2019 Dunedin Blue Jays: A Season Unlike any Other
The 2019 Dunedin Blue Jays had obstacles to overcome before the season even began. The team found themselves without a home ballpark because of renovations taking place at Dunedin Stadium, and they would be playing all of their home games by busing to Jack Russell Memorial Stadium in Clearwater. Dunedin
The 2019 Dunedin Blue Jays had obstacles to overcome before the season even began. The team found themselves without a home ballpark because of renovations taking place at Dunedin Stadium, and they would be playing all of their home games by busing to Jack Russell Memorial Stadium in Clearwater. Dunedin would have to embrace the grind of traveling to every game, while still being able to perform and win on a nightly basis. The team did not intend to make these excuses as first-year Dunedin Manager, Cesar Martin, was at the helm trying to get the team back in the playoffs after missing out in 2018.
Six of Toronto's top 30 prospects highlighted Dunedin's Opening Day roster.
The season started out in an unorthodox way playing the Threshers at their home ballpark, but Dunedin was the home team. The first series gave a glimpse into how dominant Nate Pearson could be after sustaining an injury in his first outing of 2018. The flamethrower touched 100 mph a couple of times with his fastball, and he won his first game with six strikeouts, one earned run, and four hits in five innings pitched. Pearson would go on to pitch in five more games with Dunedin giving up just one more earned run and a 0.86 ERA before being called up to AA New Hampshire. The team went on to go 15-9 in their first month for an early North Division lead, which they kept through the entire first half.
Into May, Dunedin separated themselves having their best record in the month finishing 19-10.
Through the first half, the Blue Jays were successful with a mixture of an explosive offense and a starting rotation that got the team off to hot starts. Dunedin scored the most runs in the first half with 299 and gave up the second fewest runs at 217. The 41 win in the half were the most for Dunedin since the team won 43 games in the second half of 2016. A first half victory did not satisfy this clubhouse though as they were hungry to be dominant in the playoffs and get another championship for Dunedin.
The team had an up and down start to the second half losing their lead of the division for the first time all year. This only lasted 11 days, as Dunedin would use an 11-game win streak from June 28th until July 9th to get their lead back and extend it to 4.0 games. As the second half got underway, the roster began to turn over as much deserved call-ups occurred. RHP
The second half was not perfect though as the team hit a rough patch once their winning streak ended. They went 7-20 when the streak finished as Dunedin looked to find their rhythm again with bad weather and plenty of doubleheaders keeping the players a little off schedule. Things turned around to get out of the rut with the team winning 10 of their next 14 games to try to win both halves since Tampa in 2017. The MLB trade deadline did bring more change for a team that had been dealing with so much already during the season. Dunedin saw RHP
As August came, and the playoffs grew closer to race got tighter for the second half North Division crown. Dunedin never took more than a 2.5 game lead in the division through August. The Blue Jays went on another six-game win streak in the middle of the month looking to finish of their season division sweep. A stretch of wins and losses gave the opportunity for other teams to creep in. A series against Fort Myers with just a week left to go in the year would turn out to be extremely important. Dunedin took four of five games from the Miracle to get their 80th win, but the threat of Hurricane Dorian would end the season on a bittersweet note. The Blue Jays would not have a chance to go for their second Florida State League championship, but they did lock up another North Division second half championship. In a year filled with obstacles for Dunedin, the team pulled through for one of the best seasons. The clubhouse made up of high character people willing to lead brought success in a tough situation, and the coaching staff led by Cesar Martin gave every player the chance to be successful.
As the season closed, a league-high four players from Dunedin were named to the End of Season All-Star team. OF Ryan Noda, OF Cal Stevenson, RHP Brad Wilson, and RHP