Team morale was low. The Jays, the team the majority of prognosticators chose to win the American League East, the pennant, and the World Series, had gotten off to a nightmare start. The words “bust” and “pathetic” had started to make their way into the vocabularies of those pointing fingers.

One Jays player said before the game, “We have to start winning right now. Against this team, against this pitcher [Jon Lester].”