Blue Jays: Being a perennial underdog has made this postseason unforgettable

In 2024, the Jays finished with a 74-88 record, near the bottom of the league. This came after four seasons of underperforming the postseason, or even not making it, which was the case in 2021.

None of those seasons had a special feeling like this year. This really feels like the Canadian team, as this run has been the talk of the sports world. Canadian hockey and basketball fans know what’s happening with the Blue Jays is special.

This isn’t my first rodeo covering a team in their respective championship. In the last two seasons, the Edmonton Oilers have made it to the Stanley Cup Finals, losing both to the Florida Panthers. Growing up as an Oiler fan two years after their 2006 run, it was awesome to see them make those runs.

While I’ve never written about the Raptors, I’m still a fan of the team, even though most of the attention is on the Blue Jays, Oilers, and Calgary Flames. I was a casual fan from 2013 to 2015, but their run to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2016 turned me into a fan. The 2018 season was heartbreaking; they really should have beaten the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Luckily, they won it the entire next season in a fun postseason. There was one special moment in that postseason that I missed, Kawhi Leonard’s shot. I think every day about what could have been. To this day, but hopefully not for much longer, this was the only time a team I cheered for has won the league championship.

None of these three runs come close to feeling as special as what the Blue Jays are doing. At this point in their contention, the Oilers are expected to make a deep run into the postseason. Neither run has felt special, even leading up to the Stanley Cup Finals.

If the Oilers were to complete the reverse sweep in 2024, maybe that would change things, but it didn’t, and both eventual losses were easy for me to shake off. Now, a third consecutive loss in the Stanley Cup Finals would be heartbreaking, but I’m not sure I can shake a loss in the Jays World Series.

In 2019, the Raptors won it all. Sure, there were special moments during the series, like Leonard’s aforementioned shot, as well as his dunk over the league’s best player, Giannis Antetokounmpo, coming back from a 2-0 deficit in the series. Ironically, I missed both.

Like the Oilers, things probably it could have been different if the Raptors had been able to beat a fully healthy Golden State Warriors team. It always feels like there’s a caveat next to the Raptors, which is a shame because that team was terribly good and terribly pleasure.

The difference for the 2025 Jays is that they are seen as the underdog. They finished from the bottom of the league in 2024 and finished with the best record in the American League in 2025. Yet they were doubted in the American League Divisional Series against the New York Yankees.

That set up a winner-take-all Game 7, only the second time the Blue Jays have ever played in a Game 7. The Mariners scored in the first inning, but the Jays matched them. Then came the next five innings, during which the Jays got a runner to first, but no further, in four of the five innings.

Now that you’re in the World Series, don’t be shocked to hear that the Blue Jays are once again considered the underdog against the reigning World Series champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers. If there’s one takeaway from what the 2025 Blue Jays have shown us, it’s that while everyone may be counting them out, they certainly believe in themselves. And this has reflected in the results as they have consistently beaten the odds.

This team is special and there is no way they are willing to give up on the season because they are seen as the underdog once more. We fans shouldn’t do that either.