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Throwback Thursday: Looking at the Jays matchup against Rays in the 2020 postseason
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Photo credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports
Ryley Delaney
May 15, 2025, 14:30 EDTUpdated: May 15, 2025, 14:22 EDT
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On October 19, 2016, the Toronto Blue Jays were officially eliminated from the postseason as they fell 3-0 to Cleveland in Game 5.
With the Blue Jays playing a rubber matchup against the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday, it seems fitting to centre this week’s Throwback Thursday around the Rays. Although the Rays are a rather irrelevant team, the two teams matched up in the postseason once.
In this article, we’ll look at their 2020 postseason series.

Background

After their elimination in 2016, there looked to be an opportunity for the Blue Jays to make the postseason in 2017, as they were just three games back of the final Wild Card spot with a ton of teams to jump. Despite having the same core as the past two seasons, they were unable to do so as they were swept at the hands of the Chicago Cubs in mid-August and never came that close to a Wild Card spot again in 2017.
In 2018, the Jays had a good start to their season as they were seven games over .500 on April 20, but Josh Donaldson suffered an injury, and their season derailed, finishing fourth in the American League East.
The 2019 season was not a competitive one for the Blue Jays, finishing with a 67-95 record, their worst season since 2004. With that said, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette made their big league debuts that season, ushering in a new contending core.
There was this whole pandemic thing just before the start of the 2020 season, meaning a shortened season and more opportunities to make the postseason. For the first time since 2016, the Jays finished with a record above .500, going 32-28. This earned them the eighth spot in the American League, setting up a matchup with the Rays.

The 2020 Wild Card Series

Game 1 of the series was on September 29, 2020, in Tampa Bay. Matt Shoemaker pitched three scoreless innings for the Jays, leaving the game in a 0-0 game. Robbie Ray, one of the pitchers the Jays acquired at the 2020 trade deadline, replaced him and gave up a run due to a wild pitch, giving the Rays a 1-0 lead.
Ray’s next two innings were scoreless, and he departed for A.J. Cole before the bottom of the seventh. After getting Willy Adames to strike out, Joey Wendle drew a walk, and Manuel Margot hit a home run to give the Rays a 3-0 lead.
The Jays scored a run of their own in the top of the eighth, as Rowdy Tellez hit a single and Cavan Biggio moved him to third with a double. Bo Bichette hit a sacrifice fly to make it a 3-1 game, but Randal Grichuk lined out to end the inning.
In the bottom of the ninth, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a one-out double to bring the tying run to the plate with two outs to play with. Teoscar Hernandez struck out, Pete Fairbanks threw a wild pitch, and Joe Panik popped out to end the game.
Game 1 was close, but Game 2 wasn’t. Hyun Jin Ryu started the game for the Jays, giving up a run in the bottom of the first as Margot hit a single. Where it all went wrong was in the second inning. Mike Zunino hit a two-run home run, scoring Kevin Kiermaier in the process.
A double, walk, and error loaded the bases for the Rays with two outs, with Hunter Renfroe hitting a grand slam to give the Rays a 7-0 lead and forcing the Jays to pull Ryu from the game, foreshadowing what was to come for the rest of his big league career. Ross Stripling got the last out of the inning.
The Jays showed some life, as Danny Jansen hit a solo blast in the top of the third, but a Randy Arozarena RBI double in the bottom of the third restored the Rays’ seven-run lead. Jansen hit another solo home run in the top of the fifth, but that’s all the Jays got in the 8-2 defeat, losing the series 2-0.

What’s happened since 

In reality, the Rays winning this series dominantly was the expected outcome. They finished with an American League-best 40-20 record, while the Jays sneaked into the postseason with a 32-28 record, their .533 win percentage would’ve been good enough to get them into one postseason since the 2020 season. The Jays were a young, up-and-coming team with a bright future ahead of them, as the Rays went all the way to the World Series, where they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games.
Unfortunately for the Jays, that bright future hasn’t paid off as of yet. They missed the postseason in 2021, despite making a late push that came down to the final day. In 2022, the league expanded to three Wild Card teams, allowing the Jays to make the postseason. After losing Game 1, they had an 8-1 lead over the Seattle Mariners, but ended up blowing that and losing that series in two games.
After that, the Jays focused on outfield defence with a small ball offence. They made the 2023 postseason, but once again failed to win a game, losing two close games while scoring just one run. It didn’t help that the Jays pulled Jose Berrios in Game 2, but I digress.
They once again missed the postseason in 2024, finishing with a dismal 74-88 record in a season they were supposed to contend in. So far in 2025, it isn’t looking great as they have a 21-21 record over a quarter of the way through the season.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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