It took 55 games for the 2024 Blue Jays to sweep a series, and it was against the worst team in the league at the time, the Chicago White Sox. This season, it only took seven games for the Jays to relish their first series sweep. If winning a series was a mirage for Toronto’s struggling core last year, this iteration of the team is finally proving that it has a vested interest in rehabilitating its status as a winner.

Coming out of a tough four-game series against the ever-strong Baltimore Orioles, securing a series win against the Washington Nationals was a prerequisite to carry momentum before the Blue Jays embark on their first road trip of the year. In theory, the Nationals are one of the easier opponents, with PECOTA projecting the team to place fourth in NL East. However, Toronto has oddly struggled to win a series against Washington heading into this season, as they only managed to win one series out of four over the past five years (they tied once).

This half-decade-long struggle wasn’t going to evaporate out of nowhere. Yet, at the end of the day, what mattered the most was that the team found ways to win all of its games despite the nail-biting moments.

The scores of 5-2, 5-3 and 4-2 aren’t nothing to sneeze at, with the Blue Jays getting contributions throughout the lineup, but they haven’t been exactly convincing enough to signal a full resurrection of a playoff contender. There were many moments where the Blue Jays were close to giving up the leads and even did so during the second game of the series, and graciously, they found ways to come out of them scot-free this time around. The club hasn’t gotten the most out of Anthony Santander and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. out of the gate, but again, the rest of the lineup is picking up the slack.

But for now, momentum has been on the Blue Jays’ side. What could have been a disastrous first homestand turned into somewhat of a success, given the trials and tribulations, and Toronto now has solid confidence they can work with as they push through one of the more difficult schedules in the league. Going against the New York Mets–or “Cinderella with a trust fund” à la Doug Glanville–will be a trial even with their recent pitching woes. The Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles will be relentlessly unforgiving as both teams attempt to claw back towards the top of the AL East with their solid core groups.

The Atlanta Braves and Seattle Mariners won’t go easy on the Blue Jays when they come to town. Atlanta will be hungry to collect more wins after a devastatingly disappointing start, and Seattle will be in it to compete with the surging Texas Rangers for the AL West title. So many teams on Toronto’s schedule are dying to redeem their records or strive for more to establish their dominance.

Last season, the Blue Jays didn’t have much going for them as they lost right from the outset. Now, they have the luxury of starting stronger, with the club sitting three games over .500. Momentum like this doesn’t come that easily, especially when more teams are trying to become more competitive. It’s the Blue Jays’ job to roll with the momentum to come out victorious, even with much tougher competition.

Now wouldn’t be a bad time to make people’s heads turn with some strong outings against stronger teams, and to come back to the Rogers Centre with a positive road trip in their pocket, and then taking care of business against Atlanta and Seattle, would be the best case scenario.

Winning is like loading a dishwasher. As long as dishes come out clean, no one cares how you load the dishwasher. This is the golden time, where how the Blue Jays win a game won’t matter because it’s still so early in the season. Toronto has the opportunity to translate the momentum to prove everyone wrong.