It’s been a week since the Blue Jays lost game 7 of the World Series in heartbreaking fashion. I could hardly stand to watch it, and I felt sick to my stomach when it was over. Frankly, it would have been easier if they had just lost in five like oddsmakers thought they would.

Now, with a few days’ distance, I can admire the season it was…especially when they started the season so piss-poor. The highlights, from the CBC:

A team that finished dead last in the American League East last season won the division for the first time in a decade and made it to within one swing — several times — of winning the World Series. They beat the hated Yankees in the playoffs, and George Springer joined the Mount Rushmore of big Jays homers with his go-ahead blast in Game 7 of the ALCS against Seattle.

Guerrero had a post-season for the ages, belting eight homers to tie Ohtani for the lead while batting an absurd .397/494/.795 and playing outstanding defence at first. He would have been the World Series MVP if just one of those big plays had gone Toronto’s way.

Bichette, who came up through the minors with Guerrero, returned from a seven-week absence due to a sprained knee to bravely bat .348 in the World Series — and nearly go down in Jays lore with that three-run homer in Game 7. Mad Max Scherzer, still crazy after 41 years, turned back the clock with 4⅓ innings of one-run ball in Game 7 — and showed the fans how much it, and they, meant to him as he walked (reluctantly, as always) off the mound.

New fan favourites emerged too. Yesavage, just 22 years old, struck out a World Series rookie record 12 batters in Game 5 — just his eighth big-league start. Barger hit .367 with three homers in the playoffs, including a huge two-run blast in a do-or-die Game 6 vs. Seattle. Good guy Davis Schneider got his big moment with a home run on the very first pitch of Game 5 at Dodger Stadium. And, of course, the delightful Clement batted a scorching .411 in the playoffs, broke the record for most hits in a single post-season, and nearly became the Joe Carter of his generation until Pages robbed him in the bottom of the ninth of Game 7. Pretty remarkable stuff, especially after Clement revealed that he’d been playing with a hairline fracture in his left middle finger.

I really hope they can mount another charge next year. It was such a thrilling ride, and I’m hoping their contention window might stay open long enough for the Canadiens to open theirs.