For a pair of groups who share the identical division and have represented the American League within the World Sequence a mixed eight occasions over the past 40 years, the connection between the Blue Jays and Crimson Sox has been remarkably tame. There’s no signature conflict, no latest season the place one stood within the doorway and blocked the opposite, and no actual palpable animosity between the fanbases.
In reality, top-of-the-line baseball clips in latest reminiscence was David Ortiz and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. bringing Crimson Sox and Blue Jay followers collectively by way of a joyous trolling of the Yankees following Recreation 4 of the ALDS in New York. (The enemy of your enemy is commonly your pal!)
However what if all this was about to vary?
Maybe this week, with each groups making robust swings to enhance their rotation simply over 24 hours aside, we’re seeing the primary indicators of the gathering storm.
After which it was the Jays officially inking Dylan Cease on Wednesday night.
There’s a lot to dive into with these transactions, however the backside line is that this: Each the 2026 Crimson Sox and the 2026 Blue Jays are higher baseball groups than they have been on Monday (and so they have been each already fairly darn good).
What now we have here’s a Blue Jays franchise in as robust of a monetary place as they’ve been at any level this century, and a Crimson Sox group on the verge of a renaissance due to a blossoming younger core that might find yourself being the deepest they’ve ever had.
Apparently sufficient, the Blue Jays have been attempting to flex their monetary muscle for a couple of years now. They have been in on each the Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto sweepstakes (amongst others), however they all the time appeared to come back up brief when it got here to touchdown the large fish.
Nicely, that’s definitely altering now. Again within the spring, they locked up their residence grown sensation in Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for $500 million (and boy did he ship for them within the playoffs!), and now they’ve gone forward signed Stop for over $200 million.
If the Crimson Sox had made these two signings, the Guerrero contract would characterize the biggest in group historical past, and the Stop contract can be the second largest free agent deal in Crimson Sox group historical past. Oddly sufficient, the one bigger free agent deal the Crimson Sox have ever handed out was to David Worth for $217 million once they have been truly taking him away from the Blue Jays a decade in the past. Oh how baseball likes to play these poetic video games.
However the swap isn’t simply evident on the books. On the sphere, the Blue Jays simply suffered one of the vital devastating close to miss defeats within the historical past of the game, which is one thing that used to outline the Crimson Sox expertise. In some methods, the Blue Jays really feel like they should have the winter the 2003-2004 Crimson Sox had following the Aaron Boone rip your soul out walk-off. These experiences impress individuals!
However amid all this juice north of the border, there’s one thing Blue Jays don’t have, and that’s a core as younger and dynamic and recent off the farm because the Crimson Sox. Not solely that, however the Blue Jays didn’t actually must cope with the Crimson Sox core in 2025 regardless of the numerous occasions they’ll be sparring with them within the years to come back.
There wer 13 head-to-head match ups between Boston and Toronto in 2025, however Roman Anthony and Marcelo solely performed in a single three-game sequence once more the Blue Jays. The primary two occasions the group met was earlier than they have been known as up, and the final one was after they each went on the shelf with season-ending accidents.
In the meantime, on the mound, the Blue Jays by no means confronted confronted Hunter Dobbins, missed Connelly Early, and by no means confronted Payton Tolle in a begin (he mopped up one inning late out of the bullpen in a blow out). Very like the Boston and Toronto franchises on a bigger scale in historical past, the 2025 Sox prospects and the 2025 pennant successful Blue Jays group have been like two ships passing within the night time.
However eventually their paths will cross and a battle will ensue — and when this occurs, it could unlock a dormant volcano of a rivalry we didn’t even understand was able to totally popping off. During the last 40 years, the Crimson Sox and Blue Jays have made the postseason a mixed 29 occasions (18 for Boston and 11 for Toronto), and but 2025 was solely the second time they’ve made it in the identical season. (The opposite occurred in 2016, when in addition they failed to satisfy in a playoff sequence.)
Now for the primary time (apart from possibly the late 80s), the Crimson Sox and Blue Jays could also be about to peak in unison. And all this may happen towards the backdrop of two passionate sports activities cities and two very giant fan bases. At this level, the one factor holding the lid on the boil is the fanbases’ mutual hatred of the Yankees …
However ultimately, these two predators will discover one another within the open plain.
