When Cleveland’s Carlos Santana caught a pop-up in foul territory to end the Blue Jays’ hopes in the 2016 American League Championship Series, it was fair to wonder how long it would take playoff baseball to return to Toronto.
The 2016 Jays roster was veteran-heavy with two of the team’s offensive cornerstones – Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion – without a contract for the following season.
It felt a bit like a window was closing. And that feeling proved to be right. The Jays went on to record three consecutive losing seasons and while they did return to the playoffs in 2020, COVID-19 prevented any possibility of those games being in Toronto.
So when Santana and the rest of his team jumped around on the Rogers Centre turf to celebrate a trip to the World Series, a long, long wait began for the Jays and their fans.