History tells us the Toronto Blue Jays shouldn’t be in this position, preparing to host their first World Series in 32 years. And yet, here they are. After finishing last in the AL East with only 74 wins last season, most expected the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, and Baltimore Orioles to finish ahead of the Blue Jays in 2025. Heck, some even had the Tampa Bay Rays slotting in ahead of them. Boy, were those people ever wrong.

Now, with the calendar nearing the final week of October, Toronto is one of two teams — the Los Angeles Dodgers being the other — left standing out of 30, having accomplished something that only two other franchises have done this century: advance to the World Series following a last-place finish during the previous season.

The two other times this happened also involved AL East clubs, too.

One year after winning just 69 games in 2012, the Red Sox perfectly threaded the needle with their off-season moves and went from worst to first during the following campaign, winning their third of four World Series titles from 2004-18. The Rays also enjoyed a similar fate while capturing their first-ever AL East crown in ’08, but lost to the Cole Hamels-led Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series.

For the Blue Jays, they had previously reached an impasse with their competitive window, given that both Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, the franchise’s two cornerstone pillars, were set to reach free agency after this season.

Management could’ve opted to blow up this roster last winter. But they didn’t. Instead, after inking Guerrero to the richest contract in franchise history (14 years, $500 million), they decided to push forward in hopes of returning to the post-season, embarking on one of the most improbable paths to the Fall Classic that this sport has ever seen.

So, let’s revisit many of the obstacles that propelled them to this point.

Starting with the front office’s off-season moves, this team made a huge splash in free agency by signing Anthony Santander to a five-year, $92.5-million contract. The plan was to have the former 44-home-run hitter provide middle-of-the-order protection behind Guerrero. Injuries, of course, ultimately had other ideas.

Santander barely factored into this magical run at all, playing just 59 games this season (54 regular season, five playoff) due to shoulder and back ailments. He ended up contributing minus-0.9 fWAR — tied with Chad Green for worst among Blue Jays players. But as poor as Santander’s first season in Toronto was, almost all of the organization’s off-season acquisitions have played out differently than expected.

Take Myles Straw, for example. He spent all but seven games at triple-A in 2024. Nobody paid any attention to him when he — along with $2 million in international signing bonus money — was acquired in a salary-dump trade from the Cleveland Guardians. And yet, he ended up earning more fWAR (1.8) than any of the Blue Jays’ off-season acquisitions — position player or pitcher.

Speaking of unsung heroes, let’s not forget about Eric Lauer. Amidst an off-season that saw the likes of closer Jeff Hoffman and future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer added to this roster, it was Lauer, initially signed to a minor-league contract, who provided the most value during the regular season — his 1.4 fWAR finished behind only Chris Bassitt (2.4) and Kevin Gausman (4.1) among Toronto’s arms.

It’s been a season full of surprise stories for the Blue Jays. On the position-player side, Nathan Lukes, Ernie Clement and Addison Barger all emerged into key roles. Davis Schneider bounced back as a platoon bat and rediscovered the magic from his historic 2023 rookie campaign.

Or how about Alejandro Kirk becoming an elite all-around catcher again? He had been a below league-average hitter per wRC+ over the past two seasons heading into ’25. And yet, despite logging a career-high 118 games behind the plate in his first season as Toronto’s undisputed No. 1 catcher, he’s enjoyed a career year — with his 4.7 fWAR second to only Cal Raleigh’s 9.1 among big-league backstops.

It’s likely helped that Kirk has been supported by arguably the best backup catcher in baseball, Tyler Heineman, who also delivered the best performance of his journeyman career in the regular season, serving as a two-win backstop per fWAR, albeit across a 64-game sample size.

In terms of unlikely surprises, though, none has been bigger than George Springer’s Father-Time-defying season. From his 35 home runs to his five-win season — both team-leading — at 35 years old, his fifth season in Toronto has been one for the record books, and it’s one absolutely no one could’ve seen coming.

Dramatic bullpen changes have been another key storyline of the Blue Jays’ season over the past six-plus months. Just look at the differences between their ‘pen on Opening Day (Mar. 27) versus Game 7 of the ALCS (Oct. 20).

Only three relievers remain from Game 1 of 162: Hoffman, Little and Rodríguez.

Of those nine bullpen arms, four had never appeared in the post-season before this season — Little, Rodríguez, Fisher and Fluharty, with those last two starting the year at triple-A Buffalo.

The improbability of the Blue Jays’ World Series return has been front and centre all season. There were countless times when they could’ve been knocked back down the mountain and left for dead. But they’ve continued to defy the odds each time, even when they were facing a daunting 2-0 series deficit versus the Seattle Mariners in the ALCS.

Of note, teams that take a 2-0 lead in a best-of-seven series had won 78 out of 93 times all-time in post-season history prior to this year’s ALCS. Plus, when it’s been the road team in that scenario, they’ve taken the series in 25 of the 28 instances — with all three comebacks occurring in the World Series.

Even with those historical events against them, the Blue Jays still found a way to pull through — doing so with a trio of comeback victories, after leading the majors with 49 during the regular season, and performances from unlikely heroes.

In Games 3 and 4 in Seattle, it was Andrés Giménez — who hadn’t homered over his first 23 career playoff games — leading Toronto’s offence with back-to-back clutch home runs. In Game 6, it was Trey Yesavage — who started this season at single-A Dunedin — limiting the Mariners’ offence to just a pair of runs over 5.2 innings.

And, of course, who could forget Springer’s go-ahead three-run bomb in the seventh inning of Game 7, supplying one of the most monumental hits in franchise history — perhaps second to only Joe Carter’s infamous walk-off home run in the 1993 World Series — while playing through an injured right knee.

Even Hoffman has silenced his doubters this post-season, allowing just one run over 7.1 innings with 12 strikeouts and only two walks. All those questions about whether you can trust him in October are gone. Just look at what he did to close out the ALCS, recording a six-out save in Game 6 and then striking out the side across a perfect ninth inning in Game 7.

Sure, you could say the Blue Jays have been incredibly lucky this season. But any time you advance this deep into October, there’s always an element of luck involved. More than anything, though, this front office deserves credit for finally crafting the roster that they had been chasing the last few years. This is the vision that held strong through the heartbreak seasons in 2022, ’23 and ’24.

The entire season has felt like a Hollywood movie, featuring feel-good stories one after another. Toronto will be the underdog as Los Angeles attempts to become the first back-to-back World Series champions since New York’s glory days in the late 90s.

But who doesn’t love rooting for an underdog, right? Still, the Blue Jays have beaten the odds before when they’ve been stacked against them, which they will be here again. But perhaps they can replicate that magic one final time. It’d be a fitting ending to an already unforgettable year.