SEATTLE -- Ten years ago Tuesday, José Bautista turned on a fastball and defined an era of Blue Jays baseball.
Bautista admired his work for a moment, then shot Rangers reliever Sam Dyson one last glare to make sure he was watching, too. In that moment in Game 5 of the 2015 American League Division Series, a man became a god in Toronto and The Bat Flip was born.
The Blue Jays have been reaching for that feeling for a decade now, always grasping empty air. Bautista’s defining moment will live forever in Toronto and deserves to. Every Blue Jays fan remembers where they were and who was sitting next to them that night.
With time, Bautista’s understanding of the moment continues to evolve. Every day of Joe Carter’s life, he is asked about his walk-off home run to win the 1993 World Series. Every day of Bautista’s, he’s asked about The Bat Flip.
“I think I quickly was able to step back from the moment and think what it meant to other people because of how well it was covered and all the different stories that you’ve heard,” Bautista said last year. “At the end of the day, we’re trying to create long-lasting, happy memories. That’s a big one when it comes to this franchise. Hopefully in the top three, top five moments for the organization. It’s going to be hard to top Joe.”
Those 2015 and ‘16 teams grabbed a country of baseball fans by their collars, demanding attention with an electrifying style of play and enough attitude to fill 50 clubhouses. There was such an edge to those teams, led by Bautista and Josh Donaldson. Every other city in baseball loved to hate them. That feeling, as much as the magnitude of Bautista’s moment, is what’s made these teams stick in people’s minds.
“To be able to do something that I know a lot of people are going to remember for a long time, and in a positive way, that’s amazing,” Bautista said. “I was lucky to be in that moment.”
The World Series teams of 1992-93 are still celebrated in Toronto, but for younger fans, the 2015 and ‘16 squads are their teams. Those alumni have been rolled out all week, with Russell Martin, Kevin Pillar, Edwin Encarnación and Donaldson throwing out the ceremonial first pitches at the Blue Jays’ four home games this postseason.
“Now I see it from the other side,” said Encarnación. “What we did for the city was unbelievable. Especially me and Bautista, we came from when the team was in last place to bring the city back to the playoffs. It was a big change for the city, for the team, for the organization.”
That 2015 team ended a 22-year playoff drought. Encarnación and so many others tell stories of the years leading up to ‘15, when they could walk down the street without a single person recognizing them. Then, it all changed.
“It’s something you’re never going to forget," said Encarnación. "You’re always going to live with it, that homer Bautista hit. He hit so many homers for the organization, but especially that one. You’re never going to forget that. The people recognize you for that.”
For the first time since those AL Championship Series runs a decade ago, the Blue Jays have captured the imagination of a country again. The brief postseason runs of 2020, ‘22 and ‘23, even the stretch runs late in the season to clinch, weren’t close to this. A fan base can sniff out which teams are worth losing its collective mind for, and this is the one.
The bar should always be winning the World Series, but Bautista -- and even Encarnación with his walk-off homer against the Orioles in the 2016 AL Wild Card Game -- prove that you don’t need to lift the trophy to be remembered forever in Toronto. You just need to give this city a moment worth remembering.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is flirting with it, but with the Blue Jays down 2-0 to the Mariners in the ALCS, he’s running out of time. Perhaps his grand slam against the Yankees in the ALDS is one we remember, but that would need to be part of a deeper run.
Bautista and his teams were always chasing Carter and those World Series memories, but they never caught them.
Now, Guerrero and his version of the Blue Jays are chasing all of them again, reaching for a moment that we’ll talk about forever and compare the next generation to, just like Carter and Bautista.