to them for a stable of prospects. Right fielder Dalton Pompey has struggled under the weight of replacing Jose Bautista, who was traded to the Mets after the Blue Jays missed the playoffs in 2015. Starting shortstop Jose Reyes has been in a season-long slump both at the plate and in the field, and has been booed both home and away since being arrested for domestic violence-
It’s July 27, 2015. The Blue Jays are 50-50. They were a team that had underachieved relative to expectations, with an expected win percentage of .590 based on their run differential- they’d outscored opponents by 95 runs. A planet eating offense had been dragged down by an inconsistent pitching staff, and a heartbreaking ability to win by nine runs one day, then lose by one the next. It had to be frustrating for the team. It certainly was for the fans.
Even with that, Anthopoulos rolled the dice, and bet on the talent. He traded for Troy Tulowitzki. Three days later, he traded for David Price. There were others, but these were the two kingmakers, the ones who made the biggest difference to the Blue Jays, and their fans.
It’s August 2, 2016. The Blue Jays are leading the American League East, three games ahead of the surprising New York Yankees. Despite the season-long slumps of Ben Revere and David Price, their offense has continued to be excellent, and they’ve remained ahead of their counterparts in the division, who have struggled to find good starting pitching. GM Alex Anthopoulos is confident, coming off a shocking trade for Chris Sale to fortify the rotation, quieting those who were concerned about moving comeback player of the year candidate Gavin Floyd to the bullpen-
Looking back, it’s beyond shocking they traded for Tulowitzki and Price. The day after they traded for Tulo, they were eight games out of first, with just over two months to go. Even with the run differential, with the talent they had, with everything that suggested they should have been winning more, the bottom line was that they weren’t winning. They hadn’t won. They were a .500 team after 100 games. Even if they were better than their record, it soon wasn’t going to matter.
I’ve often thought about those trades, and what led Anthopoulos to make them. Did he believe in the team, as he said? Or was it that he knew he was done at the end of the year, and rolled the dice anyway, just to see if they could do it?
It’s August 2, 2016. The Blue Jays are in last place in the American League East after a miserable season. President Mark Shapiro has preached patience, having restocked the minor league system after a fire sale, following the Jays’ stunning World Series victory in 2015. Kevin Pillar and Devon Travis, two of the few holdovers from the team, have been unable to hold the team together following the purge, and a very young group sputtered out of the gate. This led to manager John Gibbons being fired, and fan attendance dwindling even with Travis building on his promising rookie season-
It was interesting in the off-season to reflect on just how crazy 2015 was after the deadline. It was fun that the team was buying for once, and that we as fans could use August and September to follow a pennant race rather than dream on prospects. It wasn’t the Yankees or the Rangers, or the Dodgers who had made the biggest splash at the deadline- it was our guys. It was the Jays. They’d gotten the best pitcher and the best hitter. It was hard to not be giddy about it.
Even with those acquisitions, it wasn’t likely that the Jays would make the playoffs. Seven games over two months was a hard hill to climb, even against an older Yankees team that hadn’t done anything. But that’s one of the great things about baseball; as much as we analyse and discuss and discover and learn more about this great game, anything can happen. And, to a point, the pundits were right. They Jays didn’t make up seven games in two months. They made it up in two weeks. Barely fourteen days after getting the new guys, they took four out of four from the Yankees to take over first place.
It’s August 2, 2016. The Blue Jays are in third place in the American League East, eight games behind the division leading Red Sox, and three games out of a wild card. Fans are still lamenting the shocking trade of third baseman Josh Donaldson at the deadline, who expressed extreme frustration with the club once he learned that neither Jose Bautista or Edwin Encarnacion would return next season. Though the pitching has been a pleasant surprise behind Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman, the offense has scuffled for most of the season, struggling with injuries and slumps. Team president Kenny Williams has cancelled his appearance at the next Pitch Talks following the outcry, sending GM Ozzie Guillen in his place-
There were a lot of ways things could have gone for the Jays after those trades. Even though they didn’t win the World Series in 2015, I wouldn’t change any of it. The excitement, the fun, the memorable moments, the Jays being a playoff team for the first time since 1993, all of it was incredible, and all of it due to those trades that happened at the deadline. Could they have made the playoffs without them? Could they have missed the playoffs with them? Maybe they SHOULD have missed the playoffs with them. But again, it’s baseball. They didn’t miss the playoffs. They overtook the Yankees, and stayed ahead for good in September. We got the comeback, the bat flip, Harold Reynolds being dumb about Canada, the missed strike against Revere, and Dalton Pompey standing 90 feet away with the tying run.
It’s August 2, 2016. The Blue Jays are tied for second place in the American League East, just behind the Orioles. It was a quieter trade deadline for the Jays, but that’s probably just fine, given the team they have. Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins worked the edges, securing modest upgrades at modest prices, and leaving the Jays well situated for years to come. As far as we know, anyway. Betting on J.A. Happ and Marco Estrada instead of David Price has worked out for the team so far, as has moving Aaron Sanchez into the rotation. After a tough first couple of months, the offense is getting healthy and rounding into form, just in time for the stretch drive.
How different would this year be, if not for last year’s playoff run? Would the Jays be a contender? Would they have sold everyone? Would we have been resigned to cheering prospects and looking over scouting reports? None of us can be sure. That’s part of the fun. We have about sixty more games of a potential World Series contender to cheer for, and I for one am looking forward to that.
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