Each postseason, the eventual World Series champion does or experiences certain things that make us believe they are the team of destiny. Let's examine why each of the four remaining teams could be that team. Here's why the Blue Jays may be this year's team of destiny.
>> Team of Destiny? Cubs | Mets | Blue Jays | Royals
Through Games 1 and 2 of the ALDS, it appears the Blue Jays had met their match. The team lost the first two games to the Rangers despite having David Price and Marcus Stroman on the mound, meaning they were one loss away from elimination.
That loss never came. The Blue Jays recovered to win the final three games of the ALDS, and Game 5 featured both a hectic and classic seventh inning. How did the bottom of the seventh begin? With three (three!) consecutive defensive miscues by the usually surehanded Elvis Andrus.
Nine times out of 10 -- maybe more like 99 times out of 100 -- Andrus converts at least two of those plays into the outs. The potential 3-6-3 double play and force out at third on the bunt stand out the most. The throws hit Andrus in the glove and he muffed them both.
That inning was a sign this Blue Jays team is not a flash in the pan. They weren't going to let an odd -- but correctly called! -- Russell Martin error in the previous inning end their season. A catcher hitting the batter with the throw back to the pitcher? Come on. These Blue Jays weren't going out like that.
The Andrus misplays opened the door for the seventh-inning comeback, which, of course came down to Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista. The right guys at the right time. Donaldson will likely be the AL MVP. He tied the game when yet another usually reliable infielder, this time Rougned Odor, took some awkward steps and allowed a bloop to fall in.
Bautista? He is the heart and soul of the Blue Jays. The superstar who has been here since the beginning, the guy who sat through all those fourth- and fifth-place finishes from 2008-12. Of course Bautista hit the go-ahead home run. There was no way anyone but him was having that moment.
But really, the Blue Jays looked like a team of destiny long before the seventh inning of Game 5. It started when they stole Donaldson from the Athletics last winter. When they took the MLB leader in home runs allowed in 2014 (Marco Estrada) and turned him into a 3.13 ERA starter. When others like Liam Hendriks and Ryan Goins had more regular-season success than anyone could have possibly expected.
It continued into the season. Roberto Osuna, a 20-year-old kid who recently returned from Tommy John surgery and had never pitched above Class A prior to 2015, made the team out of spring training and became a dominant closer. The youngest player in MLB recorded the final five outs of Game 5 to clinch the ALDS.
The trade deadline? Everything fell into place. After years of dragging their feet, the Rockies finally decided to trade Troy Tulowitzki. The Blue Jays were waiting. After years of winning division titles, the Tigers finally crashed and decided to rebuild, so they put Price on the trade market. The Blue Jays were waiting.
Other teams didn't get what they were hoping out of their trade-deadline pickups -- look at the Astros with Scott Kazmir and Carlos Gomez, for example -- but everything worked for the Jays. Price dominated, Tulowitzki was an upgrade over Jose Reyes and hit a huge home run in Game 3 of the ALDS. Depth pickups Ben Revere, Mark Lowe and LaTroy Hawkins also played well.
In the final two months of the regular season, the Blue Jays went 43-18 and outscored their opponents by 127 (!) runs. They went from eight games back of the Yankees in the AL East to winning the divison by six games. That's a 14-game swing in two months.
Everything is going right for the Blue Jays this year. Their offense fired on all cylinders, their offseason and trade deadline pickups have had an impact, and when their backs were up against the wall, usually reliable infielders made mistakes and kicked the doors open for a comeback.
Yes, the Toronto Blue Jays have the look of a team of destiny.
