TORONTO — It’s now been more than half a year since the Blue Jays last took the field at home, but even with the team away from Toronto the last six months have been quite a ride.
Consider this incomplete look back at what’s happened since the Blue Jays lost 12-8 to the Rays with 42,058 in attendance at Rogers Centre in their regular season finale last Oct. 1:
• The Twins sweep the Blue Jays in the Wild Card round, as Toronto scores just one run all series. A controversial decision to lift José Berríos after three effective innings dominates headlines afterwards.
• Addressing the media days later, GM Ross Atkins says it was Schneider’s decision to pull Berríos. “I was surprised.”
• Free agents Matt Chapman, Brandon Belt, Whit Merrifield, Jordan Hicks and Hyun Jin Ryu leave via free agency.
• Despite a comprehensive organizational push to land Shohei Ohtani that included a private tour of the Blue Jays’ training facility in Dunedin, Fla., the two-way superstar signs with the Dodgers — but not before Blue Jays fans have their hopes crushed due to inaccurate media reports about Ohtani’s next steps.
• Free agents Kevin Kiermaier, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Justin Turner, Yariel Rodriguez and Joey Votto sign with the Blue Jays.
• After spring training in Dunedin, Fla., the first 10 games of the 2024 regular season take place on the road, as renovations at Rogers Centre are finalized. The team goes 4-6, splitting one series and losing two while struggling offensively.
That’s a lot — all of it since the team played a single game at home. With that in mind, Monday’s home opener carries more significance than it might typically. Beyond the pageantry, it’s a long-awaited chance for fans to be heard.
In the last six months, we’ve heard from just about everyone else around the team, whether it’s Schneider, Atkins, team president Mark Shapiro or the players themselves. By now, media have had the chance to weigh in, too, but fans are an essential part of it all and it’s been a long while since their voices have been heard collectively.
Will they boo the team’s under-performing players? What about the hitting coaches? And how will Schneider be received? (Atkins and team president Mark Shapiro won’t be introduced pre-game, only on-field personnel). Ultimately, it’s up to the fans. And everyone, including the organization’s top decision makers, will see and hear those reactions for themselves.
So far this season, the results have been underwhelming. To some small extent, Monday can shift that, but whatever happens against the Mariners this week, it’s clear the Blue Jays have work to do if they’re going to fully win back the trust of their fans.
Winless in the playoffs since 2016, the Blue Jays likely need success in the post-season to fully change the tenor of the fanbase, and understandably so. Expectations were high once Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette emerged as star-calibre players, and the Blue Jays haven’t taken full advantage of this opportunity. After 2025, both are slated to become free agents, adding importance to these next two years.
Some baseball executives will argue that baseball playoffs are inherently random, and that applying narratives based on what does or doesn’t happen in October is dangerous. After all, the Blue Jays have won at least 89 games in each of the last three years, making the playoffs twice. Objectively, this was a good team. That’s got to be worth something, right? Even if they disappointed in what some would call a random two-game sample?
Well sure, it’s a great first step. But the Blue Jays could avoid the perils of the Wild Card round by building a team so strong it wins the division. They haven’t done that since 2015. And if you’re going to be playing in a best-of-three series, it’s imperative to load up on elite relievers and smooth the rough edges of the team so costly mistakes don’t happen when it counts most. In recent years, that hasn’t happened.
Plus, as essential as statistics are to our understanding of baseball, they were never intended to capture everything about the experience of watching a team. The odds might say what happened to the 2023 Blue Jays was ordinary, yet the experience of watching that team was frustrating for many fans — and, by their own admission, many players.
Maybe in 2024, all of that changes. It’s baseball — strange things happen. So let’s not rule out a better outcome after just 10 games. First, though, it’s time for the fans to have their say.