The Blue Jays still feel the sting of World Series loss, but the playoff run has changed their offseason

Blue Jays manager John Schneider still hasn't processed the World Series. Not when his club came two outs from its first title in more than 25 years and instead opened the door for what has arguably become a Dodgers dynasty. 

He had just started to unpack Game 7 when Miguel Rojas gave the Dodgers a jolt with his game-tying homer in the ninth off closer Jeff Hoffman. Schneider still hasn't watched everything. He can't. Every time he goes down one rabbit hole of what could have been, of what might have lifted his team to a title, another one appears. So he does his best to stay away.

"I think I'll think about it until the day I leave this earth," Schneider said last week in Orlando at MLB's Winter Meetings.

There's no guarantee Toronto will make it back to the pinnacle of baseball. The sport doesn't work like that. Only the Dodgers seem able to snap their fingers and make a World Series run every season. For everyone else, it takes luck, health and timing. The team that gets hot has a chance.

For Toronto, that pain of loss remains. Yet so does the perspective it created. 

There has been a different tenor surrounding the Blue Jays that has rung throughout baseball. Players noticed. Executives and agents, too. And Schneider as well. 

"You can see it swinging to the other end of not just, wow, you guys have some cool stuff and some bells and whistles and you've won," Schneider said. "I think you can kind of see it going to people kind of seeking you out a little bit. The resources and the finances obviously help, and I think that word spreads." 

Added agent Scott Boras: "When organizations find that myopic direction, you can kind of tell they're very close to achieving something that's taken years to get to. They know that their questions are few and their answers are many." 

The Blue Jays capitalized early this offseason, signing starter Dylan Cease to a seven-year, $210 million deal. Though viewed as an overpay by some, it set the tone for a club with money to spend and its sights set on another October run.

Cease affirmed what the world had thought once the lights shut off for the final time at the Rogers Centre following Game 7. 

"The biggest part really was being able to be a part of a championship team," Cease said. "Obviously with the run last year, they've proven that they have championship-caliber players and obviously a good process. That was probably the number one thing.

And then from there, it was also how they would help me maximize and develop and basically reach my potential more often." 

Don't expect the Blue Jays to stop with Cease. That would run counter to what they have built. The club has been, and remains, connected to free agent Kyle Tucker, the most coveted player on the market and one entering his age-29 season. Tucker would slot in as Toronto's right fielder for years to come. Interest has been mutual, and the fit would be natural, giving the Blue Jays a longer runway toward sustained contention.

Then there is Bo Bichette, the homegrown talent who still has a chance to return north of the border. Bichette has told teams he would be open to a move to second base, sliding off shortstop if needed, a flexibility that would address a need for the Blue Jays.

Some months ago, it felt likely that Bichette would leave Toronto. Now, that might not the case. 

And all that was made possible about the run they had and more importantly? 

Their culture. 

"Having an elite culture that guys can be brought into, I think resonates with the players," Schneider said. "You can definitely feel a difference this off-season going back to last year and the year before." 

It's a group crafted meticulously by its homegrown stars. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is the blueprint.  A player who has blended superstardom with an embrace of a country that, like most, was not originally his. His tears, both in victory and defeat during the club's run last season, were palpable.

"We tried to build the best organization we can, of course," said Ryan Mittleman, the Blue Jays' vice president of player personnel. "I think generally around the league people thought we were building really good teams. I think with the organization we've built and the way we played, it's amplified our profile. But I don't think you're ever feeling like your chest is out. Especially not in the American League East. We don't feel like these teams are going to hand it over to us." 

The AL East should be better this year, at least at the top. Gerrit Cole is expected to return, giving the Yankees one of the best rotations in baseball. Baltimore has also pushed itself back into the conversation after a down 2025, adding Pete Alonso to what should be one of the league's most dangerous lineups.

Titles are hard to predict. The Yankees have been chasing one since 2009. The Orioles since 1983. The Red Sox still appear stuck between directions, or perhaps settled into one they cannot escape spearheaded by an owner who guards his pockets. And the Rays, long the model for consistency and efficiency, seem to have lost some of the edge that once defined them.

Winning is arduous. Championships are even harder. 

But the Blue Jays believe they have something to build on. A franchise that has established its footing as one of the game's greats. Schneider walks around differently now. So often at the Winter Meetings he was stopped. Sometimes congratulated. Other times by those that wanted to rub shoulders with him delivering their elevator speeches.

The rabbit holes Schneider dug are painful to visit. Hurtful to fathom. The World Series loss still lingers. Yet what has changed is how the Blue Jays are positioned because of it.