By Mike Harrington
News Sports Reporter

The great Sahlen Field experiment has produced a result only the most optimistic fans north of the border could have envisioned.

One year after a 95-loss season, the Buffalo Blue Jays are going to the playoffs.

Yes, I know the truth.  The sign by the Jimmy Griffin statue at the corner of Washington and Swan, as well as the scoreboard, the box scores, the standings and everything else say “Toronto”. 

And Tina Turner’s “Simply The Best” didn’t echo through the ballpark late Thursday night like it has after every Bisons win for the last 20+ years.

But the celebration was still a huge one for both cities after the 4-1 victory over the New York Yankees wrapped up an American League wild-card berth for Buffalo’s parent club.

Rafael Dolis struck out Aaron Hicks for the final out and the party was on as the players gathered on the infield and in front of the dugout, donning “Respect Toronto” T-shirts. The center-field scoreboard was emblazoned with a confetti animation as it said “Blue Jays clinch 2020 postseason berth”. Backup catcher Caleb Joseph, a diehard fan of the NHL’s Nashville Predators, awarded his “Three stars” of the game on the infield rather than in the clubhouse as the players whooped and hollered.

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You could hear bits and pieces. One star went to second-year manager Charlie Montoyo, who has kept this club focused through its crazy tribulations of finding a home. Other candidates? Hyun Jin Ryu fired seven shutout innings to become the first Toronto pitcher all season to go past the sixth. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went 3 for 4 with a home run and rookie catcher Alejandro Kirk chipped in a two-run double as the Blue Jays made quite a statement by taking three of four games in this series a week after getting swept in New York and getting destroyed by the Yankees’ 19-home run barrage.

Caleb Joseph leading a variety show on the field. #Bluejays pic.twitter.com/9CcwSawnZN

— Mike Harrington (@ByMHarrington) September 25, 2020

We’ve never played baseball so deep into September at the downtown ballpark and there’s been no such whooping it up since the Bisons won the International League title here in 2004. And although there was nary a fan in the park, even the smiles on the cardboard cutouts seemed real. 

“I clinched in the minor league ballpark,” said a beaming Montoyo, a baseball lifer who played or managed in Buffalo for nine years while with the Milwaukee and Tampa Bay organizations. “All the credit to the front office and the Toronto Blue Jays because they made this place look great. I don’t want to forget the moves that (General Manager) Ross Atkins and (President) Mark Shapiro made in the offseason getting Ryu. Let’s not forget about that.”

The Jays have played 23 one-run games and won 13 of them, both highs in the big leagues. They’ve endured an MLB-high 11 extra-inning games (going 5-6). Not to mention all the chaos of July not knowing where they would play and a two-week road trip to start the season before they finally got here Aug. 11. Even as young as they are, they’ve gone through too much to get flustered now.

This is by far the most made-in-Buffalo club in MLB’s postseason since the 2007 Cleveland Indians managed by former skipper Eric Wedge came within a win of reaching the World Series before blowing a 3-1 lead to the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS. The Jays are 15-8 in Sahlen Field and have made the most of a rough situation. They look awfully comfortable here and visitors don’t. Too bad they’ll play the entire wild-card round on the road, likely at Tampa Bay.

This is for YOU, #BlueJays fans! pic.twitter.com/pypWmbpUSc

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) September 25, 2020

“It’s been a crazy year, not only for us but for everybody,” said infielder Cavan Biggio, one of six ex-Bisons regulars in Toronto’s lineup Thursday. “We could have easily looked at it in a negative way but we didn’t. We took it with a chip on our shoulder, played with an edge. We’ve worked our way here and now we’re happy we’re here.”

Guerrero homered in the second, made a couple great scoops at first and scored in the sixth on Kirk’s double with a head-first slide.

“That’s what we know he can do. That’s what we all know,” Montoyo said. “He can carry this whole team for a whole week. He can carry us through the whole playoffs. He’s that talented and we all know that. I’m so proud of him.”

“I feel great for Charlie and the entire staff,” Guerrero said through an interpretor. “We were the only team without a home at the beginning. Charlie did the impossible to keep us alive, make sure we were together, trusted each other and knew everything was going to be all right.”

The Blue Jays survived two heart-in-throat moments. The biggest one came in the eighth when pinch-hitter Gary Sanchez came about a foot shy of a go-ahead grand slam off Dolis before Randal Grichuk used a mini jump to corral a long fly ball in deep left-center field.

“I didn’t think he really got it but playing against Gary I know he’s got insane power,” Biggio said. “I definitely held my breath there for a second.”

In the sixth, Ryu was protecting a 2-0 lead when Luke Voit and Aaron Hicks started with back-to-back singles, but the Jays ace responded by getting the next three hitters. When he escaped the jam by getting Gio Urshela on a grounder to second, catcher Danny Jansen pounded his fist into his glove and shouted to his pitcher in celebration.

Said Ryu through his interpretor: “Once we found out we were going to play in Buffalo and once I found out the incredible job they did with the clubhouse and field putting us in an environment where we could solely focus on baseball, I knew our team would be resilient and put up a good fight against the tougher teams in our division. … What we went through surely was special.”

Trade deadline acquisition Ross Stripling, who pitched three games for the Dodgers in the 2017 World Series, recounted before the game how he was talking to Biggio earlier this summer about the entire scene as the Jays were in limbo. It’s evolved better than they could have imagined.

“It feels like we have such an advantage in Buffalo,” Stripling said. “You can tell the Yankees don’t want to be here, right? (Masahiro) Tanaka looked like he wanted nothing to do with pitching in Buffalo last night. I feel like we have a little bit of an advantage. Wish we could start a playoff series here but we’ll be ready wherever we have to go. They’ve proven it. They’ve had to go all over the place. If anyone is ready for something like that, it’s us.”

Sahlen Field – 2020 Home of the PLAYOFF-BOUND #BlueJays pic.twitter.com/xwOpERcAU8

— x-Sahlen Field (@BuffaloBisons) September 25, 2020

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