Winning matters more than anything else in the big leagues. But merging winning as the goal and purpose can be dangerous business.

The 2025 Blue Jays got all the way to the World Series because they knew their goal was to win, but their purpose was to have fun. They knew winning wasn’t everything – that’s the lesson the 2026 Blue Jays have to carry on.

C. Thi Nguyen, philosopher and author of The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else’s Game, explained the concept of “striving play” as having friends over for cards – the goal is to win, but the purpose is to have fun. He adds that “striving play” is when we’re trying to win, not because winning is valuable, but because we want something about the process.

This concept can be applied to baseball as well. For some, winning is all that matters, and that becomes both their purpose and goal. But solely focusing on winning is the worst strategy to win, much like trying to fall asleep is the worst way to fall asleep. You can’t win a baseball game by attempting too hard to win, which is why shifting the focus to having fun helps teams win more games, because they focus on having fun and forget that they’re trying to win games.

Even if there are more economic incentives at stake in the majors, teams that have fun usually come out on top because they realize that winning as one purpose and goal isn’t always the best strategy to unlock winning ways. In other words, winning may be crucial, but the process of having fun and getting there is what ultimately makes a team successful.

The Blue Jays have seen what happens when a purpose and a goal are one during the 2024 season. There were many factors, such as injuries, that went wrong for the team that year, but the extra pressure of having to win and prove themselves eventually sank them to the bottom of the AL East.

They’ve also experienced what it’s like to differentiate their goal and purpose last year. Their goal was always winning, but when the ultimate purpose was to have fun, something in the air shifted, and the team eventually won the division and clawed its way to the World Series. That’s the power of having a clear, separate purpose and goal.

However, telling people to have fun is the worst way to have fun. All of the success the Blue Jays achieved last season was possible because everything happened naturally. Players showed up early to practice for spring training together and developed brotherhood on their own. No one forced them to have fun; instead, their organic connections and actions turned into a firepower that carried them all the way to the playoffs.

The best way to create a fun environment is to build a culture of trust. One of the biggest things that changed for the Blue Jays in 2025 was everyone’s belief in each other.

Coaches and staff believed that players could become the best versions of themselves, and players believed in each other in every game. Although the Blue Jays didn’t come out victorious in the World Series last year, they have a solid foundation of culture, talent, and trust to return to that stage.

The 2026 Blue Jays head into the brand new season with a chip on their shoulder and a target on their back. The box scores, standings and probabilities will matter more for the reigning AL champions. But the Blue Jays need to step back to remember the larger point: was it fun?

There’s a beauty in losing yourself in the game for the fun of it because that’s when you achieve your goal without even realizing it.

Perhaps the secret to getting back to the playoffs isn’t as complicated as we think it is. What if it came down to having more fun? That’s the question the 2026 Blue Jays will have to answer.

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