Was There A Point To Any Of This

The 2025 Toronto Blue Jays borderline miracle run to the cusp of a World Series title was great for a lot of reasons.

In the micro that there’s simply nothing on earth better than baseball with immediate stakes attached to it, on a macro level it galvanized the far reaches of the fanbase, introduced new minds to the magic of October, and gave meaning to the randomness of eight months of round balls hitting round bats.

Meaning! What a beautiful thing to put at the very end of a baseball season. They clinched the division and therefore a Wild Card bye on the very last day: every win meant something. They became something greater than the sum of their parts by playing with flair and full hearts: building a team of “good guys” meant something. They went toe to toe to the very last out with a giant of the sport with advantages so insurmountable that the fans in the building and the players on the roster might’ve been the only ones that believed it could happen until it did: cheering for them meant something.

And then 2026 happened.

I think normally crashing down to earth with a losing record a year after touching glory with their fingertips would send a fanbase scurrying, chanting “Go Leafs Go” in the cheap seats loud enough for it to bounce off the cement that lines the stadium as the final outs of summer faded into the background noise.

And yet… that’s not at all how it went. You can only give the third wild card and an anemic American League so much credit: they were straight up not fun to watch all year. And yet… there they were, with a full stadium all the way through a meaningless series in Cincinnati, after a shitty couple days in Baltimore that represented the final curtain, still soaking in love from a fanbase that was smiling because it happened instead of crying because it was over.

So, did it mean anything? You’re damn right it did. 2026 meant that the connections the Blue Jays forged with this fanbase are real, and that the team has finally tapped into what makes a Blue Jays fan different than the other fanbases in the city, no matter how much they cross pollinate. After decades of an appeal to outsiders that struggled to go much farther beyond “hey it’s cheap to get in”, the Jays mined their history and turned their weaknesses into strength.

The building is old and decrepit? No, actually. With a couple fresh coats of paint and some walls torn down, it’s actually the only home every adult in the fanbase under the age of 45 has ever really known.

The veterans that drove the resurgence all have to move on, either by trade or impending free agency? Standing ovations for one and all. Love and tears for George Springer and Kevin Gausman, a rightful legendary ride off into the sunset for Max Scherzer. Exits done right.

The Blue Jays spent a lot of time as the summer fling for fans of other sports in the city. You could check in and stop by for a good time now and then with no expectations. But now? This is what it feels like to be in love. This is what it feels like to be in a relationship with a team. Not every year is a honeymoon in Los Angeles. Sometimes it’s three rainy days in Baltimore.

So did the 2026 season mean anything? It meant everything that happened in 2025 means even more. And it meant 2027 better not leave these fans high and dry when they need it most. We’ve done our part of the deal, it’s time for them to show up for us again in spring.