After losing 88 games last season with an aging and flawed roster, seemingly putting their competitive window in jeopardy of slamming shut, <a href="https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/2025/09/21/toronto-blue-jays-officially-clinch-postseason-berth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Toronto Blue Jays are officially back in the playoffs</a> and have their sights set on a deep post-season run this fall. 
But that&#8217;s not how this season started, at least externally. This wasn&#8217;t a guarantee by any stretch. They had to fight and claw to secure a playoff berth for the third time in four years. This time, however, it was an entire team effort. They&#8217;re preparing for October baseball, not because their stars like Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette carried them, but because everyone up and down the roster chipped in.
This is a team that truly plays for one another. It&#8217;s been among their greatest strengths all season. Everything starts with Toronto&#8217;s clubhouse, which features a healthy mix of youth and experience between future Hall of Famers, franchise cornerstones, resurgent stars, emerging sluggers, journeymen and even a young phenom on the mound, who continued to impress in his second career major league start on Sunday at Kauffman Stadium.
On a day when the Blue Jays clinched a post-season spot, it was their depth once again that paved the way to victory, with the likes of Ernie Clement and Andrés Giménez playing key roles &#8212; combining for three of the club&#8217;s eight runs scored against the Royals, adding a pair of valuable insurance runs in the eighth inning.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
INSURANCE! <a href="https://t.co/sFkXgd8zhL">pic.twitter.com/sFkXgd8zhL</a>
&mdash; Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) <a href="https://twitter.com/BlueJays/status/1969863928575352931?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
En route to <a href="https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/2025/09/21/instant-reaction-toronto-blue-jays-offence-comes-alive-postseason-clinching-8-5-victory-royals/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an 8-5 playoff-clinching victory</a>, this offence was back to looking more like its usual self &#8212; grinding out at-bats, working deep counts, laying down bunts and executing in situational hitting. It&#8217;s everything they had gotten away from during a four-game losing skid entering Sunday&#8217;s series finale in Kansas City.
But regardless of the ups and downs from the 162-game schedule, no matter how high Toronto has soared or how far it has fallen, everything has revolved around this team&#8217;s culture. It&#8217;s been the glue that&#8217;s kept this whole thing together for the past six months.
<blockquote>“Everything this team has is what it takes to win the World Series,” Bichette told reporters post-game, including <a href="https://www.mlb.com/bluejays/news/blue-jays-clinch-postseason-berth-2025" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MLB.com&#8217;s Keegan Matheson</a>.</blockquote>
Many of the pieces from last year&#8217;s roster have carried over into 2025. And yet, everything has seemed to fall into place more seamlessly this time around. That&#8217;s without Anthony Santander &#8212; the franchise&#8217;s most prominent off-season acquisition &#8212; playing a meaningful role in the regular season.
Instead, it&#8217;s been Myles Straw, who spent almost all of last season at triple-A, and Giménez making the biggest impact on the position-player side amongst the newcomers. Internal improvements and surprise stories have spearheaded this club&#8217;s offensive turnaround &#8212; two elements the &#8217;24 offence lacked.
If you had to describe the &#8217;25 Blue Jays only using two words, they&#8217;d be resilient and persevere. They&#8217;ve had to overcome plenty of adversity along the way, between extended absences from Santander, Yimi García, Nick Sandlin and now Bichette, to catching the previously-favoured New York Yankees for top spot in the AL East.
Look around baseball, many playoff contenders feature top-heavy rosters &#8212; not the Blue Jays. They&#8217;re built around their depth. All 26 players, 28 this month, have played a role in this special journey. They don&#8217;t care who receives the credit. It doesn&#8217;t matter to this group. They&#8217;re more focused on their Day 1 goal: winning a World Series.
<blockquote>“We get how you’re projected for X amount of wins and where you’re going to be in the standings when the season hasn’t even started, but you could feel it with this group in Spring Training,” manager John Schneider said. “You could feel it from the first day. I know that sounds cliché, but when you’ve got a group of men committed to the same goal, you can do things like this.”</blockquote>
Clinching a post-season spot was step 1. The next step for Toronto is to take care of business over these final six games &#8212; all at home &#8212; <a href="https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/2025/09/22/toronto-blue-jays-secure-postseason-spot-still-chasing-al-east-crown/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">and win the AL East</a>, capturing the organization&#8217;s first division title since 2015. In doing so, they&#8217;d secure one of the two best records in the league, bypassing the wild-card round and earning well-deserved rest before Game 1 of the ALDS.
But after a champagne-filled celebration in the aftermath of Sunday&#8217;s win, everyone can let out a small exhale during Monday&#8217;s off-day, knowing they&#8217;ve solidified their playoff fate &#8212; even if it was a formality.

