BALTIMORE — A year ago, the Toronto Blue Jays could only dream of days like these.
Worse yet, every one of them could look around their clubhouse, assess the talent and wonder why they were stuck in this last-place hellscape, where franchise cornerstones were mentioned as trade candidates and not extendable pieces and the entire course of the franchise was subject to change.
“Everyone, as a whole, got punched in the face last year,” Blue Jays ace Kevin Gausman tells USA TODAY Sports. “Everybody on the team, really, besides Vladdy, to be honest.”
And Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s stellar 2024 did not augur better times ahead but rather more uncertainty. Slated to hit free agency after 2025, Vladdy needed both dollars and details to be convinced to stay, and a spring training extension impasse seemed to extend the buzzard’s luck into the new year.
Yet something was already going on in the Blue Jays organization, and within the roster.
A 74-88 campaign has a way of inspiring attention to detail, rearranging key pieces, of, as Gausman said, buttoning things up a bit.
And what has emerged is both beyond that group’s wildest imaginations and also what they envisioned could someday be: The best record in the American League heading into the trade deadline, money and prospects to burn, a full-speed-ahead setting well earned.
“The best way I can describe it is just, a great team,” says two-time All-Star shortstop Bo Bichette of the 63-46 Blue Jays, who could still significantly improve in the final two days before the July 31 deadline. “A great group, a great team, however you want to look at it.
“But this is just the best group and team I’ve been a part of, for sure.”
Bichette is a massive reason for the 180. His 2024 was perhaps the most miserable, limited to 81 games by injury, a .225 average and four home runs and -0.3 WAR dotting his ledger after he was worth 4.8 just a year before.
So just how did Bichette search his soul and vow to come back a new man?
“My main goal was just to, like, chill,” he says.
OK, there was maybe a little more to it than that.
Bo Bichett’: ‘I owe it to my teammates’
Bichette’s year-ago misery was largely the result of calf strains that robbed him both of games and any hope for productivity from a compromised lower half. Yet it was a displaced fracture of his middle finger that ended his season and sent him into the off-season with explicit instructions.
Due to the fear of infection, Bichette was told he could not break a sweat. He did virtually nothing for six weeks, and didn’t initiate anything resembling baseball activity until around mid-January.
“I had a long year last year. And I needed to refresh and honestly grateful, in a way, that I had the finger thing,” he says. “It made me sit down and relax. I just needed to reset.
“Mentally, I needed every bit of it, I think.”
He’s certainly showing there’s plenty in the tank. A guy who barely played half the games last year is leading the major leagues with 131 hits, has more at-bats than anyone in the AL and has been on a three-week heater.
Bichette extended an on-base streak to 21 games July 29 before it was snapped later in the second game of a doubleheader at Baltimore. But what a run: Bichette batted .391 with a 1.040 OPS, 12 doubles, two homers and a run of hits in nine consecutive at-bats.
“We’ve seen him do this before. You know he can do this,” says Blue Jays manager John Schneider. “He’s a really talented hitter. Man, when he gets locked in, he can beat you in a lot of ways. That’s really good for us.
“Bo has the ability to get hits. You see guys go on power streaks or on base streaks. To see nine consecutive hits is ridiculous.”
Bichette, Guerrero and George Springer have batted better than .400 since the All-Star break, dovetailing nicely with the Blue Jays’ rise. They’ve won 21 of their last 30 and boast the majors’ best win percentage since May 8, their 47-26 mark building a four-game lead in the AL East.
Bichette has long been joined at the hip with Guerrero, as sons of big leaguers and budding superstars with matching service time. As such, their ability to walk into free agency has been a hot topic since they were barely major leaguers.
Guerrero put the pressure on the Blue Jays, walking away from extension talks before the club came back with a 14-year, $500 million offer that made Vladdy a Jay for life.
“I think Toronto has been begging for their own, in any sport,” says Bichette. “For that kind of player to stay and want to be part of the city, I know that was something he wanted as well. It’s great for both sides.”
As for Bichette, his injury-plagued fifth season scotched any thoughts of an extension, for either side. Now, Bichette is nicely reestablishing his value. Guerrero is set in stone at first base.
The franchise has money to burn. And Bichette will have interesting options come free agency.
When that time comes.
“That’s the cliché answer,” he acknowledges, “but with how the team’s playing and the vibe in the clubhouse and everything, I owe it to my teammates to be that way.”
And he could have some new ones to welcome very soon.
‘Nice to be on the flip side’ for Blue Jays
When Seranthony Dominguez made the not-so-long walk down the Camden Yards hallway from the home clubhouse to the Blue Jays’ visiting digs, it was a fun baseball oddity – guy traded between games of a doubleheader pitting the two teams – but was drenched in a greater symbolism for Toronto.
They were in Baltimore this time last year, but instead of eagerly awaiting arrivals, they were saying goodbye.
Top starter Yusei Kikuchi, to Houston. Veteran bulwark Justin Turner, to Seattle. Upbeat center fielder Kevin Kiermaier, off to win a ring with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Dominguez’s arrival created a little awkwardness, but that was more than outweighed by the undeniable siren that the Blue Jays will make more hay the next two days.
“It’s great. Ross and the guys have shown they’re going to be aggressive when we’re in contention, which is awesome,” says Schneider. “We love that support. We’ve been playing really well.
“The tricky part is, people don’t understand the roller coaster that goes into these couple days. There’s some moving parts and you still have to go out and focus on the game.”
To that point, they’ve dropped four consecutive games, yet retain a 95% chance to make the playoffs, and 61% to win the division, per FanGraphs.
Once they get there, a team that makes consistent contact – their 16.4% K rate since May is the best in the majors – catches the ball and has a solid front end of a rotation in Gausman, Jose Berrios and the surprising Eric Lauer could make hay.
To say nothing of more reinforcements.
It’s all a little stunning, given the time and place and the grim reality that seems not so long ago, yet for Toronto, slips further in the past with every week.
“It’s nice,” says Schneider, “to be on the flip side of last year for sure.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bo Bichette, Blue Jays top AL East after getting ‘punched in the face’
