The 1992 Toronto Blue Jays stormed through baseball, capturing the sport’s crowning achievement 16 seasons after joining Major League Baseball.
In 1991 the Blue Jays finished first in the American League East division, the first of a three-year stretch atop the six-team division. They lost in the American League Championship series, falling in five games to the eventual champion Minnesota Twins.
They reached 96 wins in 1992, reaching the mark for the second time in franchise history, winning the AL East for a fourth time. The ’92 Jays were not swept in a single series all year, becoming the first team in 49 years to do so.
The News is looking back at notable events from Medicine Hat’s history leading up to the celebration of our 140th publishing year next week.
In December 2021, they signed pitcher Jack Morris from the Twins, who beat them in the playoffs the year prior. They also signed outfielder Dave Winfield.
During the season, they traded for pitcher David Cone from the New York Mets in August.
They finished the regular season with three straight wins and faced the Oakland Athletics in the ALCS. Oakland opened the series with a 4-3 win before the Blue Jays rattled off a 3-1 Game 2 win and a 7-5 Game 3 victory.
The defining moment of the series came in Game 4, when Blue Jays second baseman Roberto Alomar hit a game-tying, two-run home run off hall-of-fame closer Dennis Eckersley. They eventually went on to win the game 7-6 in the 11th inning for a 3-1 series lead.
A 6-2 Game 5 win by Oakland preserved the series for two days more before the Jays punched their first World Series ticket with an 9-2 win in Game 6, becoming the first non-American based team to advance to the fall classic.
They met the team of the 90s in the World Series, taking on the Atlanta Braves. The National League team played in five World Series in the 90s, winning eight NL East pennants in the decade.
The Braves took Game 1 3-1 on Oct. 17 before the Blue Jays stormed to three straight wins, 5-4 on Oct. 18, 3-2 on Oct. 20 – the first World Series game hosted at the SkyDome in Toronto. The Jays took Game 4 2-1 on Oct. 21 for a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven.
Atlanta won 7-2 on Oct. 22 to make it a 3-2 series, setting up Game 6 in Atlanta on Oct. 24.
Cone, the mid-season acquisition, started the game for the Blue Jays, working six innings with six strikeouts, allowing one run.
Devon White scored in the first inning on a hit to the outfield off the bat of Joe Carter. Atlanta tied the game up in the bottom of the third, with Deion Sanders scoring on a sacrifice fly.
A home run from Candy Maldonado gave the Blue Jays a 2-1 lead in the top of the fourth inning, a lead that held until the bottom of the ninth when Atlanta scored on a ground ball to left field off closer Tom Henke, sending the game to extra innings.
After a scoreless 10th, a two-run double from Winfield put the Blue Jays ahead 4-2 and three outs away from their first World Series.
Pitcher Jimmy Key, who took over for Henke in the 10th inning, allowed a single and a baserunner on an error before Atlanta scored on a groundout to bring Atlanta within one run with two outs.
Mike Timlin took the mound for the Jays and induced a ground ball that he fielded and flipped over to Joe Carter at first base for the final out, securing the World Series with a 4-3 win.
Carter, recording the final out of the 1992 World Series, ended the fall classic a year later. The Blue Jays legend touched ’em all after belting a three-run home run to left field in the ninth inning of Game 6 as the Blue Jays beat the Philadelphia Phillies 8-6 to capture a second-straight World Series title.
The country’s now lone MLB team has not returned to the World Series until this year.
Just like the 1992 Blue Jays, the 2025 rendition enter the Series as underdogs, taking on the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers. Will they replicate the same celebrations of 33 years ago?
