By Andrew Hendriks
Canadian Baseball Network
Those well versed in sports are known to say that it’s not always how you start, yet rather how you finish that often determines your fate.
 
In the case of this year’s 89-73 Blue Jays squad, the defending American League East champions neither started strong nor did they finish in a robust blaze of dominance.
 
Still, taking two of three from Boston in a pivotal season-ending series, Toronto was able to punch its ticket back to postseason play for a second consecutive year. 
 
The 2016 season. 

What a ride.
 
To quote Dickens, “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times”.
 
When on, Toronto looked unstoppable. The Jays blend of high-octane offense, mixed with a pitching staff that took full advantage of an improved defensive approach in the field, appeared to match the best in the business.
 
When off, high strikeout totals, “a grip it and rip it” approach and an apparent lack of situational hitting made even a one-run deficit seemed unsurpassable.
 
A disappointing 11-14 April gave way to a string of four consecutive winning months and come Aug. 31, Toronto, similar to 2015, was back in sole possession of first place in its division.
 
Even though the Blue Jays owned a distinct edge on their opposition heading into the final stretch, few truly felt comfortable with the brand of baseball this team was playing.
 
Gone was their nearly historic run differential, Toronto’s undeniable strength from a season ago. Instead, this year’s crop leaned heavily on its impressive starting rotation. A group that, in addition to leading the league in innings pitched (995 1/3) also ranked first in quality starts (100), earned run average (3.64) and opponents batting average (.235).
 
Good pitching beats good hitting, they say.
 
Toronto experienced this first hand in 2016. Although winning, the club was often found walking a proverbial tightrope, one that came in the form of many high-stress situations and pivotal shutdown pitching performances.
 
Despite being inconsistent at times, the Blue Jays offense (powered heavily by Josh Donaldson, Edwin Encarnacion and Troy Tulowitzki) had been able to carve out enough runs for the team to keep the teams head above water.
 
That is, until September arrived.
 
While Toronto’s bats cooled, Boston’s offensive attack began to peak and by Sept. 7, the Red Sox moved into first place for good.
 
As the season began drawing to a close, a general lack of consistent stick work helped breed a palpable anxiety that could be felt emanating from Rogers Centre over the course of Toronto’s final home stand.
 
With tensions rising, the Blue Jays dropped a pair of crucial games against the Orioles and fell into a tie for the top wild card spot in their final regular season game at home.
 
Unlike the short strokes of last years invigorating Cinderella run, when the Blue Jays won 43 of their final 61 contests propelling them over the New York Yankees and into top spot in the American League East, those following the team seemed to have gone from expecting the best, to merely hoping for a positive result.
 
A night removed from being blanked at the hands of Ubaldo Jimenez and co., Toronto dropped another heartbreaker in Boston, thus ending September with a lackluster 11-16 record.
 
Batting a combined .238 as a team with 100 runs scored over the four-week stretch, it was the offence that took a hit when the calendar changed at the end of August… No pun intended.
 
Failing to scrape past the century mark, the 100 runs plated by Toronto’s offence matched their fewest run total per calendar month on the season. That month was April, the Blue Jays only other losing frame on the year.
 
Entering October, Toronto still had a pair of games left against Boston, a team that remained in the hunt for home-field advantage securing record in the American League Divisional Series.
 
A dramatic 4-3 win Saturday night, coupled with both Orioles and Tigers losses, secured the Blue Jays at least a tiebreaker situation heading into Sunday. If they won their finale, the Jays would host the wild card game at home on Tuesday.
 
If narrative is your game, this one was for you.
 
Looking to finish strong, Boston sent David Price to the hill... the same David Price that Toronto had acquired for their post=season push in 2015. The same Ace left-hander who, despite winning nine of his 11 regular-season starts after joining Toronto, allowed 16 earned runs over four post-season appearances last October.
 
He would face Aaron Sanchez, the Blue Jays new Ace who came into Sunday’s start battling for the American League ERA title and a young player that leaned heavily on Price following his arrival in Toronto last August. 
 
It was also David Ortiz’s last regular-season game at Fenway Park. The same David Ortiz who leads all active players in home runs vs. the Toronto Blue Jays (62), a prolific slugger who has been nothing sort of a thorn in Toronto’s side since joining the Red Sox in 2003.
 
In sticking with the weekend’s theme, a classic image --the famous home run salute to his late mother that he had performed countless times while facing the Blue Jay--  was emblazoned on both the grass in Fenway’s center field and on the left sleeve of Boston’s jerseys.
 
Boston entered the game leading the American League in hits (1594), doubles (343), total bases (2,608) and RBI (835). Unfazed by their success, Sanchez held the Red Sox hitless through 6 2/3 innings prior to allowing a game-tying home run off the bat of Hanley Ramirez.
 
Keyed by Troy Tulowitzki’s two-out RBI single, the Blue Jays rallied for a run in the eighth, and with the Orioles held up in New York waiting for the outcome of Sunday’s Fenway matinee, Roberto Osuna closed the door earning his 36th save of the season an inning later.
 
After the emotional rollercoaster that was September baseball in Toronto, the Blue Jays clinched the top wild card spot on an overcast day in Boston. 
 
If both losing and adversity truly does breed character, the 2016 Blue Jays have that trait in spades entering their second trip to the postseason in as many years.
 
They were expected to win last October. Now, they’re the underdogs.
 
Say what you will about MLB’s postseason structure, but history has proven that wild card winners can hold an advantage heading into the latter rounds of playoff action. Simply put, those teams haven’t been allotted the same time to relax, nor have they earned the ability to become complacent with their situation.
 
Perhaps history will favor the Blue Jays this time around. 
 
FAST FACTS
Toronto scored six or more times in only 51 of the clubs 162 games in 2016. For context, the 2015 squad had 70 games (excluding playoffs) in which they produced six or more runs in a single contest.
 
From a pitching standpoint, the Blue Jays staff allowed three runs or less in 86 games this season. In 2015, they did that only 64 times.
 
With Aaron Sanchez’s seven innings of work on Sunday, Toronto finished the season with 995 and 1/3rd innings from their starters in 2016. In doing so, they became the first team in Major League history to lead the league in starters innings pitched without the benefit of a complete game.
 
Finishing the regular season with an earned run average of 3.00, Sanchez became the first Blue Jays starter to lead the American League in ERA since Roger Clemens in 1998. Following the footsteps of Dave Stieb (1985), Jimmy Key (1987), Juan Guzman (1993) and Clemens in ‘97 and ‘98, he’s the fifth Toronto starter to do so since 1977.
 
Since its inception in 1994, 12 Wild Card teams have gone on to make an appearance in the Fall Classic. Of the 12, six have won World Series titles.
 
VS. BALTIMORE
As a team, Toronto hit .251 off Baltimore pitching while posting a cumulative on-base percentage of .341, knocking 29 home runs and plating 97 over the 19 games played between the two clubs.
 
Toronto’s hurlers pitched to an ERA of 3.93 with 164 strikeouts and allowed 28 home runs over 171 and 2/3rds innings of work in 2016.
 
At home, Toronto won six of the ten meetings between the two clubs while out scoring the Orioles 54-44 on the season.
 
        - Follow Andrew Hendriks on Twitter (@77hendriks)