Seven games left.
Those three words bring shudders to longtime fans of the Toronto Blue Jays. Maybe not heebie-jeebies at the Wide Right or No Goal level but pretty close.
That's where the Blue Jays stood in their season when they hit the diamond Monday night in Sahlen Field for the opener of their series against the New York Yankees. Seven games left, a four-game lead to capture a playoff spot that seemed a year or two away, especially when the club got off to a 7-11 start and lost star shortstop Bo Bichette to a freak knee injury here on Aug. 15.
The 2020 Blue Jays are a team on the rise still trying to plug holes. Things looked mighty good Monday with a 11-5 rout of the Yankees that cut Toronto's magic number for the playoffs to three.
The Blue Jays are 28-26 and on the way up. Back in 1987, they were a juggernaut -- until they blew a 3 1/2-game lead in the final seven games to Detroit by closing the season 0-7.
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George Bell pounded 47 homers and 134 RBIs that year en route to an MVP award while combining with Lloyd Moseby and Jesse Barfield in the franchise's iconic outfield. They were all 27, at the height of their careers. Fred McGriff was 23. Tony Fernandez, whose No. 1 graces the outfield wall of Sahlen Field after he passed away in February far too young at 57, was a 25-year-old shortstop destined for greatness. The rotation and bullpen were stout.
But weirdness struck in 1987. There were injuries, notably a fractured elbow suffered by Fernandez, The offense went cold, scoring just 16 runs in the final seven games. A terrible final weekend in Detroit saw the Blue Jays lose three straight, all by one run.
The finale was a 1-0 loss on a wind-blown home run by Larry Herndon. The Jays finished 96-66 but the Tigers came back to finish 97-65 and knock them out. The '87 Blue Jays had one terrible week that ruined their season. The 2020 Blue Jays are trying to avoid a similar fate.
They had a six-game losing streak last week that saw them give up 43 runs in three games in New York, lose a doubleheader Friday in Philadelphia in which they blew leads in both games and then clearly had a feeling-sorry-for-themselves night Saturday, when they managed just two hits in a 3-1 loss.
Sunday's 6-3 win in the Philly seemed to snap the Jays out of their funk and it carried over to Monday.
"It was huge," said shortstop Bo Bichette. "Definitely coming into the homestretch to get a win like that, we played really well. Hit the ball well, pitched well, everything. To have that, it definitely set us up for the last seven games."
Bichette has been a winner his whole career, taking playoff titles in both Class A and Double-A. He expects to be playing postseason baseball.
"We've played really well but I think we could have played even better," Bichette said. "I'm proud of the way we've battled this year under a lot of difficult circumstances. ... Like I've told you all along, we all expected to be here. I don't think we would have just jumped at a chance for the eighth seed."
But to go from 95 losses directly to the postseason?
"Externally, I think everybody is surprised we're in the position that we are. Internally, we're not surprised at all," he said. "We're kind of where we expected to be, maybe even a little under it."
Looked good Monday. The Jays rolled to five runs in the third and four in the fourth and were not challenged.
"That tells you everything about our team, that we don't back down," said manager Charlie Montoyo, who led a clubhouse meeting in Philly. "I had just felt like we needed to talk, stay positive and remind them we won nine straight series before that."
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had a triple and two doubles. Randal Grichuk homered. T.J. Zeuch, he of no-hitter fame for the 2019 Bisons, pitched 3 1/3 strong innings of relief to get his second MLB win. But the unquestioned star was 21-year-old Alejandro Kirk, whose 4-for-4 night included his first MLB home run. No catcher that young had gone deep since Pudge Rodriguez in 1991.
"Sometimes you don't even feel when the ball hits the barrel," said the 5-foot-8, 265-pound Kirk. "That's how I felt tonight. Unbelievable. I can't describe it."
Guerrero and Kirk, both 21, became just the second pair of teammates 21 or younger in the modern era to each have 3+ hits and 2+ extra-base hits in the same game. The other duo according to STATS Inc. was Ted Williams and Bobby Doerr for the Red Sox on July 23, 1939.
The Blue Jays have overcome a lot to get to this point, starting with the whole soap opera of where they were playing their home games. Injuries have been a constant. The team announced Monday that closer Ken Giles, who couldn't stay healthy this year, needs Tommy John surgery. Hard-throwing Julian Merryweather also went on the IL with a barking elbow, a big concern as his velocity dropped over the weekend. There have been several other injuries in the lineup, rotation and bullpen.
But the Blue Jays are still here, on their way to a postseason not many expected. After all, a franchise should only have to endure one 1987.
