Since Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins assumed their roles within the Toronto Blue Jays organization, their tenure has failed to have that breakthrough moment in the postseason.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s been a lot of good: four playoff trips in their last six seasons, four pitchers with a top-3 Cy Young finish (with Robbie Ray winning), and a payroll that ranks among the top five in Major League Baseball, a mark that includes signing Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to a 14-year, $500 million deal.

Conversely, the team hasn’t won a playoff game since 2016 on a team the duo largely inherited, and they haven’t won the American League East since 2015. In a results-oriented business like running a professional baseball club, zero playoff success may not be enough to keep them around much longer.

However, this season has sung a different tune to this point.

With Sunday’s win over Kansas City, the Blue Jays clinched a playoff spot and are now just a matter of wins and/or losses for the Yankees away from clinching a division crown. Is this the “eureka” moment for this front office?

Since their rebuilding season in 2019, this regime has treated the Blue Jays like a competitor every year. Every offseason has been utilized to make their major league team better, and except for 2024, every trade deadline has been handled in the same fashion.

Even with the above being said, and the Blue Jays seeming like the next up-and-coming team, it hasn’t shaken out that way. Playoff exits have been dramatic in all the wrong ways. 2020 featured a rough outing from Hyun-Jin Ryu and, except for Danny Jansen, a poor offensive showing. A heartbreaking 2022 was highlighted (or low-lighted, I guess) by a blown 8-1 lead to the Mariners. Finally, everyone remembers José Berríos’s premature exit mixed with an absent offense in 2023, right? Does that need to be covered further?

Even within the realm of the regular season, the 2022 team was overshadowed by a historic 64-28 start by the New York Yankees, and the Baltimore Orioles reaped the rewards from their young talent sooner than some expected in 2023, leaving the Blue Jays in the dust that year.

With the success from this season, nothing but opportunity lies ahead for the Blue Jays. It’s been a while since the ALCS appearances in 2015 and 2016, and this franchise needs more recent success to lean on instead of continually looking back at those years.

This is a front office that has unashamed and unwavering loyalty to their core group of players, even when it seemed like they were the only ones. George Springer’s contract was quickly looking like a blemish on Toronto’s payroll, Alejandro Kirk had posted back-to-back sub-.700 OPS seasons, and the team retained Bo Bichette even with a contract year looming and teams out there who surely would’ve chomped at that trade bait.

Now, look at how it’s turned out. Springer will be getting MVP votes, they doubled down on Kirk’s support with a five-year, $58 million contract extension before this season, and Bichette was on track to lead the MLB in hits and doubles before his injury (and still does at this point).

Atkins referred to the team’s struggles to score runs in 2023 as “just a blip”, and while he was criticized for that ideology not proving him right the following season, it’d be hard to imagine that this year isn’t fulfilling that vision. Of course, that turnaround can’t fully be attributed to Atkins; adding the likes of hitting coaches David Popkins and Lou Iannotti has certainly paid dividends for this club.

Unlike recent seasons, the Blue Jays are encountering more and more “good problems” when it comes to their organizational depth. Instead of, “Man, who do we call up?“, the team is tasked with answering the tough question of, “Man, who do we send down?”

For instance, the tough conversation needed to be had with Joey Lopefido back on August 16th, when he was optioned to Triple-A Buffalo with Springer returning from the concussion IL. Loperfido had been slashing .358/.409/.506 up to that point, but with Myles Straw, Davis Schneider, Nathan Lukes, and Ty France all providing value, there wasn’t an easy direction for them to go. More tough decisions will come with Bichette potentially ending his rehab in the coming days/weeks, one of which was the recent DFA of Alek Manoah, with Anthony Santander being activated from the IL.

The trades for relievers Brendon Little and Braydon Fisher look almost criminal with how well they’ve paid off for the Blue Jays, both of which were executed by this front office. On top of those two, the team is starting to see other organizational successes in Addison Barger (20 HR, 73 RBI, 31 2B) and Mason Fluharty, who had a 1.76 ERA through his first 15 outings and also owns arguably the biggest save of the season.

Trey Yesavage seems to be joining that group of organizational successes soon, as he figures to be a weapon that other contenders will be seeing for the first time in the playoffs (should he make the roster). This is another instance where Atkins can’t take all of the credit; director of amateur scouting Marc Tramuta and his team deserve some praise here.

As mentioned earlier, this is a results-oriented business at the end of the day. John Schneider has put the team in a good position and is a Manager of the Year candidate, and ownership has certainly ponied up over the past several seasons. Signing Guerrero to a $500 million deal tells you all you need to know. Playoff success has been the dark cloud looming over this team since their rebuilding year, and it could be used against Shapiro and Atkins as their contracts expire this year and next, respectively.

This is all not to say that this front office hasn’t gone through its trials, tribulations, or miscalculations. But the stars could finally be aligning for them this year and October baseball is on the horizon for a Blue Jays front office that was on the hot seat entering this year.