2014 Toronto Blue Jays season
The 2014 Toronto Blue Jays season was the 38th season for the franchise, and the 25th full season of play (26th overall) at Rogers Centre. Pitcher Roy Halladay signed a one-day contract with the Blue Jays before retiring from baseball, citing injuries. The Blue Jays announced their 2014 schedule on September 10, 2013. 2014 Draft. The 2014 Major League Baseball draft was held on June 5–7. Regular season. Summary. The Blue Jays started the year, like most years in the past 10, in mediocre fashion, ending the month of April with a record of  12 wins and 15 losses, 3 games behind the Eastern division leaders. The month of May was a different story; they won 21 games and lost 9, taking over sole possession of the division lead on May 22. The month was memorable for a 9-game winning streak which included series sweeps over the Boston Red Sox (away), the Oakland A's (at home) and the Tampa Bay Rays (at home). Edwin Encarnación hit 16 home runs during the month, tying an American League record for homers in May, set by Mickey Mantle in 1956. Between May 15 and June  6, the Blue Jays won 18 out of 21 to climb into their largest division lead, at any point of the season, since 1993. However, from June 7 to June 30 the Jays won only 7 more games versus 15 losses. As of June 30, they were just 6 games above .500, but still held onto a 1 game lead in their division. The Blue Jays had three All Stars in 2014: José Bautista, Mark Buehrle, and Edwin Encarnación. On July 26, the Blue Jays ended a streak of 17 consecutive losses in games against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium . On August 10, the Blue Jays played the longest game in franchise history in terms of both time and innings, defeating the Detroit Tigers 6–5 after 19 innings. After a poor August, Toronto opened September with its first series win in Tampa Bay since April 6–8, 2007. They would go on to complete the sweep, their first at Tropicana Field. Top prospect Daniel Norris made his MLB debut on September 5, striking out David Ortiz in his of an inning. On September 23, the Blue Jays were officially eliminated from playoff contention. The Kansas City Royals clinched a playoff spot  on September 26, making the Blue Jays the owners of the longest active MLB playoff drought, until clinching a playoff berth the following year.