Jays are Toast of the Town Once More

It’s not quite become appointment viewing but it’s getting pretty darn close.

In fact, as I was mentioning to a friend just last night, tuning in to watch the 2025 version of the Toronto Blue Jays is becoming somewhat commonplace. Things aren’t like they used to be.

Let’s face it, unless you’re a fanatic of tennis, the CFL or competitive swimming, the long and hot days of August can be something of a dry spell for sport fans. Canada’s only Major League Baseball entrant – the Jays, of course – have been mostly unwatchable the past few seasons. It was ugly at times and drab at others. Not much to capture your attention.

Click ahead to this year and what do we have?

Maybe the surprise of the year in pro sports.

The Blue Jays weren’t supposed to own the best record in the American League on Aug. 6^th (and trail just the Milwaukee Brewers in the overall standings). Nope, far from it.

This was supposed to yet another year of meandering near the .500 mark and praying for that last wild card entry spot.

Sure, they had capable stars like Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette and . . . well, that was about it.

The starting pitching was – again with the word capable attached – passable. The bullpen? Not deep. The prospects? Nothing or no one stood out. Team management? Disliked and ineffective.

This wasn’t a club destined to roll into Denver and slap out five home runs in one game and churn out a whopping 25 runs in the last two games combined.

Not a chance.

But here we are, and here they are.

Baseball is fun again. Hell, it’s not quite 1992 or 1993 with Paul Molitor and Joe Carter and Dave Winfield and Rickey Henderson on board, and the wins were expected. Somehow though, this team keeps getting the job done.

And what an ideal season to get to work.

There is no dominant team in the American League. The Yankees can’t field the ball and while the Red Sox are smoking hot right now, just can’t see them keeping it up for the next couple of months.

Detroit, Texas, Seattle and Houston are all highly impressive but are they acres ahead of the Jays? Seemingly not. And at this point, factually not.

We won’t get into much of a deep, deep dive on how Toronto has this boat chugging in the right direction but safe to say the emergence of a number of ‘who’s-that-guy’ type players is astonishing.

Addison (BamBam) Barger, Ernie Clement, Nathan Lukes and recent call-up Joey Loperfido are ripping the leather off the ball.

Meantime, George Springer was supposed to be done like dinner, yet he’s racked up 18 homers, 57 RBI, a .291 average and 12 steals.

Renaissance guy, that George.

Bichette, who spent most of 2024 on the injured list, is digging into a phenomenal campaign. Bichette’s hitting a tidy .300 and leads the club in RBIs with 74.

Vladdy’s been steady for the most part. I guess the shocker here is if people saw this team where it is prior to the season starting, they’d be hailing Guerrero as the stats monster. And that’s just not happening.

Jose Berrios, Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, Eric Lauer and Max Scherzer are all doing the job well as starters. Now you can add in 2020 Cy Young winner Shane Bieber to that mix. He’s on the mend from Tommy John surgery and is fast tracking towards the starting rotation.

That’ll be six proficient starters on the Jays’ staff.

Not a bad job.

Speaking on that – Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro used to be swear words in T-O. Lately, not a peep out of the naysayers in regard to the Blue Jays management team.

Even manager John Schneider is getting his props.

“We have different looks in our lineup,” Schneider said. “There’s guys who make a ton of contact, guys who can leave the yard and guys who can do both . . . We can do it in a variety of ways, which is really important.”

Baseball’s become fun again for followers of Canada’s lone team and it’s making the summer that much more enjoyable.

Batter up.

Photo: Courtesy CP