A pair of large-scale trades in the winter of 2012 put the Blue Jays in position to compete for postseason baseball for the first time since 1993, but they wouldn’t sniff legitimate playoff conversations until the 2014 season.

Although the pieces from those trades had something to do with those conversations, the playoff talk came into play largely because of the season Edwin Encarnación was putting together.

Encarnación had already become one of Toronto’s best hitters in the early 2010s alongside his home run mate José Bautista. He had a combined 78 home runs between the 2012 and 2013 campaigns, including his first All-Star nod and a handful of down-ballot MVP votes.

Encarnación’s 2014 season didn’t get off to a great start; he hit just .228 with a .700 OPS through his first 32 games of the season. However, he would go on a historical run in May, hitting 16 home runs, 33 RBIs, five doubles, one triple, and 16 walks. It garnered him an American League Player of the Month award, as well as one American League Player of the Week award from the second week of that month.

By the time the month was over, Encarnación’s season numbers had jumped significantly, with his batting average up to .266 and his OPS up to .949. Furthermore, the Blue Jays started the month of May in third place in the AL East, but with the help of Encarnación’s performance, they finished the month in first place after a 21-9 May record.

Encarnación’s 16 home runs in one month is still a franchise-best. It is also tied with Mickey Mantle as the most home runs by an American League player in May in major league history. The most home runs hit in any month of a season is held by Sammy Sosa when he hit 20 in June of 1998.

This hit could be an article in itself. Hell, some would be driven to make it a series.

Tensions were already high in Game 5, a win-or-go-home contest after the Blue Jays had rallied from a 0-2 series deficit against the Texas Rangers. The Rangers had just taken a 3-2 lead in the top of the seventh when Rougned Odor scored on a throwing error by Jays catcher Russell Martin. That throwing error was an unfortunate deflection off of Shin Soo-Choo’s bat when Martin routinely threw the ball back to Aaron Sanchez after a pitch.

However, the Blue Jays took advantage of three Rangers errors in the bottom half of the frame, tying the game on a Josh Donaldson bloop single that turned into a fielder’s choice.

That set the stage for Bautista, who was the most fitting Blue Jays player to dictate how that game would be won. No playoff wins since the 1993 World Series. A 489-483 record since 2010. The Blue Jays are finally being something to talk about again. And there stood Bautista.

Joey Bats would take a 1-1 pitch from Rangers reliever Sam Dyson and deposit it into the left field seats for the tie-breaking three-run shot, ultimately winning the game for the Blue Jays. As emphatic as the home run was, Bautista outdid it with his bat flip, an action done out of pure emotion in the moment. He certainly didn’t make friends with anyone in the Texas dugout, but in that moment, that was the last thing on his mind.

That game had enough details to fill a book, but Bautista’s home run was the highlight of the game. To this day, it stands as one of the most meaningful hits in Blue Jays history. Coming from a guy who rewrote his career path in a Blue Jays uniform, it just meant more.

The Blue Jays found themselves in the playoffs for the second straight season in 2016, and they kicked off their postseason in the AL Wild Card game against the Baltimore Orioles.

Both teams finished the regular season with an 89-73 record, so it was fitting that the game stayed tightly contested throughout. Each of the team’s starters allowed just two earned runs, and their bullpens put up nothing but zeros until extra innings.

The Blue Jays were doing most of the heavy lifting at the plate; the Orioles recorded just four hits in the game, and they didn’t record a hit after Manny Machado’s infield single in the 6th inning. With this in mind, the Blue Jays grounded into three double plays between the fifth and ninth innings, killing any chance of taking a lead late in the game.

With the game tied at two and the Blue Jays up to bat in the bottom of the 11th, the Orioles opted to send veteran starter Ubaldo Jiménez to the mound with one out in the frame. This was a head-scratcher to many, as Orioles closer Zach Britton, who had posted a marvellous 0.54 ERA and 47 saves that season, was still available out of the bullpen. Furthermore, the Blue Jays had some of their best bats due up in Devon Travis, Donaldson, and Encarnación.

Jiménez surrendered a pair of back-to-back singles to Travis and Donaldson, setting the stage for Encarnación, who blasted a first-pitch fastball into the left field seats for the game-ending home run.

