'Bautista with a drive ...': Remembering Joey Bats' greatest Rogers Centre moments

In Toronto, for baseball fans of more recent vintage, once Roy Halladay left, there was Jose Bautista, and only Jose Bautista. Real or embellished, dad's stories about Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar and Dave Stieb couldn't on their own make you invest in a loser, in perpetuity, and same goes for the faint cotton-candy memories of Carlos Delgado, especially without the good Doctor around to numb the pain.

And, for a long time, of course, despite his best efforts, the Blue Jays sucked with Bautista, too. But, still, they had Bautista. You went to see Bautista. Grab a ticket for $5, maybe hit the Harvey's in Union Station, pregame, and you might see something special. Often, you did.

The Blue Jays' one-and-a-half-year juggernaut, hastily assembled by Alex Anthopoulos in July of 2015 and put down without even a whimper this season, was forged from the labor of so many superstars - from Josh Donaldson to Edwin Encarnacion to David Price to Marcus Stroman - it's easy to forget that Bautista, the icon to be named later, started laying the groundwork so many forgotten summers earlier. Before the Blue Jays made Toronto love them again two years ago, there was Bautista, the unlikely superstar who took no guff, smacking 54 homers for a fourth-place team, then putting up a 1.056 OPS for another forgotten .500 club. Every year, it seemed, all he did was smack a million dingers and take a billion walks. He was everything until the Blue Jays got good, and more when they did.

Now, old and broken and assured prime real estate on the Rogers Centre's Level of Excellence, Bautista's time in Toronto is nearing its end. His power all but squelched and his sexy spot in the lineup a gesture of respect more than anything else, the Blue Jays will decline their half of Bautista's $17-million mutual option for 2018 a few weeks from now, and give his office - the one in right field that, by late afternoon in September, is still splashed with sun while the rest of the ballpark shivers - to someone younger, cheaper, and, sadly, better.

Before that happens, and with Bautista set to begin his final homestand with the Blue Jays on Tuesday, let's look back at five of his most unforgettable moments at Rogers Centre.

Bautista takes King Felix deep for No. 50

On Opening Day in 2010, Bautista, batting leadoff, went 0-for-4 with a walk in the Blue Jays' 5-4 loss to the Texas Rangers. By the end of April, he had four homers and a .741 OPS and was regularly batting seventh. Then, suddenly, he exploded, the advice of hitting coach Dwayne Murphy and manager Cito Gaston helping to transform him into one of the game's most feared sluggers. On Sept. 23, 2010, with Felix Hernandez on the mound for a getaway-day start in Toronto, Bautista became the 26th player in MLB to hit 50 home runs in a single season.

Bautista greets Doc with rude reception

When Halladay, traded to the Philadelphia Phillies ahead of the 2010 campaign, finally returned to Rogers Centre in July of 2011, the beloved right-hander was welcomed back with open arms and hearty ovations. Plural. Bautista, the sitting king, felt no need to stand on ceremony. In Halladay's first-ever start against Toronto, after cruising through three innings against his former club, Bautista dutifully let him know who runs this town.

Come at the king, you best not miss

Without Googling it, it's difficult to pinpoint what exactly prompted the animosity between Bautista and the Baltimore Orioles. What does stick out about their longstanding beef, however, is that Bautista always seemed to come out on top, consistently punking nemesis Darren O'Day - he owns a 1.571 OPS in 28 plate appearances against the veteran reliever - and hitting a massive bomb off Jason Garcia after the young right-hander threw behind him during a game in 2015.

The king stay the king

This isn't the first home run that comes to mind when someone mentions the 2016 American League wild-card game, but with his most hated rival in town for the do-or-die showdown, obviously, Bautista gave the Blue Jays an early lead with a first-inning solo shot.

'Bautista with a drive ... deep left field ... no doubt about it!'

This was, in a sense, the only fitting way to end a game - an inning, really; my god, that inning - that destroyed our notion of how insanely bananas a baseball game can get. This was history. This was mythology. This was T-shirts and lunchboxes and endless drunken retellings. This was Jose Bautista.