The current crop of Toronto Blue Jays is the best team to trot out onto the Rogers Centre in a couple of decades. The way the team hits the long ball is something to behold. But as the regular season gives way to the return of playoff baseball, it’s important to consider this lineup alongside one that has actually won a World Series.
The 1993 lineup was aptly dubbed WAMCO: Devon White, Roberto Alomar, Paul Molitor, Joe Carter and John Olerud. Best-case scenario, the Jays current lineup runs Ben Revere, Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and a platoon of Chris Colabello and Justin Smoak. Hopefully, the lineup will be bolstered by the return of Troy Tulowitski. The heart of the quintet, Donaldson, Bautista and Encarnacion, hit the cover off the ball like few threesomes ever have. The team might set a record for most home runs, but let’s dig deeper.
In ’93 Devon White, at leadoff, was something special in centre field (sorry Kevin Pillar, you’re not even close). But at the plate, he also hit .273, stole 34 bases and scored 116 runs. Ben Revere is right there with him at the plate, though he plays left field. Roberto Alomar, batting second, is arguably the best player to ever play for the Toronto Blue Jays. A terror on the base paths (55 stolen bases in ’93), a .326 hitter and the smoothest infielder in the game.
Make it past those two, and you face Paul Molitor, Joe Carter and John Olerud. In 1993, Olerud and Molitor finished one-two (Yes, Alomar was third) in the American League batting race with the lanky first baseman Olerud flirting with a .400 average for much of the year. Oh, and Carter knocked in 33 home runs and 121 RBIs.
It was a lineup designed to produce runs, not to knock the heck out of the ball. They could hit it deep, turn a single into a run in the blink of an eye and generally score at will. A team that relies on the long ball? Well, we’ll see how it goes.
This team has been awe-inspiring at times in their ability to score runs in bunches.
Is it the best lineup ever? The proof, as they say, is in the banners on the walls of the park. But hopefully, these guys can tap into some of that WAMCO magic and bring another overdue title back home to Toronto.
