Depth continues to shine through as Blue Jays eye first division title since 2015

En route to an 8-5 playoff-clinching victory, this offence was back to looking more like its usual self — grinding out at-bats, working deep counts, laying down bunts and executing in situational hitting. It’s everything they had gotten away from during a four-game losing skid entering Sunday’s series finale in Kansas City.

But regardless of the ups and downs from the 162-game schedule, no matter how high Toronto has soared or how far it has fallen, everything has revolved around this team’s culture. It’s been the glue that’s kept this whole thing together for the past six months.

“Everything this team has is what it takes to win the World Series,” Bichette told reporters post-game, including MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson.

Many of the pieces from last year’s roster have carried over into 2025. And yet, everything has seemed to fall into place more seamlessly this time around. That’s without Anthony Santander — the franchise’s most prominent off-season acquisition — playing a meaningful role in the regular season.

Instead, it’s been Myles Straw, who spent almost all of last season at triple-A, and Giménez making the biggest impact on the position-player side amongst the newcomers. Internal improvements and surprise stories have spearheaded this club’s offensive turnaround — two elements the ’24 offence lacked.

If you had to describe the ’25 Blue Jays only using two words, they’d be resilient and persevere. They’ve had to overcome plenty of adversity along the way, between extended absences from Santander, Yimi García, Nick Sandlin and now Bichette, to catching the previously-favoured New York Yankees for top spot in the AL East.

Look around baseball, many playoff contenders feature top-heavy rosters — not the Blue Jays. They’re built around their depth. All 26 players, 28 this month, have played a role in this special journey. They don’t care who receives the credit. It doesn’t matter to this group. They’re more focused on their Day 1 goal: winning a World Series.

“We get how you’re projected for X amount of wins and where you’re going to be in the standings when the season hasn’t even started, but you could feel it with this group in Spring Training,” manager John Schneider said. “You could feel it from the first day. I know that sounds cliché, but when you’ve got a group of men committed to the same goal, you can do things like this.”

Clinching a post-season spot was step 1. The next step for Toronto is to take care of business over these final six games — all at home — and win the AL East, capturing the organization’s first division title since 2015. In doing so, they’d secure one of the two best records in the league, bypassing the wild-card round and earning well-deserved rest before Game 1 of the ALDS.

But after a champagne-filled celebration in the aftermath of Sunday’s win, everyone can let out a small exhale during Monday’s off-day, knowing they’ve solidified their playoff fate — even if it was a formality.