Blue Jays had a brilliant regular season. Now the real test begins

The Toronto Blue Jays overcame their recent problem of failing to get out of the first playoff round by skipping it entirely.

But now that the American League Division Series is upon them, they're again faced with an unpleasant streak: seven consecutive postseason losses and nine years since a playoff win of any kind.

For a team that rebounded from a brutal 2024 with a shockingly upbeat 2025, full of bounce-back seasons from star players and significant contributions from nearly everyone else, the ALDS against the New York Yankees carries an unusual weight.

For the young core around whom the team is built, it's a chance for players like Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to fulfill the promise first showed many years ago.

For the veterans like George Springer, and almost the entire starting pitching rotation, it might be the last, best chance to go on a deep playoff run.

Read more: Jays hope to ride Springer's magical season to World Series

And for the oft-maligned front office, it's a chance at vindication. Not that team president Mark Shapiro and general manager Ross Atkins are necessarily in need, as it's impossible to imagine either executive not being retained after the franchise's best regular season since 1993. But, for a considerable chunk of the fan base that's been skeptical of their team-building abilities since the pair arrived from Cleveland a decade ago, a playoff-series win or two would go a long way toward quieting the noise.

Unfortunately for them, that part won't be easy.

This Jays team, to be clear, is well-suited for the postseason. The offense is deep and remarkably balanced, and the high-contact, low-strikeout approach under hitting coach David Popkins should play in October. Players up and down the lineup contributed hits as the Jays hung on to claim the AL East, so they won't be relying on a couple big bats to generate all their runs.

The pitching staff doesn't have an obvious ace that's expected to shut down opposing teams a couple of times in a series. But it does have two guys in Kevin Gausman and Shane Bieber who have looked very ace-like at times down the stretch. The staff also has a couple of wild cards who couldn't be more different: Max Scherzer, the 41-year-old who looked out of gas in September and wouldn't be expected to contribute much if he weren't Max Scherzer, and Trey Yesavage, the 22-year-old strikeout artist who began the season in Single-A and might end up starting in Yankee Stadium. In the playoffs.

If there's a suspect element to the team, it's the back end of the bullpen, where closer Jeff Hoffman has a poor habit of getting shelled every now and then. The good news for Jays fans is that playoff bullpens are notoriously fickle anyway. Might their closer blow a key save opportunity? Sure, but so might anyone else's.

That uncertainty is true of playoff baseball as a whole, really, with a sport that's all about steady consistency for six months a year suddenly turning into a sudden-death roller coaster where fates hinge on a single pitch or swing.

That's also why this Jays series feels heavier than perhaps it should. They could fall victim to playoff baseball randomness, and it wouldn't mean their 94-win regular season was a mirage. But at some point, a team that wants to be a regular October contender, as Shapiro and Atkins have long said is their goal in Toronto, has to start winning some playoff games.

Especially when, as is the case with this team, the future is a little cloudy. Bo Bichette, who was having an excellent offensive season until getting hurt early in September, will be a free agent, and the Jays might find themselves in a bidding war they don't want to be a part of. Reliable starter Chris Bassitt is also entering free agency. Can Springer repeat his heroics after seeming very much on the decline in 2024? Can the myriad position players who had great seasons - Ernie Clement, Nathan Lukes, Alejandro Kirk - do so again?

Amid all the fun of 2025, it's easy to forget the Jays entered the year as a team that kept striking out on big free-agent pursuits and had settled on improving around the fringes for a few years running.

This season's success is a development few saw coming. If the Jays can't follow it up with a strong postseason performance, will it feel like they're right back where they were in spring training? That is, a team that went through a rebuild but still has nothing to show for it.

That probably isn't fair. This has been an impressive season, full stop.

But you know what else would really lock that sentiment down? Winning some playoff games, for the first time in a long while.

Scott Stinson is a contributing writer for theScore.