'Jays all the way!' Fans rejoice over playoff spot

For more than two decades Toronto Blue Jays fans have had to say, "There's always next year."

Not anymore.

Across Toronto and across Canada on Saturday, the team's elated supporters were coming down with a bad case of playoff fever.

"It's great," said one woman wearing a T-shirt and Jays hat.

"I think it's huge. You know, Toronto needs it," said one man.

Toronto hasn't made the playoffs since winning the 1993 World Series. But, right now, thanks to a 5-3 win against Tampa Bay on Friday — and a convoluted tie-breaker system — the Jays have a guaranteed one-game wild card playoff spot.

If they hang on to win the American League East, the team will qualify for a division series spot.

Fans are already over the moon that the longest post-season drought in North American professional sports is finally over.

Sold-out crowd

"I think it's pretty good for our Blue Jays team. What happened the last time they were in first place this late in the year, they won the World Series," said a little boy wearing a Jays shirt and sunglasses. He was part of a sold-out crowd in the Rogers Centre in downtown Toronto where, once again, Toronto beat Tampa, this time 10-8.

Heading into the game, one woman admitted that she, like so many people, did not understand the math that secured the playoff spot.

None of that mattered, she said with a big smile on her face.

"Just cheering for the Jays all the way," she said.

A math teacher from Iroquois Fall, Ont., said he did understand the playoff number-crunching math — and said he heard the news about Jays from a friend.

'Good news to hear'

"One of my buddies texted me and told me that the Jays clinched, so, yes, good news to hear that," he said.

Initially, the Jays had secured a playoff spot and didn't even know it. Shi Davidi, of Sportsnet, was one of the people who did some late night number crunching to figure out the team had, in fact, sealed the deal.

"We went through all the different permutations and we couldn't find a way that the Blue Jays don't end up clinching at least a wild card spot," he said.

"I know given the drought and how long it's been, a lot of Blue Jays fans are happy," he said.