The gold standard for Blue Jays teams undeniably starts with the group that won back-to-back World Series titles in 1992 and 1993.

And, of course, there was the drive of ’85 when the 1985 team won a franchise record 99 games and captured their first ever division title – an accomplishment even more impressive considering the American League East and West featured seven teams at the time.

But on a more recent basis, Jays fans’ fondest memories often come from the 2015 squad, who ended a 22-year postseason drought and soared to the top of the AL East with a dominant lineup, big-name acquisitions and signature moments.

On Sunday, the 2025 team won the franchise’s first division title since, keeping the hard-charging New York Yankees at bay just long enough to wrap up the AL East and secure a bye to the Division Series.

As we’ll look at below, the paths the 2015 and 2025 teams took to the divisional crown proves there is more than one way to become a good team and energize a city heading into the postseason.

The expectations

Entering 2015, the Blue Jays were the only team in the wild-card era not to have made the postseason.

But there was reason for hope. Toronto had finished the 2014 campaign four games over .500 at 83-79 and made major additions in the off-season, bringing in former All-Star catcher Russell Martin and third baseman Josh Donaldson, who had finished eighth in MVP voting the previous year.

The starting rotation was led by veterans R.A. Dickey and Mark Buehrle but took a major blow with a knee injury to Marcus Stroman in spring training that looked like it

could cost him the season. This meant the back end of the starting-five was a bit of a question mark, but things were generally positive heading into 2015.

The energy around this year’s team was anything but.

For the second off-season in a row, the Blue Jays had pursued top-end talent and fell short. Two winters ago it was Shohei Ohtani, and this time around it was a one-two punch of rejection from Juan Soto and Roki Sasaki. You’ll get varying opinions on what chance Toronto really had at landing any of them, but the disappointment of being unable to reel in the big fish was felt across the fan base.

The additions of Anthony Santander, Jeff Hoffman and Max Scherzer helped, but it didn’t do much to solve the Jays’ biggest issue – the contract situations of Bo Bichette, and, primarily, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Coming off a disappointing 74-88 season, the pressure was on and only grew more intense when the Jays failed to meet Guerrero’s self-imposed deadline to reach an extension.

The result: 2015Jose Bautista et Josh Donaldson

The start to the season was underwhelming. In fact, the entire first half of the 2015 season was underwhelming. At the end of April they were 11-12. May ended with them 23-29. June was a little better, closing at 41-38, and at the conclusion of July they made two massive trades despite being 50-51.

On July 28, the Blue Jays completed a six-player deal to acquire shortstop Troy Tulowitzki from the Colorado Rockies for a package that included shortstop Jose Reyes and pitching prospect Jeff Hoffman (yes, that Jeff Hoffman). Two days later, and one day before the July 31 trade deadline, Toronto acquired former Cy Young winner David Price from the Detroit Tigers for three young arms.

It was a bold move by then-general manager Alex Anthopoulos considering the team’s position in the standings. They were one game under .500 when they traded for Tulowitzki and two games over when Price arrived, six back in the AL East and facing an uphill battle to make the postseason. But there were signs it was the right bet.

The Jays had a plus-84 run differential and by all accounts, felt like a team that was just a couple wins away from finding their groove. As it turns out, that’s exactly what happened.

The Jays won a franchise-record-tying 11 straight games from Aug. 2 to Aug. 13 and finished the last two months of the season 40-17. They won the division by six games and entered the postseason as one of the popular picks to win it all.

Of course, we know that didn’t happen, but the playoff victory over the Texas Rangers in the Division Series meant everything to an organization so starved for playoff success. The Jose Bautista bat-flip in Game 5 remains one of the franchise’s watershed moments and gave an entire generation of Jays fans who weren’t old enough to remember ’92 and ’93 something they’d never forget.

The result: 2025Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Toronto Blue Jays (Chris Young/The Canadian Press)

Like 2015, the 2025 campaign was rather slow getting off the ground. General manager Ross Atkins did manage to get Guerrero signed long-term shortly after the season began, and that seemed to take the pressure off slightly amid a so-so start.