Like the Bautista home run in 2015, this was another instance where a staple of Toronto’s resurgence had a chance to win a meaningful game in front of a sold-out crowd.

Still mulling over the emotions of the game, Britton spoke to reporters after the contest about his thoughts of watching the latter innings from the bullpen.

“I’ve always told the coaches I don’t care if it’s a save situation, I just want to be out there,” Britton said. “It’s going to be tough to go back home, and the season’s over, and I didn’t get a chance to contribute tonight.”

Defeating the Orioles sent the Blue Jays to the ALDS against the Texas Rangers, which became must-see TV after the events that occurred between the two teams during the previous year. Not only were the Rangers seeking revenge from their 2015 playoff exit, but there were also some heightened tensions after the bases-clearing brawl in May of ’16.

The Blue Jays stole the first two games of the series in dominant fashion, outscoring the Rangers 15-4 in Arlington. Marco Estrada pitched a near-complete game shutout in Game 1, part of a 10-1 Jays win that was topped off by a three-run home run from Bautista. Game 2 was a bit closer, but four home runs from the Blue Jays were enough to back J.A. Happ and the bullpen.

Like the Wild Card game against Baltimore, Game 3 was a back-and-forth affair. After Bautista was showered with boos after his home run in the first game, Odor had a similar experience with a home run of his own in Toronto.

The game would go to extra innings, and after Roberto Osuna pitched a scoreless top of the 10th, the Blue Jays sent their heart of the order up against Rangers rookie Matt Bush. After Toronto put runners on first and second with one out, Martin grounded a ball to shortstop that looked like it might potentially end the inning. Elvis Andrus threw to second to collect one out, but Odor’s throw to first was wide right. Donaldson, who was on second to start the play, went into a full-out sprint to home plate and beat Mitch Moreland’s throw home with a head-first slide.

From a rivalry standpoint, so much of that play was poetic. It was Odor’s error that led to the game-winning run, and it was Bush (who hit Bautista earlier in May to start the aforementioned brawl) who was the losing pitcher of record.

As the sign from a fan in the outfield read, “Would rather get punched in May than get knocked out in October.”

The 2017 season was underwhelming for the Blue Jays, but Steve Pearce put on a one-man show for the record books during the final week of July. Pearce hit two walk-off grand slams in four days, becoming just the third player in MLB history to accomplish that feat at that time.

His first grand slam was on July 27, 2017, against the then-Oakland Athletics, smoking a ball into the left field seats against former Blue Jay Liam Hendriks.

Although Pearce’s home run was the most immaculate, the Blue Jays had several clutch hits during that series. Justin Smoak and Kendrys Morales went back-to-back to walk off the A’s just one night before Pearce’s hit, and Morales had tied the series finale in the 9th inning with a solo home run. With that win, the Blue Jays completed a four-game sweep of the A’s and moved to six games back of a Wild Card spot.

Unfortunately, they dropped their next two games to the Angels, but the series finale was won on Pearce’s second walk-off grand slam of the week. The Blue Jays trailed 10-4 entering the 9th inning, but they rallied to score seven runs with only eight hitters logging an at-bat in that frame. Pearce’s home run gave the Blue Jays a classic Buck Martinez “Swing and a drive! Get up ball! Get up ball!” home run call.

Similar to 2017, 2018 was also an underwhelming season, but Morales etched his name into the record books by recording at least one home run in seven straight games, setting a Blue Jays record. His home run total during that stretch was eight, as he hit two home runs during the second game of that span.

Morales is tied for second with Jim Thome, Kevin Mench, and Barry Bonds to hit a home run in seven consecutive games. He finished just one game shy of the MLB record, which is held by Ken Griffey Jr., Don Mattingly, and Dale Long.

That stretch of baseball gave Morales’ season stats quite the boost, lifting his home run total from 13 to 21, and his OPS from .741 to .827. Unfortunately, Morales would fail to hit a home run during his final 22 games of the season, which would also be his final 22 games as a Blue Jay.

The pitchers who allowed all eight of Morales’ home runs were Vince Velasquez, Nick Pivetta, Jake Arrieta, David Hess, Dylan Bundy, Andrew Cashner, and J.A. Happ, who was traded from Toronto to New York earlier that season.

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