We’re past the point where potential is enough. You can feel it in the building, in the way the crowd reacts faster, louder, less patient. This version of the Blue Jays doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt anymore, and honestly, we don’t want it. After what we just lived through in October, everything now gets measured against how close it felt.

The lineup is still the obsession. When Vladdy looks free and aggressive, not pressing, not chasing, the whole offense relaxes. When Bo is controlling at-bats instead of forcing them, innings start to breathe. When that core stalls, you can feel Rogers Centre tighten up pitch by pitch. We’ve seen what this group can look like when it clicks, so the quiet stretches hit harder.

On the mound, trust comes in waves. Gausman still brings calm. Certain starts still make us lean forward instead of back. Manoah is the conversation everyone circles carefully, watching mechanics, tempo, confidence. The bullpen feels sharper when roles are clear and fragile when they aren’t. You can sense when the margin is thin now.

Home games feel different after a run like that. Louder early. Quicker reactions. Less waiting around for permission to care. Certain matchups feel heavier the moment first pitch is thrown, like tests instead of dates on a calendar.

You start noticing which nights feel charged before anything actually happens. The ones where the crowd senses something forming, or slipping. Being there when the team steadies itself again, when it looks like it remembers exactly who it’s supposed to be, that’s the part you don’t want to catch secondhand.