Blue Jays Outfielder Quickly Becoming One of MLB's Best Feel Good Stories
The Toronto Blue Jays are finally rounding into form after a very rocky start to the 2025 season. The Jays just capped off a three-game sweep of one of baseball's best teams, the San Diego Padres, moving above .500 in the process.
The win that finally pushed the team into positive territory in the win/loss column came on Thursday night by way of an 11th inning walk-off single by a player who is quickly emerging as one of the MLB's best "feel good stories" in outfielder Nathan Lukes.
Lukes has become a force off the bench for Toronto in 2025, but according to The Athletic's Mitch Bannon (subscription required), the upstart slugger almost hung the cleats up on his professional big-league career long before he ever made it to the spot he's in now.
Per Bannon, Lukes came very close to retiring following the 2023 season after he was released by the Tampa Bay Rays despite hitting over .300 for their Triple-A affiliate. With a wife and newborn daughter to consider, the outfielder felt it was about time to move on from baseball.
“I wanted to be in this game to help support the family,” Lukes said. “But at the same time, I’m away from my family. So that was a big one. (Quitting) definitely crossed my mind. Now it’s nowhere near my mind.”
Nathan Lukes walks it off for the @BlueJays in the 11th 😤 pic.twitter.com/kRFyIJvC5g
— MLB (@MLB) May 22, 2025
Lukes ultimately decided against hanging up the cleats that fateful winter, and would go onto be picked up by the Blue Jays in 2022. After several more years of hard work, he's finally beginning to realize his full potential at the major league level.
As of this writing, Lukes has a .265 batting average and a .808 OPS, both of which rank in the top five on Toronto's roster. He's also racked up four home runs and 16 RBIs this season while primarily coming off the bench.
Lukes ability to come through when it matters most has also quickly endeared him to team skipper John Schneider.
“You’re gonna need that,” Schneider said when asked about Lukes walkoff hit off the bench. “You know, it’s not just nine guys every single night. He’s paid his dues, you know what I mean? So it’s nice that he gets a little bit of love right now."
Stories like Lukes' are what make baseball so amazing. In a season that's gotten off to such a rough start, Toronto needs something like this to rally around. Now that they've finally turned a corner, it will be interesting to see just how far they and Lukes can ride their current momentum.
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