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Where did previous Blue Jays playoff teams stand after their first 19 games?
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Photo credit: © Kim Klement Neitzel - Imagn Images
Ian Hunter
Apr 17, 2025, 07:00 EDTUpdated: Apr 17, 2025, 06:30 EDT
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Yes, it’s early, but the Toronto Blue Jays are almost 12 percent of their way through the schedule already. It’s like they say, you can’t win the division in April, but you can certainly lose it. And having a strong first month of the schedule was always going to be crucial for the 2025 Blue Jays to set the tone for the season.
What have we learned about this team so far? They struggle to score home runs, but the starting pitching has been pretty good, and the bullpen is miles better than it was last year. But are those any indications that those trends will continue the rest of the way? That remains to be seen.
But what happened in April’s past, and more specifically, where did previous Blue Jays playoff teams stand after their first 19 games? It’s an arbitrary endpoint, but let’s go with it for now just to get a benchmark. This is where the 10 Blue Jays playoff squads from franchise history stood after their first 19 games of the season.
Of the 49 seasons in Blue Jays history, the teams that won 11 or more games in their first 19 games of the regular season made the postseason six out of 15 times (a success rate of 40 percent).

1985: 12-7 to start, 99-62 final record

The Blue Jays were only above .500 in two of their first eight seasons after 19 games, but 1985 was very different straight out of the gate. Early in that campaign, they had both a seven-game and a four-game winning streak. By the beginning of May, the Blue Jays tied the Baltimore Orioles for the AL East division lead.
Then by late May, the Blue Jays took over sole possession of first place and never looked back, finishing with a 99-62 record and capturing their first division title and playoff berth in franchise history. Their 99 wins in 1985 still stand as the single greatest season in Blue Jays history.

1989: 8-11 to start, 89-73 final record

On the other hand, the 1989 season didn’t start so hot for the Blue Jays. It didn’t take them long to slip under .500, and by the end of April, they had a 9-16 record. The 1989 Blue Jays slipped to a season-high nine games back of the division lead by June 6, 1989, tied with the Detroit Tigers for dead last in the American League East.
But then the Blue Jays authored one of the greatest turnarounds in franchise history. They led MLB with a 66-40 record down the stretch, catching the Baltimore Orioles for the division lead on August 31. The turnaround also coincided with the Blue Jays firing Jimy Williams near the end of May 1989 and announcing Cito Gaston as the new manager.

1991: 11-8 to start, 91-71 final record

Three games over .500 after your first 19 games might not seem like much, but if you keep chipping away at your season like that, chances are you’re going to secure a playoff spot. Any team that sustains that winning percentage over a full season would end up with 93 wins. The 1991 Blue Jays didn’t quite get there, but 91 wins is pretty close.
Remember, this was in the era when only division winners, meaning two teams from the American League, advanced to the postseason. The 1991 Blue Jays carried that early-season momentum throughout the rest of the regular season, earning them a 91-71 record and a date with the eventual World Series champion Minnesota Twins in the ALCS.

1992: 15-4 to start, 96-66 final record

It only makes sense that the juggernaut 1992 Toronto Blue Jays team got out to one of the best records in franchise history. They were an incredible nine games over .500 after their first 19 games and finished 30 games above .500 with a 96-66 record.
The World Series championship was the crowning achievement of that team, but no opponent swept the 1992 Blue Jays during the entire regular season.

1993: 11-8 to start, 95-67 final record

Basking in the afterglow of their first World Series title, the 1993 Blue Jays squad “only” got out to an 11-8 record in their first 19 games. They were the team to beat in the American League, and while they leaned more on their starting lineup than their starting pitching in 1993, they still produced the same result: a World Series ring.

2015: 9-10 to start, 93-69 final record

Most Blue Jays fans know the narrative of the 2015 team. There was the team before the Troy Tulowitzki and David Price trades, and there was the team that destroyed the American League after those two deals. The 2015 Blue Jays started with a 9-10 record through the first part of April, and sank to a season-high eight games back of the division lead on July 28, 2015.
Similar to the 1989 Blue Jays team, the 2015 Blue Jays completely reversed their fate after the trade deadline. After starting with a 50-51 record, Toronto went 43-18 in their final 61 games of the season and finished the year with a six-game cushion atop the American League East.

2016: 9-10 to start, 89-73 final record

Another sub-.500 start to the season, yet another eventual playoff berth for the 2016 Blue Jays as well. They didn’t get out to a great start either, 9-10 after their first 19 games. The division lead was mostly out of question for the 2016 Blue Jays, so they had to settle for the Wild Card spot.
That didn’t seem to matter as the Blue Jays bounced the Baltimore Orioles in the AL Wild Card game, then dispatched the Texas Rangers in three consecutive games in the ALDS.

2020: 8-11 to start, 32-28 final record

2020 was the first year when MLB expanded their number of playoff spots per league from five to eight, as MLB experimented a bit during that pandemic-shortened 2020 season. Any team that hovered around .500 during that short schedule had a shot at making the postseason, hence why the 2020 Blue Jays snuck in as one of the last playoff teams.
They didn’t start out very hot with an 8-11 record (which ended up being the worst start for an eventual Blue Jays playoff team), but the squad turned it around closer to the end of the season, winning several key series to finish with a 32-28 record.

2022: 12-7 to start, 92-70 final record

After missing out on the playoffs by one mere game, you can bet the 2022 Blue Jays would not suffer the same fate. They also had a little help in 2022 with the playoff field opening up to six teams in the American League that season.
The 2022 Blue Jays started with a 12-7 start to the season and were never under .500 for the entire 2022 campaign. Despite a strong showing, the Blue Jays couldn’t catch the New York Yankees for the division lead, but instead, the Blue Jays settled for the first Wild Card spot under new manager John Schneider. We won’t talk about what happened to Toronto in the playoffs that year.

2023: 11-8 to start, 89-73 final record

The 2023 Blue Jays also got out of the gate to a strong start, posting an 11-8 record in their first 19 games to kick off the season. The Baltimore Orioles steamrolled the division that year, so the Blue Jays had the opportunity to lead the AL East.
Instead, they settled for the final Wild Card spot. We also won’t talk about what happened to Toronto in the playoffs that year. It’s wild to think that a 89-73 in 2023 just barely got the Blue Jays into a playoff spot, but in 1989, that same record was good enough to win the entire American League East.

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