NEW YORK — Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider took his wife, Jessy, by the hand. They needed a moment away from the chaos, walking through a hallway in the packed visitor’s clubhouse before tucking into his manager’s office. The thumping music, spraying bottles and beer-soaked floor were contained a wall away. The manager’s desk was already covered in empty champagne bottles.
They took a moment, just the two of them, before Schneider pushed back into the fray with his team. Those moments are rare — peace is scarce until the offseason. And, for the Jays, that winter hiatus will have to wait. The Blue Jays, with a 5-2 win over the New York Yankees on Wednesday, secured their spot in the American League Championship series. Baseball continues. They aren’t done yet.
It’s uncharted territory for this group. The Blue Jays have now pushed as deep as they’ve gone in the postseason since 1993, the last time they won the World Series. They’ve matched the heights of 2015 and 2016, when the franchise played for the pennant. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. won his first playoff series. Schneider, too. On Wednesday, the Jays’ potential became undeniable to the rest of baseball.
But, over the 162-game season, each Jay discovered these heights were reachable. They saw small nuggets that prophesied this path. The Jays slowly learned this team may keep them from their families longer than usual, diving deep into October. Maybe it could take them all the way. They hoped it would be true.
May 9, Seattle: ‘We were all zombies’
Max Scherzer, the 41-year-old future Hall of Famer, bounced on his toes, stuck in the centre of Toronto’s post-clinch party. He yelled “Get it!” as he gripped two bottles of beer, throwing the bubbling liquid into the face of 26-year-old Joey Loperfido. Dousing youngsters in his 18th big league season, Scherzer envisioned these heights during a sleepy May weekend in Seattle.
Following a series loss in Anaheim, the Jays arrived at their Pacific Northwest hotel after 4 a.m.. They’d blown two saves against the Angels and languished three games under .500. The Jays came to town feeling set-up to fail, Scherzer said. The Mariners, who had won nine-straight series, appeared primed to pounce on their opponents’ fatigue.
“I just remember just coming into Seattle that day just being a zombie,” Scherzer said. “It was kind of like we were all zombies.”
Max Scherzer celebrates in the clubhouse after winning Game 4 of the ALDS. (Daniel Shirey / MLB Photos via Getty Images)
Scherzer didn’t pitch in the series. Battling his busted thumb, the starter was relegated to spectator — a role he filled again in the Division Series. But he watched the Jays take all three games in Seattle. They outscored the Mariners by 14 runs. That’s when he knew. That’s when he saw the potential champagne at the end of the slog, five months away.
“That’s when I was like okay, we were a good team,” Scherzer said. “The deck was stacked against us, and we’re sweeping people. That’s when it was OK, we got a good thing going.”
June 26, Cleveland: ‘Screw everybody else’
Kevin Gausman, shirtless and beer soaked, cackled as he threw beer at Eric Lauer, unsuccessfully attempting to sputter his way through a soaking interview. Hours before, Gausman walked out to the Yankee Stadium road bullpen to join Lauer and other relievers. He was willing to do anything, pitch in any role, to reach his first Championship Series in 11 years — his first as a Jay. The Blue Jays formed an identity that Gausman didn’t want to lose.
That identity is a pack of bulldogs, said Gausman, who heads up the starting rotation. He first saw that identity begin to form in late June, when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. took a 96 mph pitch off his wrist in Cleveland. The franchise first baseman threw down his bat in rage, staring at the bruising appendage. At the time, Guerrero said, he thought he was really hurt.
Kevin Gausman reacts during a start against the Guardians. (Sean Finucane / MLB Photos via Getty Images)
An inning later, Gausman reached back for a 95 mph heater. He didn’t say it was an intentional act of revenge. But the pitch was precise. It seemed destined for José Ramírez’s ribs, but caught the Guardians infielder on the arm as he attempted to dodge the ball. The dugouts instantly yelled back and forth but did not clear. Gausman took the next ball and looked down at the mound as he returned to the rubber. As Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt checked on Ramirez, he stared over at Toronto’s barking bench.
