The Best Toronto Blue Jays Seasons and Every October Run

By 4Baseball Staff · November 5, 2026 · 10 min read

The Blue Jays' best seasons by record and run margin, and all 18 postseason series from 1985 to 2025, with the 1992 and 1993 titles, the near-misses, and a 9-9 series record behind them.

The Toronto Blue Jays have played 49 seasons through 2025, and their overall record in the historical record is a perfectly balanced 3,855 wins and 3,856 losses. Their postseason record is just as even: across 18 series between 1985 and 2025, they have won nine and lost nine. Behind that symmetry sit two World Series titles, in 1992 and 1993, a third pennant in 2025, and a long list of Octobers that ended one step short.

This article ranks the club's best regular seasons, looks at what the run totals say about which ones were really the strongest, and then goes through every postseason series in the order it happened. Where a game or a moment is famous enough to be part of the record, it is mentioned; where it is not in our data, it is left alone. The full chronological story is in the history of the Toronto Blue Jays, and the players behind these teams are in the best players in Blue Jays history.

A note on method. "Best" is measured here two ways: by winning percentage, which is what the standings reward, and by run differential, which is the more reliable guide to how good a team actually was. The two do not always agree, and the disagreements make the most interesting part of the story.

The best regular seasons by record

Only six Blue Jays teams have won 93 or more games. The list below uses the club's records through the 2025 season.

Two other seasons deserve a footnote. In 2022 the club won 92 games and finished second, and in 2021 it won 91 and finished fourth in the American League East, out of the postseason. In 1983 and 1984 the Jays won 89 games twice, the second time finishing second, which was the first sign that the franchise's decade of expansion-era losing was over.

What the run totals say

Winning percentage is partly luck, because a team can win a few more or fewer one-run games than its runs scored and allowed suggest. The standard correction is the Pythagorean estimate, which predicts a team's winning percentage from the ratio of runs scored to runs allowed, using an exponent of about 1.83. Applied to the Blue Jays, it reorders the list.

On this measure the best team in franchise history was the 2015 club, which outscored its opponents by 221 runs, and its 891 runs scored are the most in any season in the table. The 1987 and 2021 teams were also better than their records, by an estimated four and eight wins. The world champions of 1992 and 1993, by contrast, ran about five and four wins above expectation. That does not make them lucky frauds; clubs with strong bullpens and good late-game execution routinely beat the formula. But it is a reminder that a title is a short-series outcome, not a verdict on the best team.

The 2021 season is the clearest case of a team that deserved better. A run differential of +183 would normally sit comfortably in the playoffs; the Jays won 91 and finished fourth in the American League East. The 2025 club went the other way: with a run differential of +77, a division title and a pennant.

Building the first contenders: 1977 to 1988

The Blue Jays joined the American League in 1977 and were bad in the way expansion clubs are bad. They lost 107 games in the first year (54-107), 102 in 1978 and 109 in 1979 (53-109), the worst record in franchise history. Roy Hartsfield managed the first three seasons and went 166-318. The strike-shortened 1981 season was 37-69.

The change came quickly after that. Bobby Cox, better known for his years with the Braves, managed the club from 1982 to 1985 with a record of 355-292. The club improved to 78-84 in 1982, then 89-73 in 1983 and 1984, and in 1985 it won the AL East with 99 wins and 62 losses. The core of the era was Lloyd Moseby, George Bell, Jesse Barfield, Tony Fernandez and Damaso Garcia in the lineup and Dave Stieb, whose 175 wins and 1,658 strikeouts are still the club records, on the mound.

The first postseason series, the 1985 ALCS against Kansas City, is the one most remembered for how it ended. The Jays led three games to one in a best-of-seven series and lost the final three, 3-4. Toronto led that series three games to one, which is why 1985 is remembered as the club's first heartbreak.

The 1987 season was, by the estimate above, a team of 100-win quality. It won 96 games and finished second, two games behind Detroit, after losing its final seven games, a collapse that is among the most discussed in the club's history. George Bell won the American League MVP in 1987. The club was 87-75 in 1988, third, and then came the change that opened the next era.

The 1989 to 1993 teams

Toronto changed ballparks and managers in the same summer. Rogers Centre, then called SkyDome, opened in June 1989, and the club moved over from Exhibition Stadium. In the same season Cito Gaston replaced Jimy Williams as manager, and the team, 89-73 on the year, won the division. Gaston's record with the club is 893-836 in 1,729 games over two stints, the longest tenure of any Blue Jays manager. The 1989 ALCS against Oakland was lost four games to one.

The 1991 team won 91 games and the division, and lost the ALCS to Minnesota, one game to four. Then came the trade that changed the franchise. Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter arrived from San Diego in a deal that sent Fred McGriff and Tony Fernandez the other way, and the club added Devon White, then in 1992 the free-agent pitcher Jack Morris and the veteran Dave Winfield. Tom Henke was the closer, whose 217 saves are still the club's best.

The 1992 Blue Jays won 96 games, took the division, and beat Oakland in the ALCS, four games to two, the franchise that had beaten them in the 1989 ALCS. In the World Series they met Atlanta. Toronto won in six games, the first title by a team based outside the United States. Winfield's double in the 11th inning of Game 6 was the decisive hit.

