The 2010 season was a surprising 10-win improvement over the last season. It was a career year for José Bautista, who hit 54 home runs, breaking George Bell's franchise record of 47. In doing so, he became the 26th player to reach 50 home runs and the first since Alex Rodriguez and Prince Fielder achieved the feat in 2007. The Blue Jays also set a franchise record for the most home runs in a single season as they hit 257, 13 more than their previous record of 244 set by the 2000 Blue Jays. The Blue Jays tied the 1996 Baltimore Orioles for the third most home runs by a team in a single season. Seven players (José Bautista, Vernon Wells,Aaron Hill, Adam Lind, Lyle Overbay, John Buck, and Edwin Encarnación) hit 20 home runs or more throughout the season, tying an MLB record previously set by four teams, including the 2000 Blue Jays.
On July 14, the Jays traded Álex González and two minor league prospects—left-handed pitcher Tim Collins and shortstop Tyler Pastornicky—to the Atlanta Braves for Jo-Jo Reyes and Yunel Escobar.
On August 7, catching prospect J. P. Arencibia made his major league debut. He went 4-for-5 with two home runs, including a home run hit on the first pitch he saw. The next day, starting pitcher Brandon Morrow came within one out of a no-hitter, finishing with 17 strikeouts in a complete game one-hitter.
• Team record 2010: 85 wins–77 losses, W%- 0.525, 11 games behind division leader, fourth in division

2011 season
Main article: 2011 Toronto Blue Jays season
 

 

Jays right fielderJosé Bautista in 2011

Led by new manager John Farrell, the Blue Jays' 2011 season was up-and-down for the most part, as the team finished with a .500 record. After signing a five-year $64 million contract extension,[10] José Bautista followed up his record-setting 2010 season with an arguably better season. He finished with a Major League-leading 43 home runs, along with 103 RBI, 132 walks, and a .302 average. Rookie J. P. Arencibia also had a successful year, setting a Blue Jays single-season record with 23 home runs by a catcher. In August, third base prospect Brett Lawriemade his Major League debut and hit .293 with 9 home runs, 4 triples, and 25 RBI, in just 43 games.
Starting pitcher and ace Ricky Romero had a breakout year, leading the team with 15 wins and a 2.92 ERA. He also became an All-Star for the first time in his career. The other starting pitchers were inconsistent, and John Farrell used 12 different starters over the course of the season.[11] Jon Rauch and Frank Francisco, both acquired in the off-season, shared the closer role.[12] They both struggled through the first half of the season, though Francisco improved in the last two months of the season, and had six saves in September.
On July 31, the Blue Jays retired their first number, Roberto Alomar's #12, one week after Alomar became the first Hall of Famer to be inducted as a Blue Jay. [13]
• Team record 2011: 81 wins–81 losses, W%- 0.500, 16 games behind division leader, fourth in division

2012 season
Main article: 2012 Toronto Blue Jays season
The 2012 season was an injury-plagued year for the Blue Jays, having used 31 total pitchers, which set a franchise record.[14] In June, three starting pitchers (Brandon Morrow, Kyle Drabek, and Drew Hutchison) were lost to injury in a span of four days, two of whom required Tommy John surgery.[14] In the second half of the season, some key players in Toronto's lineup, including All-Star José Bautista, missed a significant amount of playing time due to injury, sending the team into a freefall and culminating in a 73–89 record. Despite the underachievements of Ricky Romero and Adam Lind, Casey Janssen established himself as a reliable closer (22 SV, 2.52 ERA) and Edwin Encarnación developed into one of the league's best power hitters (.280 AVG, 42 HR, 110 RBI).
The team opened on the road in Cleveland, where they beat the Indians 7–4 in 16 full innings, setting a new record for the longest opening-day game in major league history. The previous record of 15 innings had been set by the Washington Senators and Philadelphia Athletics on April 13, 1926, and tied by the Detroit Tigers and the Indians on April 19, 1960.[15]
On April 20, the Jays turned a triple play against the Kansas City Royals in a 4–3 win. It was the first triple play they turned since September 21, 1979.[16]
• Team record 2012: 73 wins–89 losses, W%- 0.451, 22 games behind division leader, fourth in division

2013 season
Main article: 2013 Toronto Blue Jays season
The Toronto Blue Jays traded Farrell to the Boston Red Sox per his wishes, and former manager John Gibbons returned to manage the Blue Jays. The Jays also made a blockbuster trade with the Miami Marlins, leading to a series of other blockbuster trades and signings, including with the New York Mets for R.A. Dickey.

