These Blue Jays draw legitimate comp to ‘94 Expos

Jays suffer second straight loss as trade deadline looms

The ‘25 Blue Jays, despite Monday’s 11-4 loss at Camden Yards, are on an extended roll and it’s become abundantly clear that the clubhouse camaraderie and and the team’s growing internal confidence in what they feel will inevitably end up as another win, has a lot to do with it.

This cocky feeling is day-to-day reminiscent of another Canadian MLB juggernaut, the Expos clubhouse back in ‘94, which was, of course, the strike shortened year, with Commissioner Bud Selig cancelling the World Series as part of the hardball tactics used by ownership to settle the players’ walkout that began following games of Aug. 11. We wuz robbed! It was the beginning of the end for Canada’s first franchise.

The similar in-house chemistry in both cases begs the question, which came first, the fabulously close clubhouses or the winning of more and more games, the classic “chicken or the egg” conundrum.

I lived daily in that Expos clubhouse 31 years ago, home and road. It was different but the same as this group.

The Expos was a roster of talented young positions players supporting a pedestrian rotation, led by a budding Hall-of-Famer, Pedro Martinez. The starting group was supported by a surprisingly stout bullpen, deep in current and future closers, with swing men who could eat 3-4 innings at a time and come back to pitch after two days down. Think John Wetteland, Mel Rojas, Tim Scott and Jeff Shaw.

The true clubhouse leadership came from the outfield group of Moises Alou, Marquis Grissom and Larry Walker. In 114 games they posted enormous numbers of power, speed and average and were cocky enough that on occasion, when either of them made a catch in right-centre they would quietly switch gloves for the rest of the inning, just to challenge themselves.

On the other hand, this Jays’ position-player leadership seems to come from George Springer, which may not come as a surprise, but it has been something George was unable to provide the last few years as he struggled with his own health and production. Tough to be a leader when you are trying to find solutions to yourself.

Then came the ninth inning hit-by-pitch that stunned him and knocked him down. It could cost him seven days of concussion protocol. The Jays need him.

Other candidates? Sure, the Jays rotation, especially Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt further breed and feed the team’s positive head-space, but they’re pitchers and it’s a different type of leadership based on years of experience, but difficult to pull off with real players from the high ground of the mound.

Back to the Expos situation. By the time the ‘94 All-Star game was played on July 13, they were in the habit of reporting to the clubhouse every day expecting to win, never knowing whose turn it would be to play hero, but supremely confident it would be someone in that room.

It is becoming the same scenario inside the walls of the current Blue Jays room. Every day it’s someone new. Everyone contributes. Every day, manager John Schneider gets enough starting pitching to keep them in the game until that day’s hitting hero emerges.

But the ‘25 Jays dark cloud, the one caveat to the likely October dance, lies in the bullpen, an obvious Achilles Heel that the front office is surely going to have to address at the deadline, to better support Jeff Hoffman, Yariel Rodriguez and Brendon Little, the only true leverage relievers on the current staff.

That call for arms is truly important in this era of load management, in which guys don’t seen to pitch three days in a row or even on 3-of-4 days. And nobody knows when setup man Yimi Garcia will be healthy again.

If the Jays are going to continue on this team heater of maintaining the best AL record, the Top 3 relievers will be on fumes as early as Sept. 10. The Jays have allowed 21 runs in the last two games. Danger!

Reasons to compare ‘94 Expos to ‘25 Jays:

The ‘94 Expos were to the Braves what the current Jays are to the Yankees — decided underdogs headed into the season and even throughout the first two months of play.

‘94 EXPOS: The Braves were in the early years of what they still (incorrectly) claim was a 15-year streak of winning the NL East title under Bobby Cox.

The ‘93 Expos had been good the year before, but, on June 1, 1994 were 28-22 and 3.5 games behind Atlanta. However, the Felipe Alou led team promptly reeled off a 34-16 record and, by July 28, had taken over first place NL East and now led the Braves by 2.5 games. Key to the surge were two important series wins, one home, one away. The Braves were stunned.

When the strike did hit, the Expos were 74-40 having built a 6-game lead and owning the best record in baseball.

The Jays, similarly, on May 28 this year, were in third place, 8 games behind the Yankees and also trailing the Rays. But in the 72 days since then, the Jays are 37-16, moving to 63-44 overall, also the best record in all of MLB.

It’s a marathon. We’ll check back in on Aug. 12 and see if those optimistic comparisons appear destined to stand up. In the meantime, enjoy.