ST. LOUIS -- There’s a freight train rolling out of St. Louis tonight.
Fresh off a sweep of the Cardinals with Wednesday’s 5-2 win, the Blue Jays have won 12 of their past 14 games to surge to 38-30. This isn’t just the best baseball they’ve played this season, you might need to reach back to 2023 or further.
This is a run built atop the failures of the past, though, which veterans on this team whispered of all spring and through the early days of the season. It’s been difficult to understand just what they meant without the results to back it up, but this is what it looks like when a team becomes collectively fed up and uses it to launch itself forward.
“Sometimes, you have to go through some [crap] to really get exposed and fix issues,” Chris Bassitt said. “Last year, I definitely never want to go through it again, but it exposed a lot of things and it tested a lot of people. I feel like everyone, from Mark [Shapiro] and Ross [Atkins] to the very, very bottom guy in our organization has responded the right way. Now, you have guys who really care for each other from the first inning to the ninth, from the last guy on the team to the first.”
Talk of a better clubhouse is always met with some suspicion until the wins come, but looking back, veterans like Bassitt, Kevin Gausman, George Springer and others sounded like they were predicting the future back in February, March and April.
Take Wednesday’s fourth inning, for example. Yes, Ernie Clement’s home run soon after was more fun to watch, but the Blue Jays first set themselves up for some insurance runs with small ball. First came Myles Straw with a bunt single, then Jonatan Clase with a walk and Tyler Heineman with a sac bunt. By the time Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. strolled up to drive in a run each, the Blue Jays had put two runners in scoring position by hitting the ball … a few feet.
“Every time we get punched in the mouth, we punch right back,” Clement said. “That’s just so exciting, when they score a run and you score two. It’s the most fun we’ve had as a group this year and in past years.”
As the Blue Jays trudged through 2024 -- and particularly after their Trade Deadline fire sale -- Bassitt didn’t see this. No one wanted to play for themselves, Bassitt said, but at a certain point, it’s natural to chase stats in a lost season. Stats aren’t meant to be chased, though.
“The easiest thing to do when you’re not worrying about your stats is to play for each other. Then somehow, your stats show up,” Bassitt said. “I think we’re just playing great baseball when it comes to being very selfless, playing for each other, working hard for each other and talking about baseball. It’s showing.”
The real tragedy doesn’t lie in failing, but in failing and refusing to learn from it. Baseball’s best teams will lose 60 to 70 games this season. Baseball’s best hitters will still get out 60% or more of the time.
We’re seeing this in the Blue Jays’ coaching staff, too, something manager John Schneider sounds far more comfortable speaking about in 2025. Almost all season long, the Blue Jays have been forced to patch a pitching plan together for Max Scherzer’s spot in the rotation. Wednesday was Eric Lauer’s turn again, throwing 72 pitches as the “starter,” but it’s been up to Schneider, pitching coach Pete Walker and his staff to make the right decisions at the right times. That started with taking a long look at when they’ve gotten it wrong.
“I’ve screwed up plenty of them so I feel like I have a better feel as to when to push a guy or when to go get a guy,” Schneider said. “It’s made our discussions and our pregame process better, I can tell you that, through failures and successes. It’s awkward at first, because it’s not the traditional [starter] throwing 80 or 100 pitches, but I’m kind of learning to enjoy it.”
Besides, this brand of baseball is easy to enjoy. After hovering around .500 for too long, the Blue Jays are giving their fans a sense of hope again.
“What now?” is turning into, “Who’s next?”