THE REDEMPTION Tour

WE'RE NOT OVER IT, BUT THEY ARE. SIX MONTHS AFTER THAT DEVASTATING DEFEAT, THE BLUE JAYS ARE BACK. CAN THEY FINISH WHAT THEY STARTED?

- BY NICHOLAS HUNE-BROWN

FOR SIX MONTHS out of the year, the Jays faithful live and die by the team's performance, wallowing in the agony and ecstasy of trueblue fandom. Since 1977, the franchise has brought the city to its feet (two World Series wins, one epic bat flip, an inches-fromvictory postseason run) and to its knees (RIP, Jays-branded 2025 World Series merch).

As the team embarked on its 50th season, we spoke to players, managers, executives and fans, collecting lore, stats, origin stories and more. In the pages ahead, we showcase the Jays-past and present-and do our damnedest to predict the future.

GUERRERO JR. was alone. In the early hours of November 2—as the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrated on the field of the Rogers Centre and 40,000 of the most dejected people in Toronto history quietly filed out of the stadium—Guerrero stood by himself in the dugout, gazing out at the scene.

His teammates had already made their way back to the clubhouse. But Guerrero didn’t want to look away just yet.

He chose to face reality: the Dodgers celebrating a game-seven victory that had been mere inches away from belonging to the Jays, the bitter end to a charmed season. Then he wiped away a tear, took a final glance and left the field for the last time that year.

Three months later, on a sunny morning in February, Guerrero was back with the team at the Blue Jays’ sprawling player development complex in Dunedin, Florida, where geckos scuttle across the paths and ospreys nest in the banks of lights in left field. Speaking with the media, Guerrero described his moment alone after game seven as an instantaneous turning point. He'd entered the dugout weighed down by the magnitude of the loss and left it unburdened. “I turned the page right there,” he said.