© John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
Blue Jays Share Unique Stories of Clinching Playoff Berth on Off-Day
During the middle innings of Thursday’s game between the Red Sox and Orioles, John Schneider needed a moment to get some air.
The Blue Jays manager watched J.D. Martinez’s game-altering home run in the eighth inning, but took off after that for a walk by the Toronto waterfront. If Boston held onto its lead and Baltimore lost, the Blue Jays would officially clinch a playoff berth for the ninth time in franchise history.
The tension was too much.
As the game at Fenway Park went on, Schneider’s wife, Jess, called her husband and urged him to flip the game back on to watch the final few outs. So, on a FaceTime call with his wife and two sons, Schneider got a play-by-play of the final innings from his family who were stationed back home in Florida. Orioles outfielder Cedric Mullins beat the shift for a ninth-inning single, but nothing came of it as the Sox held on for a 5-3 win.
Just like that, the Blue Jays secured their spot in the postseason.
Schneider first made a few calls to college and minor-league coaches and people of importance from his baseball past. Then came the flood of congratulatory messages from friends and family. On deck after that for Schneider was a celebratory dinner in Toronto with coaches and clubhouse staff.
“I tried to slow it down a little bit just to understand the magnitude of it,” Schneider told reporters before Friday’s game. “And realize where you are, and how much you appreciate being where you are with the group of people that are here. It was a really fulfilling, special, cool day.”
Schneider said he took a moment to acknowledge how special this moment was for him personally, but he dished the credit for this momentous accomplishment to his players, who put the effort in all season.
On the players’ side, the squad was fragmented throughout the city.
George Springer was on dad duty at home, spending the evening with his wife, Charlise, and the couple’s one-year-old son. After being “run ragged” by his son, as Springer put it, he dozed off for a nap on the couch. He awoke with time to spare, flipping on the Orioles-Red Sox game to witness the final few minutes.
“[I] saw that we clinched, was excited about it, and I had to go back to being dad,” said Springer.
For the 32-year-old, Thursday’s clinch was a bit of a habitual occurrence. Including this year, Springer has played nine major-league seasons and reached the playoffs five times. Oddly enough, it’s not the first time he achieved the feat on an off day.
During the 2018 season, Springer, then a member of the visiting Astros, hung around his Toronto hotel room as the club waited for the results of a west-coast game between the Athletics and Mariners. The game wrapped up at 3 a.m.
“The whole team was sleeping,” Springer laughed.
That clinch in 2018 was weird, as were the circumstances this season with Toronto. Either way, the feeling and the satisfaction of the feat itself remain the same.
“It just allows you to breathe a little bit,” Springer said. “[It] allows you to say we accomplished our goal. Yeah, obviously you might want to [clinch] a little bit of a different way. But at the end of the day, who cares? It's awesome to say we're going to the playoffs no matter what.”
Bo Bichette watched the game at home with fellow infielder Santiago Espinal. When the Red Sox recorded the final out, the group chat popped off.
“This is the goal we set out for in spring training, and to be able to accomplish that is amazing for all of us,” Bichette said. “Now the work begins.”
The Blue Jays will have the champagne on ice after Friday’s home game versus the Red Sox. Win or lose, the club will celebrate.
“I think whenever you have a chance to do that, you have to embrace it,” Schneider said of the pending post-game party. “You have to not ignore it. That doesn't happen all the time. And I can't wait to have a good time with that group.
“This is a long season. There are so many ups and downs, and I think that every team has a goal to get to this spot initially. So you have to recognize it.”
But, as Bichette put it, Toronto’s work is just beginning. Home field advantage in the wild-card game is still on the line, and that factor alone can be a massive X-factor.
The sixth-inning rally in Wednesday’s loss to the Yankees was an excellent example of how much weight a loud Rogers Centre crowd puts on the opposing team. After a couple of runners got on, the crowd amped up, inducing a balk by Yankees starter Gerrit Cole.
“I was getting chills on the bases,” said Bichette, soaking in the atmosphere.
The quest for home-field advantage begins Friday versus Boston. After the game, Toronto will take a pause from the competition to have some fun. And perhaps Friday's shindig will be the first of many celebrations the Blue Jays enjoy this October.