After the game, a 6-0 Blue Jays win, Scherzer poured into the clubhouse buzzing. Gausman felt a forming energy. Guerrero was the second-most fired up Jay, the pitcher recalled. In Cleveland, Gausman said, it became “us against everybody.” It galvanized the team. The bulldogs would be hard to beat. A group that close could reach real heights.
“Personally,” Gausman said, “that was when it was ‘This is us, this is who we are.’ We’re gonna fight for our guys, we’re gonna have their backs. Screw everybody else. If they don’t like it, whatever.”
July 1, Toronto: ‘We can do this’
The Blue Jays are the only big league team Nathan Lukes has ever known. After nearly a decade in the minors, he’s a regular player for the first time in 2025. After 733 minor-league games, he became a Division Series hero, slapping a single over the shortstop to score the game-winning tallies in Wednesday’s Game 4. Afterward, his new ALCS shirt already drenched, Lukes called it the biggest hit of his life. He looked up and smiled to himself.
Lukes didn’t have any basis for comparison. He didn’t have 18 years of reference points like Scherzer or 13 like Gausman. It took him until early July to first realize that his October could be busy. He learned it when the Jays put baseball on notice, moving to the top of the American League East for the first time.
George Springer rounds the bases on his solo home run against the Yankees on Canada Day. (Richard Lautens / Toronto Star via Getty Images)
It was George Springer’s two homer, seven RBI performance against the Yankees on Canada Day, sending the mass of red-clad Jays fans berserk, that showed Lukes this potential. The two wins that followed only sealed it.
“That was like, we can easily do this type of thing,” Lukes said. “Just when you sweep a team that is very dominant, that’s one that just points out we’re good enough. We can do this.”
That’s when most clued in to the Jays. Scherzer and Gausman were already aware, but Toronto took hold of the division in early July and never gave it up. It was the first series the Jays took from the Yankees, proving they could beat the division rivals in important games. If a matchup came in October, the evidence of victory was laid in July.
Day 1, Dunedin, Fla.: ‘You’ve got to believe in it’
One Blue Jay claims he knew long before the rest. It was the man posing for selfies as he bounced from camera to camera in the Yankee Stadium visitors’ clubhouse, unable or unwilling to rid his face from a wide toothy smile. It was the guy who wore the Jays’ Championship Series hat backward, just as he flips his cap after every Blue Jays win.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. said he saw this coming on the first day of spring training. He strolled out to the first field session in Dunedin, Fla. and looked around. He saw everybody laughing. The next few days only reinforced the potential Guerrero foresaw. When early workouts were set for 6 a.m., Guerrero’s teammates showed up at 5. If there was optional work, he said, everybody was there.
“When you see a team like that,” Guerrero said, “you’ve got to believe in it.”
The 26-year-old didn’t have a playoff win to his name at the time. He didn’t have an October homer. All he knew was six postseason losses and the Jays were coming off a 74-win season that left them in the basement of the AL East.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. celebrates on the field at Yankee Stadium. (Al Bello / Getty Images)
At the start of spring, Guerrero hadn’t even committed to staying in Toronto, yet to ink the $500 million extension he’d sign weeks later. But on that first day, he insists he saw this coming. He anticipated the moment he’d run in from first base, hugging Jeff Hoffman after a series-clinching strikeout. It’s impressive foresight, if so.
Maybe Guerrero had to see it. Maybe he wanted to believe this Jays team would be different. Maybe he needed to know the franchise he was about to commit to for 14 years could deliver him another October opportunity. Perhaps he sensed a chance to finally win in the postseason and take a true shot at winning the World Series. It took his teammates a little longer.
Either way, the future Guerrero saw when he joined his laughing teammates on the first day of spring training is coming true. They are four wins from the World Series. The heights Guerrero believed in, and others learned over 162, are there for the Blue Jays to reach.
“If you don’t believe in your team,” Guerrero said, “you don’t believe in anything.”