It truly has been a winter to remember for the Toronto Blue Jays and their fans. After a season where pretty much every player seemed to suffer some sort of freak injury, the Jays have went from being a dark horse contender with above average hitting talent and no pitching, to having one of the best throwing staffs in the AL and being mentioned as serious contenders in the AL East and if not that at least the Wild Card. NL Cy Young winner and knuckleball specialist R.A. Dickey has now been added to the list of proven, big name players the Jays have brought in this winter and has given the Jays the last piece needed in their puzzle: A staff ace.
Ever since Roy Halladay was traded to the Phillies the Jays have had struggles finding pitching that could carry the load, young promising pitchers levelled out at serviceable at best, or developed arm problems and faded out of existence, Ricky Romero couldn't handle the pressure and will welcome being pushed into the back of the rotation this year after a disaster of a 2012 season as the number one guy in the rotation. With Dickey being added the Jays have a 20 game winner from last season who led the NL in strikeouts and ERA and even if he drops in form will be a lock for 15 wins with a better lineup giving him more run support.
Now that Dickey has been added to the squad and excitement is now at its absolute peak it is time to address the most pressing issue: welcoming everyone in Canada to the Blue Jays badwagon. It is going to be hard to swallow if you are a die hard Blue Jays fan.
Yes, I am going to have to accept that not everyone gave a damn about the Blue Jays up until the Marlins trade and the rest of this offseason, and yes some people in Canada have even cheered for the Red Sox and the (ugh) Yankees in the past, but we are going to have to move past our bitterness to accept everyone in Canada on our Blue Jays bandwagon.
It isn't fair, I know, some of us have sat and watched the Jays start hot in April and May to go cold for the rest of the season. Some of us have suffered through the Alexis Rios and Vernon Wells contracts and letdowns, we said goodbye to our favorite player of all time in Roy Halladay to see him pitch a perfect game in his first ever playoff start months after. We watched Jose Bautista turn into a hitting machine, but we also watched Marco Scutaro turn into a clutch playoff performer immediately after leaving Toronto. To keep things short: If you have been a Toronto Jays fan since after 1993, you have been through some things.
But the bandwagon is needed, think about why money hasn't been spent on this team since the early days of the SkyDome, the stadium is never full. Yes, Rogers has one of the best television contracts in baseball from owning the Jays and if they didn't own the team that money likely would have led to some higher spending, but when the Jays were in their glory days the SkyDome was the biggest venue in baseball, and it was always full. We are tired of seeing the Red Sox and Yankees frontrunners fill our stadium, and embarassing 1/4 full attendance numbers in the middle of the summer. This is our team, it is an entire country's team with a fanbase that, despite not being located in the city the team plays in, is one of the most loyal in the MLB.
Bandwagon fans are just a part of success, not everyone cares enough to support a loser and everyone wants to be a part of the hot ticket. I am an unabashed opponent of the bandwagon mentality, but if I can get over it so the Jays can fill the building every night and keep bringing in talent I am all for it. Sure diehard fans have the potential to be bought out and that isn't fair, but I think we all have been waiting for our team to be the hot ticket for while now and it is finally our time.
So with that being said, here is my open invitation to the Toronto Blue Jays bandwagon, just don't be too shocked if they let you down and be loud and proud. Take it from all of us.
