SPORTS
Monday, February 23, 2015 17
The glory past of the Toronto Blue Jays
A look into the team’s ascension to greatness and its heydays
pa r t t wo: s tay ing compe t i t i v e while pa ssing t he torch
kenneth cheak kwan lam › staff writer
I
always felt that the 99-62 Toronto Blue Jays
were cheated out of a World Series appearance in
1985, as the team was leading with three games
to one over the Kansas City Royals before losing
the series in seven games in heartbreaking fashion.
It was especially devastating since 1985 was the first
year in which the League Championship Series was
changed from a best-of-five format to a best-of-seven
format. Despite the setback, the team was clearly
on the rise and so loyal fans of the club knew that
Toronto’s postseason was not a fluke and that the Blue
Jays would make their way back to the playoffs in the
not too distant future.
After falling back to earth somewhat in the 1986
season, in which the team finished in fourth place in
the American League East, even though the club was
ten games above .500 at 86-76, Toronto put together
one of its most memorable seasons in 1987, which
ended when the Blue Jays lost the division crown
to the Detroit Tigers on the final day of the regular reason. Even late into the season, Toronto looked
poised to capture its second American League East
division title in three years as the Blue Jays led the
Detroit by three and a half games with only eight
games left in the season. By all accounts, the Tigers
had to win all of their remaining games and Toronto
would have had to lose all of its remaining games in
order for the Tigers to overtake the Blue Jays, which
against all odds, is what transpired in the end. For the
most part, Toronto’s collapse (going 0-7 to finish the
season with a 96-66 record and two games behind
Detroit) was not a function of a sudden dip in performance; rather, it could be attributed to a very
untimely rash of injuries as several key starters, such
as Tony Fernández (who broke his elbow after being
taken out by Tigers infielder Bill Madlock) an \