BOSTON — Lots of crazy stuff happens during a post-season celebration. Massive bins of champagne and beer are wheeled into a clubhouse lined with plastic sheets to protect the players’ possessions and accommodate the debauchery. If your job let you do something like that, you’d have a pretty good time with it, too. Here are some scenes from the Blue Jays’ second playoff celebration in as many years.
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It started, as these things often do, with a toast from the manger. John Gibbons raised a Bud Light in the air as his players fiddled with the corks on champagne bottles, and as the demure Texan often does, he kept it short and sweet.
“You’re all a bunch of renegades,” Gibbons said. “Let’s keep it going. People need to watch out for this team.”
That team immediately started to spray Gibbons with champagne from every angle. Wide eyed, Goggle-less, and exactly like the pro’s pro he is, Gibbons simply walked away and took it as a wry grin crept across his face.
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His post-game media responsibilities finally over with, Troy Tulowitzki was free to let loose a little. The normally reserved shortstop let out a loud yell as he grabbed a can of beer. After six weeks of spring training and six months of games, the Blue Jays had accomplished something real, something worth chugging a Bud Light over.
Seconds after grabbing the can, Tulowitzki was pouring it on his head to the delight of teammates more accustomed to stoicism from their shortstop.
“It’s a new level,” reliever Ryan Tepera remarked, laughing.
Tulowitzki loves these celebrations more than most, but at one point he retired to his locker for a private moment. He crept under the plastic hung overtop the stall and fished out his phone, placing a FaceTime call to his wife, Danyll, and son, Taz, who were watching at home.
“Hey buddy, want to go to a playoff game?” Tulowitzki excitedly asked his son. “Alright, let’s do it!”
Tulowitzki then took a tour of the clubhouse, showing Taz everything that was happening, little of which he likely understood. But at one point Tulowtizki bumped into boisterous starter Marcus Stroman, and turned the phone in his direction.
“Taz!” Stroman exclaimed. “What’s up, my dude!”
Forever focused on the important things in life, Stroman quickly realized he could see his own image on the FaceTime call, and proceeded to fix his hair before continuing his conversation with Taz as Melvin Upton Jr., made faces at the young Tulowitzki over his shoulder.
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Jose Bautista wasn’t about to be thrown off by a little beer, and Josh Thole probably knew as much when he interrupted the Blue Jays right fielder. Midway through a Bautista scrum, Thole slowly emptied a can of beer over his teammate’s head. Bautista barely paused.
He finished his thought, shook the beer off his head with a grin in Thole’s direction and listened in for the next question.
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This wasn’t exactly Frank The Tank streaking through the quad, but clad only in a jock strap as he gallivanted through the clubhouse, Matt Dermody very much became the Blue Jays’ equivalent in the post-game mayhem.
The rookie left-hander, a September call-up who pitched in five games, became a GIF legend when his wild trot carried him in and out of the action being carried on live TV.
Blue Jays players mostly looked on with bemusement as he ran around, many egging him on.
“That guy’s on our team?” asked one player, triggering some loud laughs.
—
Off to the side, Joaquin Benoit leaned on his crutches and surveyed the scene. The left calf tear he suffered last week in the Blue Jays’ brawl with the New York Yankees was a significant blow, taking away one of John Gibbons’ most trusted relievers.
He’s in a walking boot now, hoping both that his leg heals fast enough and the Blue Jays’ run is long enough for him to return.
Given his limitations, his teammates still made sure he was part of the fun, coming over and dousing him with beer and champagne, making sure not to risk any further injury.
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While Russell Martin held court with the media, speaking at length about one hell of a tense ballgame, several Blue Jays pitchers plotted about 20 feet away.
Martin led the Blue Jays pitching staff to a 3.78 ERA, tops in the American League, and if you ask any of the team’s pitchers how they pulled that off, they will inevitably make mention of Martin’s leadership and work behind the plate. Now it was time to let him know how much they appreciated it.
Armed with a can of beer in each hand, a procession of Blue Jays pitchers, including Stroman, Aaron Sanchez, and others, ambushed Martin and doused him with enough beer to put Wade Boggs under a table.
“It feels good,” Martin said, almost believably. “It never gets old.”
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Standing in front of his locker all by himself, Ezequiel Carrera pulled a pair of orange goggles with what can only be described as cartoonishly googly eyes printed on the front over his face. He pulled out his phone and checked himself out.
Extremely pleased with the look, Carrera raised one hand in the air and started filming himself as he danced completely alone in front of his locker. And it was not a short dance. This was a dance of at least a minute, perhaps more. And it was maybe one of the most Ezequiel Carrera things you’ll ever see.
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As the majority of his teammates ran down to the tunnel between the clubhouse and the field, Martin emerged from the shower, strode to his locker and started to get dressed.
“Really Russ?” asked one teammate, incredulously.
“Act like you’ve been there before,” replied the catcher who is going to the playoffs for the sixth straight year, with sheepish grin.
“Come on Russ, not everyone’s been there nine times like you,” said bullpen coach Dane Johnson.
Martin just laughed.
—
At one point, someone on the Blue Jays pitching staff decided it would be wise to get a pitcher’s picture out on the field. The word quickly spread, and the pitchers one by one filed out of the clubhouse and down the long, narrow hall that takes them to the field.
But confusion reigned as some position players noticed and got excited at the prospect of a team picture, charging down the tunnel themselves to get in on the moment.
The disappointment was severe when the position players reached the field and found the pitchers shooing them away, telling them they weren’t welcome in the staff’s moment.
“They don’t want us!” one position player yelled. “Typical pitchers. Always gotta exclude everybody.”
Most Blue Jays turned around and headed back to the warmth of the clubhouse, but not Jose Bautista. Jose Bautista refuses to be stopped.
As the pitchers posed, Bautista squatted in front of them, cigar dangling from his lips, arms outstretched, as he took over the bottom third of the photo. Just Jose and the pitchers.
