TORONTO -- Mark Shapiro doesn’t just want to do it again, he wants to do it better. The Blue Jays’ taste of the World Series seems to have unlocked a new gear in him.
That’s always been there, but perhaps the big dreams Shapiro’s always been chasing feel more real now that we’ve seen the vision. The players set the culture, John Schneider runs the clubhouse and Ross Atkins is the architect, but the entire focus of this organization begins at the top with Shapiro, and it’s infectious.
Speaking Wednesday, just two days before the Blue Jays raise their banner as 2025 AL champions and try to climb that mountain again, he wasn’t eager to reflect. With Shapiro, the motion is always forward, forward, forward.
“There is no such thing as running it back,” Shapiro said. “This year is this year. We’re shaped and formed by our past, but we have to organically be a new group of players pursuing a new goal this year. We have to let that transpire naturally. There’s only one thing that’s certain heading into every Major League Baseball season, and that’s that something unexpected is going to happen.”
This isn’t whimsical thinking from Shapiro. He doesn’t deal in off-the-cuff, anecdotal things. He’s worked in Major League Baseball since before the Blue Jays won their back-to-back World Series titles in 1992-93, so not only has he seen a thing or two, he’s remembered them. He knows what it feels like to stare back up the mountain, tempted by the same path.
“I’ve seen more organizations go off the rails feeling that they have to build off last year rather than just organically approaching this year as this year," Shapiro said. "It’s hard as hell. It’s the toughest division in baseball for 162 games. Crap is going to happen that we’re not ready for. Let’s go.”
This echoes what Schneider told his players to open camp in Dunedin, Fla., six weeks ago. They’re not defending the AL East and not defending the American League, they’re attacking a new season in a new way.
From the outside looking in, this feels like the hard part. If last year’s plan worked, why not just run it back and hope things break just a bit more in your favor?
Shapiro has always talked of chasing excellence. It’s the carrot that dangles out in front of everything he does, and it stays dangling there because, Shapiro says, it is not something that can be defined by a single benchmark. It’s constantly changing, some days closer to you and some days drifting farther away. His job -- and the job of the front office and coaching staff -- is to make that something realistic for players to reach out and grab.
The 2026 Blue Jays have been put in position to win. The roster is stacked. The payroll is huge. It’s up to them now.
“Our players own it now. They own the culture. They own the identity,” Shapiro said. “That piece is real. That piece has some of the fire. They know who they are, how they want to play the game and how they want to be perceived by the team across the field and the fans in the stands.”
This goes for everyone. At the top, margins are small, which the Blue Jays learned so painfully in Game 7 of the World Series. Players talk about the incredible work the Blue Jays do to take care of their families, and Shapiro is open in saying that’s all part of chasing another competitive advantage. Everything Shapiro looks at -- absolutely everything -- can be an edge if you look through the right lens.
“The chef is not cooking food, but fueling champions,” Shapiro said. “The clubhouse guys are not washing jocks and handing out shower shoes, they’re creating a championship environment. The family room staff are not just babysitting, they’re helping our players feel more confident and relax so that they can play better.”
This is the energy that trickles down. Shapiro says it in a language the front office understands, then Schneider in a language the players understand.
It’s all working right now, everything in exactly the right spot as the Blue Jays stare up that mountain again. They can’t walk the same path, but they can hold onto the greatest motivator. They know what the view looks like from the top now.