For a second straight season, the Toronto Blue Jays reached the penultimate stage of the postseason, only to fall short.
The road there was much different – a wild-card berth instead of a division title, an ALDS three-game sweep of Texas instead of a five-game, bat-flip underlined thriller – but the final signpost was the same: eliminated.
The Jays’ bats were stymied over the five-game series with Cleveland, mustering a mere eight runs – five of them coming in Toronto’s lone victory in Game 4.
It was reminiscent of the team’s offensive struggles down the stretch in the regular season: getting multiple runners on base, but stranded said runners.
The only time worse for a power outage on offense than September is October, and that’s what did in the Jays this time around.
As much as crestfallen fans might be lamenting the quiet bats now, they could be pining for them come next spring, as the lineup projects to look significantly different in 2017.
Longtime mainstays Jose Bautista (9 seasons with Toronto) and Edwin Encarnacion (8 seasons) appear all but gone, though an emotional Encarnacion did tell reporters following Game 5 that the Jays are his first choice in free agency.
Also likely on the move is outfielder Michael Saunders, who had an All-Star first half but an extremely poor second half, albeit capped by a pretty good showing in the postseason. Bench contributors and clubhouse favourites Darwin Barney and Dioner Navarro are also unrestricted free agents.
It would behoove the club to get younger and less righty-heavy on offense, but it remains to be seen what the winter meetings will bring, and what the team payroll will look like following another lucrative year for ownership at the turnstiles.
As for the bullpen, many key veteran pieces are also hitting free agency, including popular set-up man Jason Grilli, righty Joaquin Benoit and lefty Brett Cecil, who’s spent his entire eight-year career in Toronto.
Two important areas of the Blue Jays’ 2017 team are far more secure, however: the starting rotation and the manager.
The latter was confirmed by team president and CEO Mark Shapiro following the Jays’ postseason exit, as John Gibbons will return to manage the club next season. And the former was locked up last offseason, as Marco Estrada, J.A. Happ are under contract for 2017, while Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman remain under team control. Francisco Liriano should slide in to replace the departing RA Dickey as the regular fifth starter.
That said, it can’t help but feel like the end of an era for this Blue Jays team, one that was on the cusp of greatness, but never fully reached the summit.
And as the 22-year-long playoff drought prior to this two-year run would attest, earning the opportunity to climb that mountain again is no sure thing.
Chris Suppa is a freelance writer and photographer based in Toronto. Follow him at @Suppa55 for somewhat-coherent ramblings about the Blue Jays and on Instagram at @chrissuppaphotography.
