The Kings of Fun ride on into the ALDS
7 years ago
Photo Credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports
I’ve written about the Blue Jays for nearly a decade now — the first Drunk Jays Fans post arrived in the world on December 27th, 2006 — and it feels especially cruel, but maybe not surprising, that I find myself at a loss for words at the greatest moments in franchise history. But what do you even say about a night like the one we all experienced on Tuesday?
My mind is still swimming, as I imagine is the case for so many Jays fans right now. There is so much to potentially unpack from a game that was almost unimaginably rich with tension, and yet in the end there is really only unbridled joy.
Giddy up, Tulo! Jose! Edwin! Marcus! Kevin! Josh! Aaron! Dirty Bob! Gibbers, and everyone else! We’re getting the band back together for one more playoff adventure before the real world intrudes and tries to tear the heart out of this group! Let’s go, you renegades! You Kings of Fun!
Maybe it’s that there’s nothing for me to be a damn contrarian about — no Jays fan that isn’t relieved to have watched Gibbers’ Gambit with Marcus Stroman pay off; none who isn’t baffled and delighted by Buck Showalter’s insane decision not to use Zack Britton, or livid with the embarrassment of a fan who threw a beer can at Hyun-soo Kim; no one who didn’t feel all the feels when Edwin Encarnacion told Hazel Mae, “That’s why I want to come back here — because that happened tonight!” (Or who didn’t want badly for him to be talking about 2017 and beyond, and not simply referring back to his comments last Thursday, after what might have been his last appearance at Rogers Centre as a member of the Blue Jays).
Maybe it’s that the details all seem as irrelevant now as the club’s September swoon. The Blue Jays are 3-0 in October, and they now face the overachieving Rangers for a place in the ALCS. We could have asked for nothing more.
The team and the season feels like it has been instantly validated — its success in the grand scheme all but assured, even with so much still to play for. Whatever happens from here, we have The Moment. Or, to use the Jays’ preferred clunky marketing tagline, Our Moment.
It feels fucking great, amiright?
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