Due to an up-and-down offence and depth issues in the starting rotation, the Jays were two games under .500 at the start of May and two games over when June began. The Yankees built a seven-game lead in the division in late May but came back to earth the next couple months, and that’s when the Jays put the pedal down. They threatened to tie the franchise’s single-season winning streak of 11 before ultimately setting for 10 in a row from June 29 to July 8, building a 3.5-game lead atop the AL East.

They were four up at the trade deadline when the front office made a trio of notable trades to bring in pitching help, acquiring Shane Bieber from the Cleveland Guardians, Seranthony Dominguez from the Baltimore Orioles and Louis Varland, along with first baseman Ty France, from the Minnesota Twins.

September was a roller coaster. Leading the division by three games to begin the month, Toronto won six in a row from Sept. 11 to Sept. 16 to go five games up but immediately dropped the next four and saw their lead shrink to two. The Yankees caught the Jays a couple days later, putting the two teams even heading into the final series of the weekend, which was of course significant considering the bye to the Division Series the AL East winner would receive.

The Yankees swept the Baltimore Orioles to finish the season with 11 wins in 12 games, but the Jays dug deep and took all three games against the Tampa Bay Rays, punctuated by a pair of Alejandro Kirk home runs on the season’s final day Sunday that earned the Jays the bye.

We don’t know how this story ends yet, but after wild-card sweeps in 2020, 2022 and 2023, the Jays are surely thankful to not have to take their chances in a best-of-three.

Comparing the twoVladimir Guerrero Jr. Bo Bichette Jose Bautista Josh Donaldson Toronto Blue Jays Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Bo Bichette Jose Bautista Josh Donaldson Toronto Blue Jays

There are of course similarities between the 2015 and 2025 teams. But it’s the differences that stand out.

Counting trade deadline acquisitions, the Blue Jays from a decade ago had five All-Stars and Donaldson won the MVP award while Bautista and Price finished in the top 10. Price was runner-up in Cy Young voting and Marco Estrada also placed 10th after a career season. Guerrero and catcher Alejandro Kirk were Toronto’s lone All-Stars this year, and while George Springer is likely to finish high in MVP voting, he won’t come close to front-runners Cal Raleigh and Aaron Judge.

Donaldson (41), Bautista (40) and Edwin Encarnacion (39) combined for 120 home runs and all drove three in at least 100 runs. The 2025 Jays had only one player (Springer, 32) eclipse the 30-homer mark and didn’t get 100 RBI from anyone, with Bo Bichette’s 94 leading the team.

It stands out even more at a league-wide level. The Jays absolutely mashed 10 years ago, scoring a league-best 891 runs. The next highest total belonged to the Yankees at 764, 127 runs behind Toronto. This year, the Jays were fourth in runs scored at 798. Considering more runs across MLB were scored in 2025 compared to 2015 – about 0.2 per game – it’s even more impressive what John Gibbons’ bunch back then.

The 2015 Jays also have the edge on the mound. They allowed 670 total runs and turned in a 3.80 team ERA compared to 721 runs allowed and a 4.18 staff ERA this season. However, when adjusted for the higher scores in today’s game it’s not as much of an advantage as it sounds.

In terms of total run differential, the 2015 Jays outscored opponents by a whopping 221 runs over the course of the season, the best in baseball by 99 runs. This year’s team was a plus-77, well below their divisional opponents the Yankees (plus-164) and Red Sox (plus-110) and ninth overall across the league.

Stat2015MLB Rank2025MLB RankRuns Scored89117984Runs Allowed6701272119Run Differential+2211+779Home Runs232119111Total Hits1,48061,4611Team ERA3.80124.1819

All in all, it paints a picture – the 2015 team often ran over the opposition while the 2025 group won less comfortably and set a franchise record for comeback wins during the season. But they did win more, finishing 94-68 compared to 93-69 10 years ago.

It all goes to show that there is more than one way to securing a division title. You can pick up steam and never look back like the 2015 team, or you can fight and claw until the last day of the season like today’s team.

The ultimate goal of lifting a World Series trophy remains the same. Let’s see if this year’s team can do the one thing the 2015 group couldn’t.