Popularity
In 1977, after only 50 home games, the Blue Jays set an MLB record for a first-year expansion team, with an overall attendance of 1,219,551.[17] By the end of the season, 1,701,152 fans had attended. In 1991, the Blue Jays became the first MLB team to attract over four million fans, with an attendance of 4,001,526, followed by 4,028,318 in 1992.[2] Each of those records were broken in 1993 by the expansion Colorado Rockies, although the Blue Jays' 1993 attendance of 4,057,947 stood as an AL record for 12 years until it was broken by the 2005 New York Yankees.[18]
Several Blue Jays became popular in Toronto and across the major leagues, starting with Dave Stieb, whose seven All-Star selections is a franchise record. He is closely followed by Roy Halladay, who was selected six times, and by Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter, who were selected five times each. José Bautista set a major league record in 2011 (which stood for only one year), with 7,454,753 All-Star votes.[19]

Culture
"OK Blue Jays"
 

 

Ace, the Blue Jays mascot, on the field during the 2009 season

During the seventh-inning stretch of home games, before singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game", Blue Jay fans sing and clap to "OK Blue Jays" by Keith Hampshire and The Bat Boys, which was released in 1983. The song was remixed in 2003, and since then, the new shortened version is played at home games.

Mascots
Main article: Toronto Blue Jays mascots
From 1979 to 1999, BJ Birdy served as the Blue Jays' mascot, played by Kevin Shanahan. In 2000, he was replaced by a duo named Ace and Diamond. After the 2004 season, Diamond retired, leaving Ace as the team's sole mascot.

Radio and television
See also: List of Toronto Blue Jays broadcasters
 

Canadian MLB Blackout map

The Blue Jays' former radio play-by-play announcer, Tom Cheek, called every Blue Jays game from the team's inaugural contest on April 7, 1977 until June 3, 2004, when he took two games off following the death of his father — a streak of 4,306 consecutive regular season games and 41 postseason games. Cheek died in 2005 and the team commemorated him during their 2006 season by wearing a circular badge on the left sleeve of their jerseys. The badge was adorned with Cheek's initials, as well as a stylized microphone. Cheek is also honoured with a place in the Blue Jays' "Level of Excellence" in the upper level of the Rogers Centre; the number 4,306 is depicted beside his name. In 2008, Cheek received the third highest amount of votes by fans to be nominated for the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting excellence. This is the fifth year in a row Cheek has been named a finalist.[20]
Radio broadcasts of Blue Jays games are originated from Rogers Communications-owned station Sportsnet 590 CJCL in Toronto. For the 2013 season, Jerry Howarth is the lead play-by-play announcer, with Mike Wilner as the secondary play-by-play announcer, and former Blue Jays pitcher Jack Morris serving as the colour commentator. Former Blue Jays pitcherDirk Hayhurst has spelled Morris as the colour commentator. Another former catcher for the Blue Jays, Gregg Zaun, serves as the occasional colour commentator, since the 2011 season. The Toronto Blue Jays have the largest geographical home market and blackout area for television in all of baseball, encompassing all of Canada. Despite this, the number of radio stations that broadcast games is actually quite small. Only twenty radio stations across the country aired at least some Blue Jays games during the 2011 season,[21] which is fewer affiliates than most teams.
On television, all Blue Jays games are carried nationally on Sportsnet (which, like the Blue Jays, is owned by Rogers Communications), with Buck Martinez as the play-by-play announcer,[22] and Pat Tabler as the primary colour analyst. Jack Morris joined Martinez and Tabler on air for one series. In previous years, the colour analyst role rotated between Pat Tabler, Rance Mulliniks, Darrin Fletcher, and since the 2011 season, Gregg Zaun. Sportsnet became the team's primary carrier soon after it launched in the late 1990s, and became the team's exclusive broadcaster in 2010.[23] As of August 2010, Sportsnet One also broadcasts Blue Jays games (often in case of scheduling conflicts with the main Sportsnet channels). Rogers was however, criticized by fans and critics due to Sportsnet One only being carried by Rogers Cable systems on launch.[24]
TSN, which (like the Jays) was owned by Labatt from 1984 to 1995, served as the primary television outlet for the Blue Jays prior to the launch of Sportsnet. TSN (and later, its sister channel TSN2) continued to carry approximately ten Jays games through the 2009 season until May 2010; most recently, Rod Black handled play-by-play while Tabler served as colour commentator on these telecasts. CBC has carried Blue Jays games intermittently throughout the team's history, most recently in 2007 and 2008; those broadcasts featured Jim Hughson as the play-by-play announcer, and former Blue Jays Rance Mulliniks and Jesse Barfield on colour commentary.[25]

