Over nearly a half-century of Blue Jays baseball, the team has made the postseason 11 times, including this year.
This Sunday, the Blue Jays begin the American League Championship Series (ALCS), a playoff rung that Toronto last reached in 2016. They will face the Seattle Mariners, who eliminated the Detroit Lions on Friday night.
The Blue Jays beat the Yankees in the American League Division Series (ALDS) to reach the next step in the playoffs.
The Blue Jays have been to the American League Championship Series seven previous times: in 1985, 1989, from 1991 to 1993 and again in 2015 and 2016.
Here’s a rundown of how those previous squads fared when they got there.
the first time
In 1985, the Blue Jays won 99 regular-season games, a feat Toronto has never repeated since, and headed to the postseason for the first time.
The team scored the fourth-most runs in the league that year and six Blue Jays had double-digit home run totals. (The current Blue Jays similarly ranked fourth in runs scored during the 2025 regular season. Four Toronto players had 20 or more home runs, while four others had lower, double-digit HR totals.)
In those days, the playoffs were shorter and that playoff berth dropped the Blue Jays directly into the American League Championship Series, where Toronto faced the Kansas City Royals.
The series lasted seven games, but it was Kansas that prevailed. The Royals would win the World Series.
89 wins in ’89
The Blue Jays won 89 games in 1989 and somehow took home the division title. (To put this in perspective, this win total is five games below where Toronto finished this year.)
Against the Oakland Athletics (also known as the A’s) in the American League Championship Series, the Blue Jays won only one game in the series.
The A’s swept the San Francisco Giants in the World Series.
91 wins in ’91
Two years later, the Blue Jays won their third division title, with a 91-win campaign.
But once again, Toronto faltered in the American League Championship Series, winning just one game over the Minnesota Twins, who advanced to the World Series and became champions.
Champions for 2 years
The Blue Jays won back-to-back World Series championships in 1992 and 1993.
In 1992, the Blue Jays won 96 games and won the division title, sending them back to the American League Championship Series for the second straight year.
The ’92 lineup had power (Joe Carter, Dave Winfield) and speed (Roberto Alomar), strong fielding (Alomar, Devon White and others) and initial launch (Jimmy Key, Juan Guzmán and late-season acquisition David Cone), and a reliable, tight backend of the bullpen (Duane Ward and Tom Henke).
Three years after losing to the A’s in the 1989 American League Championship Series, the Blue Jays won the equivalent 1992 series in six games.
Toronto then headed to the World Series, where the championship series pitted them against the Atlanta Braves. The Blue Jays won the series in six games to secure their first MLB title.
One year later, the The Blue Jays brought back some new faces (designated hitter Paul Molitor, speedster/outfielder Rickey Henderson, and pitcher Dave Stewart among them). This team had a higher batting average (.279) and got on base more (.350 on-base percentage) than the 2025 Blue Jays (.265 and .333 on-base percentage).
The 1993 Toronto team won 95 games during the regular season, won the American League Championship Series for the second consecutive year (defeating the Chicago White Sox in six games), and captured a second consecutive World Series title by beating the Philadelphia Phillies in another six-game stretch.
a long wait
It took more than two decades for Toronto to return to the postseason. But the dam was broken by the team led by José Bautista in 2015, the year of the iconic bat throw.
Toronto won 93 games and the division title that year, beat Texas in the ALDS and played Kansas City in the ALCS.
This Toronto team had a lot of power (including Bautista, Josh Donaldson and Edwin Encarnación) along with good outfielders and a decent starting rotation.
But, in an echo of 1985, the Blue Jays lost the American League Championship Series 4-2 to the Royals, who went on to win the World Series.
Bautista told CBC News last month that he saw similarities between the talented 2015 Blue Jays team and the current roster that has since reached the American League Championship Series.
“They’re having fun, and that’s what teams have to do to reach a new level of excellence and performance… that’s what we had, and I think that’s the biggest similarity,” he said.
another chance
In 2016, the Blue Jays won just 89 games during the regular season, but won a wild card game to enter the ALDS, where Toronto then swept the Texas Rangers.
That led the Blue Jays to the American League Championship Series, which they lost in five games to Cleveland, who then lost the World Series to the Chicago Cubs.
It’s been 10 years since the Blue Jays last division title, the same year Bautista launched his iconic bat. As they await the Yankees-Red Sox winner, CBC’s Natalie Kalata sat down with Bautista to reflect and talk about playoff hopes.
