Each of the last two seasons, the impending arrival of Spring Training created a buzz in Toronto.
Two seasons ago, massive trades with the Miami Marlins and New York Mets brought a number of big name talents to the Blue Jays. Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle and reigning National League Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey were all going to be playing their home games inside the Rogers Centre. In adding those players to a core that already included Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and a bunch of young arms, the Blue Jays “won the offseason” and were projected to make the playoffs.
They didn’t. Instead, they finished fifth (read: last) in the American League East, 14 games below .500.
But 2014 was going to be different. The nucleus was back and had a year of playing together under their belt. All the injuries and inconsistency that hampered the team the previous season couldn’t possibly return. Last year didn’t work out, but this was the year.
It wasn’t. While the team improved, finishing four games on the happy side of .500 and in third place in the American League East, they still missed the playoffs, making it an even 20 seasons since baseball was played in Toronto in the month of October.
Which brings us to this season.
General Manager Alex Anthopoulos has been at the helm for five years now and while the team has made strides, they still haven’t made the playoffs.
They’re no longer in the toughest division in baseball, so that perennial excuse is off the table. Sure, the American League East is still strong from top to bottom, but the Central and West were more formidable last year, with three teams in each division finishing ahead of the Blue Jays in the playoff race.
Unlike recent years, this offseason didn’t generate as much attention, even though the Jays were active.
They swapped Canadian Brett Lawrie for arguably the best third baseman in baseball, Josh Donaldson, and added a pair of Canucks back into the everyday line-up, catcher Russell Martin and leftfielder Michael Saunders. They resisted the urge to move young talent for established names, opting instead to take fliers on the likes of switch-hitting first baseman Justin Smoak and right-handed pitcher Marco Estrada instead.
With the Red Sox adding bats, the White Sox adding a ton of depth and the Yankees being the Yankees, Toronto has managed to fly under the radar meaning expectations won’t be as high as previous seasons.
But this season might be a make or break year for Anthopoulos and his staff. After taking on a bunch of salary during 2013’s “Winter of Activity” and bringing along youngsters like Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez and Daniel Norris, the 2015 edition of the Blue Jays feels like a “win now or we tear it down” group.
They were in the mix heading into the dog days of summer last season before a 9-17 month of August scuttled all hopes of reaching the playoffs. On paper, this year’s group looks as good as last year’s, if not better, but they also have the kind of veteran talent that becomes awful attractive to playoff hopefuls should this team fall out of contention.
The hype that accompanied the opening of Spring Training the last couple years might not be there, but the pressure for the Toronto Blue Jays to win might be even greater this year.
