We’ve had a weekend and a few days to catch our collective breath and let the wounds heal, and yet some of the images from the final innings of Game 6 of the ALCS will likely always stay with us.
That 2-1 pitch to Ben Revere, which seemed quite high and rather outside? In our remembrances and retellings, it will probably seem a wonder that the pitch didn’t sail clear over the backstop. But make no mistake: We will talk about that pitch – and that inning – for many years to come.
The term “memorable” is tossed casually, and it’s entirely likely that many events over the past two decades-plus have been labelled as such. In the moment, and with the obscuring factor of proximity bias limiting our perspective, it’s easy to assume a historic quality to the events you’ve just witnessed.
But the past three weeks – and three months, for that matter – were a reminder to Blue Jays fans of just how compelling and surreal the pennant chase and playoffs are.
The 22-year gap between playoff appearances meant that those of us who could remember the previous postseason visits became reacquainted with that sublime tension and angst. Many younger fans were lucky enough to feel it for the first time, and will surely crave more of it in the coming years.
Those crushingly stressful moments are experienced as much physically as they are perceived rationally, making it almost impossible to describe. But the pressure of those games ingrains these memories more deeply into the psyche of the fan.
That’s likely the enduring legacy of the 2015 Toronto Blue Jays: A whole new set of touchstone memories to which fans can point for many years to come. No longer will we need to dial back into the standard definition past for images of Joe Carter and Robbie Alomar home runs, or George Bell and Tony Fernandez clutching upon a clinching moment.
We’ll have Jose Bautista’s homer and bat flip, and Troy Tulowitzki’s clutch three-run homer in the ALDS or three-run double in the ALCS to remind us of the elation of those transcendent moments.
Even the disappointing moments will get an update, as Revere’s strikeout and Donaldson’s ensuing grounder to third join Garth Iorg’s tepid come-backer in game 162 of 1987, or Lloyd Moseby’s shoestring catch that was ruled a trapped ball in the 1985 ALCS.
Maybe most importantly, though, is that the a significant and younger portion of the fanbase will no longer need to rely on the recollections of past glories recounted by fogeys such as myself. They have their own. I couldn’t be happier for them.
Some have blasted the Blue Jays over the past decade for selling hope and nostalgia to attract fans. To be fair, it was hard for the franchise to sell much more than that, given the results and the growing distance in time since their grandest historic moments.
In a sense, this run of success will forever alter the perception of the Blue Jays, especially as fans consider what constitutes success. Valiant efforts and near misses will simply not resonate in the same manner. Meaningful baseball in September is not a far-off dream, but rather the baseline standard of what fans will expect. The entirety of a growing fanbase has taken the rocky downhill ride on an overstuffed bandwagon, and moral victories will offer little more than cold comfort for the foreseeable future.
If you’ll forgive one last call to the past, though, the 2015 Jays are in a sense similar to the 1991 AL East Champs. They made significant changes to the roster, and took a meaningful step forward only to have their aspirations summarily snuffed out in the LCS.
The context of that defeat was slightly different in that it provided fuel to those who argued that the Blue Jays were “chokers” who couldn’t win when it counted. The similarity emerges since the 1991 defeat created an even greater hunger among the fans, the team and the front office to get to the top of the heap.
Given the tension and release and joy and pain of this 2015 season, the level of hope to which fans aspire and to which the team will need to respond will be raised that much higher.
Even greater new memories await.