Minor league affiliations
Main article: List of Toronto Blue Jays minor league affiliates
 

Level	Team	League	Location
AAA	Buffalo Bisons	International League	Buffalo, New York[26]
AA	New Hampshire Fisher Cats	Eastern League	Manchester, New Hampshire
Advanced A	Dunedin Blue Jays	Florida State League	Dunedin, Florida
A	Lansing Lugnuts	Midwest League	Lansing, Michigan
Short Season A	Vancouver Canadians	Northwest League	Vancouver, British Columbia
Rookie-Advanced	Bluefield Blue Jays	Appalachian League	Bluefield, West Virginia
Rookie	GCL Blue Jays	Gulf Coast League	Dunedin, Florida
	DSL Blue Jays	Dominican Summer League	San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic

 

Dominican Summer League

Awards and other achievements

Award winners and league leaders
Main article: Toronto Blue Jays award winners and league leaders

Franchise records
Main article: Toronto Blue Jays team records

Season records
• Highest Batting Average: .363, John Olerud (1993)
• Most Games: 163, Tony Fernández (1986)
• Most Runs: 134, Shawn Green (1999)
• Most Hits: 215, Vernon Wells (2003)
• Highest On-base %: .473, John Olerud (1993)
• Highest Slugging %: .664, Carlos Delgado (2000)
• Highest OPS: 1.134, Carlos Delgado (2000)
• Most Doubles: 57, Carlos Delgado (2000)
• Most Triples: 17, Tony Fernández (1990)
• Most Home Runs: 54, José Bautista (2010)
• Most Grand Slams: 3, Carlos Delgado (1997) and Darrin Fletcher (2000)
• Most RBI: 145, Carlos Delgado (2003)
• Most Stolen Bases: 60, Dave Collins (1984)
• Most Wins: 22, Roy Halladay (2003)
• Lowest ERA: 2.05, Roger Clemens (1997)
• Most Strikeouts: 292, Roger Clemens (1997)
• Most Appearances: 89, Mark Eichhorn (1987)
• Complete Games: 19, Dave Stieb (1982)
• Saves: 45, Duane Ward (1993)
Career records
• Highest Batting Average: .307, Roberto Alomar
• Most At Bats: 5,470, Vernon Wells
• Most Games: 1,450, Tony Fernández
• Most Runs: 889, Carlos Delgado
• Most Hits: 1,583, Tony Fernández
• Highest Slugging %: .556, Carlos Delgado
• Most Doubles: 343, Carlos Delgado
• Most Triples: 72, Tony Fernández
• Most Home Runs: 336, Carlos Delgado
• Most RBIs: 1,058, Carlos Delgado
• Most Stolen Bases: 255, Lloyd Moseby
• Most Wins: 175, Dave Stieb
• Lowest ERA: 3.42, Jimmy Key and Dave Stieb
• Strikeouts: 1,658, Dave Stieb
• Complete Games: 103, Dave Stieb
• Saves: 217, Tom Henke
• No-hitters: 1, Dave Stieb