The Blue Jays have come a long way since 2000, and now that 25 years have passed since then, let’s take a look back at some of the franchise’s most memorable moments over that time period.

Part III features the transition from the 2010s to the 2020s and the franchise’s then-young stars who made their debuts. We’ll also look at individuals who helped bring Toronto back to playoff contention.

Parts I and II of this series can be seen at the following hyperlinks:

The Toronto Blue Jays signed international free agent Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to their organization on July 2nd, 2015. During his time in the minor leagues, Guerrero habitually stayed atop Toronto’s prospect rankings, and eventually, he turned into one of the league’s best prospects.

Across 289 minor league games, Guerrero slashed .331/.414/.531 with 44 home runs, 209 RBIs, 71 doubles, and 27 stolen bases.

With the organization set to turn the page from one era to the next, entering the 2019 season, Guerrero and several other prospects were on track to make their major league debuts that year. For Guerrero specifically, his contract was selected by the club on April 26th, 2019, ahead of a series opener against the then-Oakland Athletics.

After putting on a show during batting practice, Guerrero was placed fifth in the batting order between Rowdy Tellez and Billy McKinney. His first at-bat would be in the second inning against veteran right-hander Mike Fiers, a bout that ended in a sharp groundout to first base. Even after the out was completed, the Toronto crowd gave Guerrero a standing ovation.

Guerrero was hitless during his first three at-bats of the game, including a deep fly out that was snagged at the wall by Chad Pinder. He would lead off the bottom of the 9th in a tie game, and that’s when he logged his first career hit, facing A’s reliever Yusmeiro Petit. Similar to his first at-bat, he sharply grounded a ball down the first base line, but this one found the outfield grass. Alan Hanson would pinch run for Guerrero following the hit, and the Blue Jays would go on to win the game two batters later with a Brandon Drury walk-off home run.

Guerrero will be making frequent appearances in the latter half of this series, and we’re looking at another one right here.

During the 2019 All-Star break in Cleveland, Guerrero entered the Home Run Derby as the youngest player to ever compete in the event. The Blue Jays weren’t getting a lot of national attention that season, with their record not being as pretty, but Guerrero being in the Home Run Derby gave baseball fans a really good look at the talent he possessed.

He was initially supposed to face Christian Yelich in the first round, but a back injury knocked Yelich out of the bracket. Matt Chapman, a future teammate of Guerrero’s, was the lucky alternate, but he would be no match for Guerrero as the youngster would win 29-13. The mark of 29 homers broke a single-round derby record previously held by Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers.

Guerrero would face Joc Pederson in the second round, a matchup that wound up being the most exciting bout in the whole event. Guerrero and Pederson both his 29 homers in their respective rounds, and they would also tie at 37 after the first tiebreaker. They would need two swing-offs (a best-score-out-of-three-swings tiebreaker) to eventually decide a winner, and that would go to Guerrero with a narrow 40-39 victory.

Although he had the benefit of extra time and extra swings, Guerrero’s 40 home runs set a new single-round record. It would eventually be broken by Julio Rodríguez in 2023 with 41 home runs.

Unfortunately, Guerrero would lose in the championship round to Pete Alonso, who needed just 23 home runs to complete the victory. Despite the loss, Guerrero’s 91 total home runs in that Home Run Derby is a record for a single event. He would wind up winning the 2023 Home Run Derby, making him and his father the first father-son duo to win the event.

After the debuts of Guerrero and Cavan Biggio, Bo Bichette was the next Blue Jays prospect to see his first major league action.

Bichette was called up on July 29th, 2019, ahead of a three-game tilt against the Royals. He went 1-for-4 in his debut, with a single in his first major league at-bat.

That base hit sparked a week-and-a-half-long hot streak that reached historical levels for Bichette. Over his first 11 games, he slashed .408/.453/.837 with 13 extra-base hits, a record for any rookie during their first 11 career contests. He also recorded a double in nine consecutive games during that same stretch.

