Our All Time Top 50 Toronto Blue Jays have been revised to reflect the 2024 Season.
Yes, we know that this is taking a while!
As many of you know, we at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the top 50 of each major North American sports team. That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists and consistently look to update them when necessary and based on necessity. As such, we are delighted to present our post-2024 revision of our top 50 Toronto Blue Jays.
As for all of our top 50 players in baseball, we look at the following:
1. Advanced Statistics.
2. Traditional statistics and how they finished in the American League.
3. Playoff accomplishments.
4. Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles that are not reflected in a stat sheet.
Please note that our algorithm has changed, which yielded minor changes throughout the baseball lists.
Last year, the Blue Jays had a disappointing campaign where they had a losing record. There were no new entrants, but two elevations
As always, we present our top five, which saw one change based on the new calculations.
1. Dave Stieb
2. Roy Halladay
You can find the entire list here.
First Baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. vaulted ten spots to #12.
Notably, Bo Bichette’s poor year dropped him two spots to #27.
The new algorithm brings Brett Lawrie at #45.
We thank you for your continued support of our lists on Notinhalloffame.com.
Our All-Time Top 50 Toronto Blue Jays have been revised to reflect the 2023 Season
Our All-Time Top 50 Toronto Blue Jays are now up
Yes, we know that this is taking a while!
As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team. We have a new one to unveil today, that of the Toronto Blue Jays, which means we have finally completed all of the MLB teams!
Our Top 50 lists in Baseball look at the following:
1. Advanced Statistics.
2. Traditional statistics and how they finished in the American League.
3. Playoff accomplishments.
4. Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.
Remember, this is ONLY based on what a player does on that particular team and not what he accomplished elsewhere and also note that we have placed an increased importance on the first two categories.
This list is updated up until the end of the 2022 Season.
The complete list can be found here, but as always, we announce our top five in this article. They are:
1. Dave Stieb
2. Roy Halladay
4. Carlos Delgado
We will continue our adjustments on our existing lists and will continue developing our new lists.
Look for our more material coming soon!
As always, we thank you for your support.
1. Dave Stieb
Dave Stieb did not merely lead the original pitching pipeline north of the border; he served as the definitive, formidable cornerstone upon which the entire credibility of the franchise was constructed. Making his Major League debut in 1979 and securing the undisputed ace position the following summer, the former college outfielder combined an exceptionally powerful, high-velocity slider with a renowned determination. Throughout a significant 15-season tenure in Toronto, he established himself as the leading right-handed starting pitcher of the 1980s minor league circuit and the inaugural true superstar in Blue Jays history.
His introductory phase immediately changed opponents’ perceptions of a visit to Canada. Stieb aspired to translate deep-innings durability into a disciplined personal routine, which culminated in his first career All-Star selection in 1980. During the first half of the decade, the young team was burdened by common expansion-roster vulnerabilities, often undermining his exceptional performances and denying him clear opportunities for a 20-win season.
Nonetheless, Stieb's exceptional dominance was incontrovertible; he achieved consecutive 17-win seasons in 1982 and 1983, pitching over 270 innings each summer. Although baseball journalists in the United States frequently overlooked his statistics owing to Toronto's limited media coverage, he commanded significant respect within the sport's community. In 1982, he led the American League with an impressive 19 complete games, which led The Sporting News to officially designate him as the American League Pitcher of the Year. He was a skilled thrower with a sharp arsenal, blending elite movement and an unpredictable temper that sometimes caused friction, but teammates always wanted him on the mound in high-stakes games.
The ultimate pinnacle of his hardware-certified legacy was demonstrated during the historic 1985 campaign. Stieb delivered an exemplary performance in frontline command, systematically neutralizing junior circuit lineups to achieve the American League ERA title with a microscopic 2.48 over 265.0 innings. This accomplishment anchored the Toronto Blue Jays to their inaugural postseason appearance and the East Division championship. He consistently maintained a position at the top of the rotation throughout the remainder of the decade; by the end of the 1980s, no pitcher in Major League Baseball had accumulated more total victories than his 140, with the exception of Jack Morris.
Local historians recognize that his long march toward a championship ring was paved with severe physical heartbreak. On the final afternoon of the 1990 regular season, Stieb righted his historic ledger of narrow near-misses by throwing the first and only official no-hitter in franchise history against Cleveland.
However, a brutal series of chronic back ailments and shoulder problems restricted him to minimal frames in 1991 and 1992. As the front office aggressively constructed the star-studded roster that would ultimately capture the 1992 Fall Classic, their long-time ace was forced into a painful structural backseat, initiating a quiet first business exit that winter when he signed with the Chicago White Sox before a brief 1993 retirement. Though he famously orchestrated a highly nostalgic, four-game comeback cameo with Toronto five years later in 1998, his peak chapters had long since closed.
He continues to be the all-time, undisputed leader of the Blue Jays in numerous categories, including wins (175), innings pitched (2,873.0), strikeouts (1,656), starts (408), and complete games (103). Advanced analytics strongly support his status as an all-time great, highlighting his exceptional career with a remarkable 56.9 career pitching bWAR—the highest in the organization's history, just surpassing Roy Halladay's impressive peak.
The final punctuation on his legacy was his induction into the Toronto Blue Jays Level of Excellence and the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, ensuring Dave Stieb's legendary status remains a cornerstone of Toronto baseball lore.
36. Dave Stieb
Dave Stieb may have received a World Series Ring with the Toronto Blue Jays when they won their first World Series in 1992, but the pitcher was at the tail end of his career and had little to do with the coveted trophy landing north of the border. He did, however, give Baseball fans the first legitimate reason to look there in the first place.
With only 176 career Wins in the Majors, Dave Stieb initially does not seem like a Hall of Fame candidate. What cannot be underestimated is the difficulty he had in his first five full seasons playing for a terrible Toronto team that constantly trailed the rest of the American League. Despite playing for bad Jays' squads, Stieb had a winning record and became a perennial All-Star. Three times, he would lead the league in WAR for Pitchers and would be dominant in many other sabermetric categories.
The common knock on Stieb was that his intensity was so high (he would give teammates death glares when they made mistakes) that he would occasionally unravel. Still, we love players who want to win; we know there are far too many athletes who couldn't care less.