The 1993 team won 95 games and beat the White Sox in the ALCS, four games to two. In the World Series it faced Philadelphia and won, four to two, with a finish no one has forgotten: Joe Carter's home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 6 ended the series, only the second time a home run had ended a World Series. Carter had 33 home runs and 121 RBI that year. Paul Molitor, the designated hitter, was named World Series MVP. Attendance at the SkyDome that season was 4,057,947, the highest in club history.

The long drought: 1994 to 2014

After 1993 came a stretch of 21 seasons without a postseason appearance, one of the longer runs in the American League. The strike-shortened 1994 season ended at 55-60, and the club fell to 56-88 in 1995. It rebounded to 88-74 in 1998, third, and posted a succession of 80-something seasons, including 84-78 in 1999, 83-79 in 2000 and 86-76 in 2003.

The talent was real. Pat Hentgen won the 1996 Cy Young Award, and Roger Clemens won it in both 1997 and 1998 during his two seasons in Toronto. Carlos Delgado became the franchise's career home run leader with 336 and RBI leader with 1,058. Roy Halladay won the 2003 Cy Young after going 22-7 with a 3.25 ERA in 266 innings. Vernon Wells, Shannon Stewart and Alex Rios filled out the lineups. But the club finished third in the AL East in eight of the 12 seasons from 1998 to 2009, behind New York and Boston, and none of the near-contenders broke through.

The turning point was Jose Bautista, whose 54 home runs in 2010 were the most in the American League that year. He hit 288 for the club in 2008 to 2017. Together with Edwin Encarnacion, with 239 home runs from 2009 to 2016, he built the lineup that ended the drought.

The 2015 and 2016 teams

The 2015 team won 93 games and the division, the first since 1993. Josh Donaldson, acquired in a winter trade, hit 41 home runs with 123 RBI and a .297 average and won the AL MVP. The offense scored 891 runs, far more than any other club in the American League. In the division series the Jays lost the first two games to Texas and won the next three, taking the series three games to two, with a decisive game that is remembered for Bautista's home run and the bat flip that followed. The ALCS was lost to Kansas City, two games to four.

In 2016 the club won 89 games, finished second and entered the wild-card game against Baltimore. It won the one-game round, on a walk-off home run by Edwin Encarnacion in the 11th inning. It swept Texas in the division series, three games to none, and lost the ALCS to Cleveland, one game to four. Encarnacion played his last season for the club in 2016 and Bautista his last in 2017, and a rebuild began.

The bridge years: 2017 to 2024

The club's records from 2017 to 2019 were 76-86, 73-89 and 67-95, and the 2020 season, played at Sahlen Field in Buffalo because of pandemic border restrictions, ended at 32-28, a wild-card berth and a two-game series loss to Tampa Bay.

The young core of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (183 home runs for the club through 2025), Bo Bichette (a .294 career average) and others made the club a contender again. It won 91 games in 2021 and missed, 92 in 2022 and lost the wild-card series to Seattle, 0-2, and won 89 games in 2023 and lost the wild-card series to Minnesota, also 0-2. Kevin Gausman, who joined for 2022, struck out 793 batters in his four seasons with the club through 2025, and John Schneider, who filled in for two games in 2021 and took over from Charlie Montoyo in 2022, has a 304-258 record through 2025. In 2024 the club fell to 74-88 and finished last.

All three wild-card series, in 2020, 2022 and 2023, ended 0-2, six straight postseason losses. In the 2022 series Seattle rallied from seven runs down to win Game 1.

The 2025 pennant

The 2025 season brought the club back to the top. Toronto won the American League East with 94 wins and 68 losses, the first division title since 2015, and then went through the playoffs. In the division series it beat the Yankees three games to one. In the ALCS it beat Seattle four games to three, a seven-game series that took the club to its third World Series. In the World Series it lost to the Dodgers, three games to four, a result that leaves the franchise's title count at two.

This article gives only the results: a seven-game defeat is a record, not a narrative, and box scores and recaps are the place for the game-by-game accounts. What the record does show is that the 2025 team was not the best in the club's history on paper (its run differential was +77), but that it won two playoff series and came one game from a third title.

Every series, in order

Two patterns stand out. The first is that the club won both World Series it played before 2025 and lost the third, yet it has lost the ALCS five times: in 1985, 1989, 1991, 2015 and 2016. The second is that four series went the distance: the 1985 ALCS and the 2025 World Series were lost in the last game, and the 2015 division series and the 2025 ALCS were won in it.

Common questions

How many World Series have the Blue Jays won? Two, in 1992 and 1993, both in six games, against Atlanta and Philadelphia. They also played in the 2025 World Series and lost it in seven games.

What was the best Blue Jays team? By record, the 1985 team at 99-62. By run differential, the 2015 team at +221. By results, the 1992 and 1993 teams.

Have they ever swept a series? The one sweep in their favor is the 2016 division series against Texas, 3-0. They have been swept in each of their three wild-card series, in 2020, 2022 and 2023.

How long was the postseason drought? From the 1993 title to 2015 the club played no postseason baseball: 21 seasons, from 1994 through 2014, a span that included the strike and many third-place finishes.

Where to go next

For the larger picture, read the history of the Toronto Blue Jays and the Rogers Centre guide. To compare with the division rivals the club had to pass, see the Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees histories, and for the format in which the Jays won their titles, see the history of the World Series. The current record and next game are on the Blue Jays team page, and the park is on the Rogers Centre page.