It’s only a few days from Christmas, its 20 below zero, and I’m thinking about the boys of summer.
It’s no secret that the Toronto Blue Jays have made a few blockbuster moves in the off-season, but should we all be banking on a post-season? Experts seem to think so. According to Sportsnet.ca, the Blue Jays odds on betting sites like Bovada and Bodog have changed dramatically in the past few weeks, jumping from roughly 100-1 to being the odds on favorite at 15-2.
While I think it may be a bit early to call a team that hasn’t reached the post-season since their second-straight World Series title victory in 1993, what I do know at this point, is that the Jays have one thing for sure, and that’s promise.
With names like Jose Bautisa, Brett Lawrie and Edwin Encarnacion going yard, driving in runs has been one of the least of the team’s concerns. What has been plaguing the Jays has been keeping the ball inside the park. After their recent moves with the Florida Marlins and New York Mets, the Jays now have a starting rotation of 2012 Cy Young winning knuckle-baller R.A. Dickey, Josh Johnson, Brandon Morrow, Mark Buehrle and Ricky Romero, and while no rotation can guarantee a World Series title, or even a post-season appearance, it sure does look promising.
While the Jays have had varying degrees of promise heading into seasons recently passed, it’s safe to say that the team hasn’t given fans this much to look forward to for two decades, and that’s where I’m hoping this season brings the Blue Jays, to a new golden age of baseball in Canada.
I’m too young to have vivid memories of the Jays’ back-to-back World Series’ victories in ’92 and ’93. But I was lucky enough to get a VHS copy of both series a few years later, and I’m pretty sure I wore it out completely by the time I was 10. I can’t count the amount of time I’ve seen Joe Carter “touch ‘em all,” but I know I could watch it that many times over and still get goose bumps.
Baseball was my main sport as a child. I spent my time diving around in the dirt while most kids were carving it up on the ice. I was that kid at the game with a glove, hanging over the foul line during batting practice amongst a mob of fans hoping to snag a ball, then flagging down any player that I could for a quick autograph. The spirit of those days was fading, but now the future is finally looking bright for baseball in Canada.
What I’m hoping is that the spirit of baseball that grew fervently within me as a child is born again on Canadian ball diamonds from coast-to-coast, I’m hoping to see kids in Jays jerseys filling Rogers Centre to the brim night after night, and most of all, I hope to see some Blue Jays baseball in October once again.
