OVER AND ROUT
AFTER 22-YEAR PLAYOFF DROUGHT, THE JAYS CLINCH DIVISION TITLE BY DEMOLISHING BALTIMORE 15-2
BALTIMORE—“We are heat! We are heat!” Blue Jays players, huddled together with linked arms, chanted their brazen mantra inside a champagne-and-beer-drenched visiting clubhouse at Camden Yards after clinching the team’s first division title since 1993.
The celebration technically came after a loss — 8-1to the Orioles in the nightcap of Wednesday’s doubleheader — but the Jays had already clinched with an ugly blowout three hours earlier.
But after 22 years, they don’t ask you how.
So just as when they clinched at least a wild-card berth — without knowing it — last Friday night, their long-awaited celebrations were delayed once again.
That first party was a day late because nobody realized they had already clinched the night before on a technicality.
On Wednesday, the Jays had to keep the champagne on ice because they had another game to play.
Well, some of them did, anyway. After the Jays pummelled a sloppy and listless Orioles 15-2 in the day’s first game to secure top spot in the American League East, they sent out their B-squad for Game 2.
What the oddities of the two clinch games portend for this long-awaited post-season, who knows?
“To be honest, we think we have more ahead of us,” said manager John Gibbons. “We really do, but this is a big hurdle to get over and it’s been so damn long.”
“We’re a motivated, hungry group and we’re not settling. We’ve definitely got our eyes set on bigger and better things.” MARCUS STROMAN JAYS PITCHER
Jays catcher Russell Martin, who has made it to the post-season on seven previous occasions, said in between puffs on a cigar he has never felt as confident as he does this year.
“We’re dangerous offensively, we’re dangerous on the mound, we play awesome defence. I mean, if somebody’s going to beat us they’re going to have to play tremendously well and even then I don’t know if it can happen.”
Marcus Stroman, who continued his remarkable comeback story with another stellar start on Wednesday, described an “antsy” feeling inside the Jays’ dugout as they waited for the final outs, even though they held a13-run lead.
“It’s been a really long time since this city has been to the playoffs, so to do it for the city of Toronto and to do it with this group of guys, it’s been a dream come true.”
Jays fans made up most of the sparse crowd in the first game — one of them holding a sign that read, “Merry Clinchmas” — and there were frequent cheers of “Let’s go, Blue Jays!” throughout the lopsided affair.
“It felt like a home game,” Stroman said.
“That just shows how excited people are to make the trip down from the north, from The Six (Toronto), down here to see us clinch. It’s been special and I couldn’t thank the fans for their support enough.”
While the game lacked any kind of intensity, in many ways it was a fitting way to clinch for the Jays, whose offence has pounded teams into submission all season. Wednesday was the 26th time this season they scored 10 or more runs, more than any team since 2003.
Stroman, who was just 2 years old in1993 when the Jays were last in the post-season, said while he may not have any memory of Joe Carter’s historic walk-off home run, he has felt the desperation of the team’s fan base.
“I realize that it’s been a pretty long playoff drought and this city has been dying for one and I’m just excited the guys could bring it to them. This team we have, I can’t put it into words, but we’re a motivated, hungry group and we’re not settling. We’ve definitely got our eyes set on bigger and better things.”
But for Martin, who was 10 in 1993 and grew up in Montreal, ending the drought has special meaning.
“I feel like I can really share with the fans how it feels,” he said. “I remember ’92 and ’93 and if we could just bring that back that would be awesome. That would be a dream come true for me.”
For two years in a row, the Jays looked on as another team celebrated winning the division in front of them: Boston in 2013 and these same Orioles last season.
Now it’s their turn to party — even if they had to wait a few more hours.