Josh Donaldson was acquired by the Toronto Blue Jays ahead of the 2015 season and it didn’t take very long for him to become a fan favourite in Toronto. While Donaldson’s time with the Blue Jays only lasted four years, his years in Toronto were extremely memorable ones for the organization and all of its fans.
On Tuesday night the Blue Jays will welcome the Atlanta Braves to town for a two-game series and it’s the first trip back to the Rogers Centre for the 2015 AL MVP since 2018. Leading up to his return, Donaldson was asked about what his time in Toronto meant to him and he showed the city and franchise nothing but love.
The three-time All-Star was asked about the kind of reception he believes he’ll get from the Jays faithful when he steps back onto the field, only this time in a Braves uniform, and by the sounds of it he’s expecting to hear more cheers than boos.
Donaldson has shown the city of Toronto and Blue Jays fans nothing but love since he’s left town, and he even returns in the offseason, so it’s not surprising that he had some more great moments to reflect on.
“I want to lean into it like this, from day one when I came into Toronto the fans here supported me. 2015 I broke the record for All-Star votes. The chants that they had for me, the way people came out to the ballpark. At the beginning of the year we were probably drawing 15,000 or 20,000 people, but by the second half of the season e were drawing 50,000. And then we led the league in attendance in 2016 and ’17 we still did well attendance wise. It started to drop towards the end when we weren’t winning as much, but I will forever be grateful for the fans for how they took me in from day one.”
Last season, Donaldson hit five home runs and 16 RBI to go with a .234 batting average and a .757 OPS in 36 games with the Blue Jays and hit three home runs and seven RBI to go with a .280 batting average and a .920 OPS in 16 games with Cleveland. This season, the 33-year-old is batting .262 with a .910 OPS and has 32 home runs and 76 RBI in 129 games with the Atlanta Braves.