The 2020 Blue Jays certainly offered fans an unforgettable experience in more ways than one, but they concluded that season earning their first playoff berth since 2016. One of their wins was a 12-7 victory over the New York Yankees on September 7th, 2020, and it featured a 10-run inning for the Blue Jays.

Trailing New York 6-2 entering the bottom of the 6th inning, Chad Green entered the game to pitch against Santiago Espinal, the 8-hole hitter, who would draw a walk. After recording an out, Green walked Cavan Biggio and allowed a single to Randal Grichuk to load the bases.

That’s where things would only get worse for the Yankees. Toronto scored a run on a Rowdy Tellez ground ball that was muffed by Luke Voit, and they would plate two more one batter later on a Guerrero Jr. single that bounced just inches past Voit. Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Jonathan Villar, Travis Shaw, and Joe Panik would consecutively walk or single, giving the Blue Jays an 8-6 lead with still just one out in the inning.

Eventually, after a total of four walks, four singles, and a Yankees error, Danny Jansen provided the big hit to break the game open with a grand slam against Adam Ottavino, putting the Blue Jays ahead 12-6.

At the time, 10 runs is the most that a Blue Jays team scored in a single inning since they scored 11 in a win over the Twins in July of 2007. They would hit the 11-run mark again in 2021 in a September tilt against the Orioles.

When you learned about returns on investment in school, the contracts of Robbie Ray and Marcus Semien had to be included as examples of good returns, right?

Two one-year deals for a combined $26 million were handed to Ray and Semien ahead of the 2021 season, and it turned out to be some of the best money ever spent in Blue Jays history.

We’ll start with Ray, who was one of the first signings of the offseason for any team. Ray made 32 starts in 2021, posting a 2.84 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 11.5 K/9, and 2.4 BB/9 in 193 1/3 innings. He led the league in strikeouts with 248, a number that joined his ERA and WHIP as career-bests. One of the biggest contributors to Ray’s success was the cut he made to his walk rate; Ray posted double-digit walk rates between 2017 and 2020 with a high of 17.9%, but he ended ’21 with a 6.7% walk rate. All of his outstanding numbers culminated in him winning the American League Cy Young award.

Ray’s fastball sat at 94.8 mph on average, and his two breaking pitches (slider and knuckle curve) generated whiff rates of 45.5% and 52.5%, respectively. He had 10 games with at least 10 strikeouts, including two outings against the White Sox in which he punched out 27 hitters between them.

As for Semien, he also recorded the best season of his career. Playing in all 162 games, Semien slashed .265/.334/.538 with 45 home runs, 102 RBIs, and 39 doubles. Although he has since hit more doubles in a single season than he did in ’21, the home run and RBI totals are both career-bests. Not only did he finish fourth in the league in home runs, but the number he hit is the most in a single season by a second baseman in MLB history.

Following the ’21 campaign, Ray would sign with the Mariners on a five-year, $115 million deal, and Semien would sign with the Texas Rangers on a seven-year, $175 million deal.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the travel restrictions that were put in place, the Blue Jays had to play a combined 70 home games away from Rogers Centre between the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

All 26 of their home games during the 2020 season, as well as 23 games in the first half of 2021, were played at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, New York, and their first 21 home games of the 2021 season were played at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Florida. The Blue Jays went 39-31 in those games, including a late-season win over New York in Buffalo to clinch a playoff spot in 2020.

In mid-July of 2021, the Blue Jays received a National Interest Exemption from the Canadian federal government to return to Toronto and play their home games at Rogers Centre starting on July 30th against the Kansas City Royals. They would be greeted by a pregame ceremony and a playing of “O Canada” that left manager Charlie Montoyo fighting tears. The Blue Jays would win that first game 6-4, capped off by an outstanding bare-handed over-the-shoulder catch by Santiago Espinal to end the game.

The series finale would be started by José Berríos, his first start after being acquired from the Minnesota Twins.

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