Sunday’s resilient win has Blue Jays off to a solid start as team navigates early-season schedule gauntlet

The odds were stacked against Toronto when they started their season on the road. The probability of winning a series in Tampa was very low, to begin with, and it was evident that the Rays figured out the Blue Jays’ weaknesses pretty quickly and maximized their opportunities. For a while, it didn’t seem possible for the Blue Jays to come out of the Trop alive in this agonizing four-game series. Hitting the road without any home game in between is already difficult but Toronto also had the burden of demonstrating their winning way to quell the rising skepticism. 

No one really expected much from this iteration of the Blue Jays as they ended their season on a defeating note with zero playoff wins for the past two years. The team also didn’t bring in any star players to the team either to make a huge difference and created one of the jankier rosters instead as the team brought more utility players. The Blue Jays were a collection of misfits who weren’t projected for much and all hopes seemed to be extinguished around them. 

But there’s nothing scarier than a team that has nothing to lose. On Sunday, the Blue Jays played like a team that wasn’t afraid of anything after going through two ugly losses in a row. By going into the last game of the series at the Trop fearlessly, Toronto effectively put the pressure back on its rival to prove itself while cashing in all the runs. There was no way a team that had a 40-year-old and four utility players could win a game – that wasn’t logically possible in many people’s eyes until the Blue Jays proved them all wrong. 

Isn’t that what makes baseball beautiful to watch? Nothing goes as it should on paper. There’s so much beauty in wild unpredictability that opens a door for anyone to write their own history. The Blue Jays might have hit a bit of a snag but went back to beating its rival handily because they believed in themselves despite the persistent pessimism. 

In the beloved baseball movie Bull Durham, the scrappy Durham Bulls started turning their season around from a horrendous beginning, and the narration over their winning streak montage says the Durham Bulls began playing baseball with joy and verve and poetry. Winning is great and all in baseball but it doesn’t mean much if the players aren’t playing their hearts out on the field. 

What the Blue Jays showed us this weekend was that they can get through any trials together. Yes, there were some lows and mistakes, but they returned to the basics to support each other and play their part. So long as the Blue Jays always play games with joy and verve and poetry, nothing will stand in their way no matter how impossible a situation may seem. 

Heading into Houston for another tough series, Toronto will need more optimism to come out of it alive. But they’ll come out of Houston smiling if they remember why they wanted to run out on the field and play baseball in the first place. No one can beat people who play with grit and joy – now it’s Toronto’s turn to show how scary that mindset can be.