After losing 88 games last season with an aging and flawed roster, seemingly putting their competitive window in jeopardy of slamming shut, <a href="https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/2025/09/21/toronto-blue-jays-officially-clinch-postseason-berth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Toronto Blue Jays are officially back in the playoffs</a> and have their sights set on a deep post-season run this fall. 

But that's not how this season started, at least externally. This wasn't a guarantee by any stretch. They had to fight and claw to secure a playoff berth for the third time in four years. This time, however, it was an entire team effort. They're preparing for October baseball, not because their stars like Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette carried them, but because everyone up and down the roster chipped in.

This is a team that truly plays for one another. It's been among their greatest strengths all season. Everything starts with Toronto's clubhouse, which features a healthy mix of youth and experience between future Hall of Famers, franchise cornerstones, resurgent stars, emerging sluggers, journeymen and even a young phenom on the mound, who continued to impress in his second career major league start on Sunday at Kauffman Stadium.

On a day when the Blue Jays clinched a post-season spot, it was their depth once again that paved the way to victory, with the likes of Ernie Clement and Andrés Giménez playing key roles -- combining for three of the club's eight runs scored against the Royals, adding a pair of valuable insurance runs in the eighth inning.

https://twitter.com/BlueJays/status/1969863928575352931

En route to <a href="https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/2025/09/21/instant-reaction-toronto-blue-jays-offence-comes-alive-postseason-clinching-8-5-victory-royals/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an 8-5 playoff-clinching victory</a>, this offence was back to looking more like its usual self -- grinding out at-bats, working deep counts, laying down bunts and executing in situational hitting. It's everything they had gotten away from during a four-game losing skid entering Sunday's series finale in Kansas City.

But regardless of the ups and downs from the 162-game schedule, no matter how high Toronto has soared or how far it has fallen, everything has revolved around this team's culture. It's been the glue that's kept this whole thing together for the past six months.
<blockquote>“Everything this team has is what it takes to win the World Series,” Bichette told reporters post-game, including <a href="https://www.mlb.com/bluejays/news/blue-jays-clinch-postseason-berth-2025" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MLB.com's Keegan Matheson</a>.</blockquote>
Many of the pieces from last year's roster have carried over into 2025. And yet, everything has seemed to fall into place more seamlessly this time around. That's without Anthony Santander -- the franchise's most prominent off-season acquisition -- playing a meaningful role in the regular season.

Instead, it's been Myles Straw, who spent almost all of last season at triple-A, and Giménez making the biggest impact on the position-player side amongst the newcomers. Internal improvements and surprise stories have spearheaded this club's offensive turnaround -- two elements the '24 offence lacked.

If you had to describe the '25 Blue Jays only using two words, they'd be resilient and persevere. They've had to overcome plenty of adversity along the way, between extended absences from Santander, Yimi García, Nick Sandlin and now Bichette, to catching the previously-favoured New York Yankees for top spot in the AL East.

Look around baseball, many playoff contenders feature top-heavy rosters -- not the Blue Jays. They're built around their depth. All 26 players, 28 this month, have played a role in this special journey. They don't care who receives the credit. It doesn't matter to this group. They're more focused on their Day 1 goal: winning a World Series.
<blockquote>“We get how you’re projected for X amount of wins and where you’re going to be in the standings when the season hasn’t even started, but you could feel it with this group in Spring Training,” manager John Schneider said. “You could feel it from the first day. I know that sounds cliché, but when you’ve got a group of men committed to the same goal, you can do things like this.”</blockquote>
Clinching a post-season spot was step 1. The next step for Toronto is to take care of business over these final six games -- all at home -- <a href="https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/2025/09/22/toronto-blue-jays-secure-postseason-spot-still-chasing-al-east-crown/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">and win the AL East</a>, capturing the organization's first division title since 2015. In doing so, they'd secure one of the two best records in the league, bypassing the wild-card round and earning well-deserved rest before Game 1 of the ALDS.

But after a champagne-filled celebration in the aftermath of Sunday's win, everyone can let out a small exhale during Monday's off-day, knowing they've solidified their playoff fate -- even if it was a formality.

Recent articles from Thomas Hall

Breaking News