The2005Toronto Blue Jays season was the franchise's 29th season inMajor League Baseball. It resulted in the Blue Jays finishing third in theAmerican League East with a record of 80 wins and 82 losses. This was the first 162-game season since 1993 that Blue Jays hitters would combine for less than 1,000 strikeouts. This was also the team's first season asCanada's only MLB team, as theMontreal Expos relocated and became theWashington Nationals at the end of the2004 MLB season.

Transactions by the Toronto Blue Jays during the off-season before the 2005 season.^[1]

On February 2, 2005, several days after finalizing the purchase of SkyDome byRogers Communications, Rogers renamed the stadium to theRogers Centre. In spite of the best efforts of the new ownership, a wide majority of Blue Jays fans continued (and still continue) to refer to the stadium as SkyDome. By the start of the season, Rogers had upgraded the stadium with a new "JumboTron" videoboard and added otherstate-of-the-art video screens around the stadium. Furthermore, theAstroTurf surface was replaced by the more natural-lookingFieldTurf. OwnerTed Rogers also promised a payroll increase to $210 million over the next three years, which allowed the team to have a team payroll of $70 million per year.

The Blue Jays finishedspring training with a 16–10 record. Among the stars of spring training was Gabe Gross, who tied the Jays' record for most home runs in spring training with eight (the previous record breaker was long time Blue JayCarlos Delgado). The Jays were able to translate their success in spring training into an excellent start—the team led the AL East from early to mid-April and held their record around .500 until late August. The Jays were hit with the injury bug when third baseman Corey Koskie broke his finger, taking him out of the lineup, but the club was pleasantly surprised with the performance of rookie call-upAaron Hill in his stead.

On July 8, just prior to the All-Star break, Blue Jays aceRoy Halladay was struck on the shin by a line drive from Texas left fielderKevin Mench and was placed on the DL with a fractured leg. The injury cost Halladay his chance to be the American League starter in theAll-Star Game inDetroit; his place on the All-Star squad was taken by Red Sox pitcherMatt Clement. Though Halladay's injury was hoped to be minor, the recovery process was met with constant delays, and Halladay eventually would prove to be out for the rest of the season. Team management officially announced that he would miss the rest of the season in August. The Halladay injury is seen by many as the negative turning point in the Jays season; the team had been in seriouswild card contention at the time, but afterwards fell out of the race and failed to make the playoffs for the 12th consecutive year.

On July 22, Toronto traded utility infielderJohn McDonald to theDetroit Tigers for cash considerations. This gave the Blue Jays an open spot on the roster so thatAaron Hill could stay with the team whenCorey Koskie returned from injury.

On July 28, Toronto played in the longest game in franchise history, innings-wise, an 18-inning marathon against theLos Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Rogers Centre. The Jays won 2–1, after nearly five hours of play whenOrlando Hudson hit a line drive past a drawn in infield, scoringAlex Ríos from third base.

The shutdown of Halladay for the remainder of the season seemed to affect the performance of the Jays. They went on a slump that brought their record under .500 in the beginning of September. From there, the Blue Jays finished the season 80–82 while receiving glimpses of the future from September call-upsGuillermo Quiróz,John-Ford Griffin, andShaun Marcum. Marcum made himself noteworthy by posting an ERA of 0.00 over 5 relief appearances and 8 innings in September. Griffin hit his first career home run in the last game of the season and ended up going 4 for 13.

Josh Towers also stepped up, showing largely unseen potential going 7–5 with a 2.91 ERA in the 2nd half of the year and a 13–12, 3.71 ERA season overall, making him arguably the unlikely ace of the Jays rotation with Halladay injured andGustavo Chacín faltering somewhat after the All-Star break.

The 2005 Jays inability to score with men in scoring position was a turning point in many games that ended up as losses, also contributing to the 80–82 record, although as a positive, the team did improve by 13 wins and returned to their usual 80-win plateau.

On October 9, the Jays, along with their fans, mourned the loss of inaugural broadcasterTom Cheek. Cheek, 66, succumbed tobrain cancer after just over a year-long battle. Cheek had broadcast 4,306 consecutive games since the first day of the franchise. His streak was ended in June 2004 when he took time off to visit his ailing father.

In the off-season, general manager J. P. Ricciardi began to make good use of the money that had been granted to the Jays by Rogers Communications before the season. Rogers had given Ricciardi $210 million over three years, which became $75 million a season to spend, $25 million more than the previous year. Ricciardi fulfilled the team's need for a stablecloser by signing formerBaltimore Orioles standoutB. J. Ryan to the richest contract ever for a reliever – a 5-year, $47 million on November 28. Following that, the club awarded a 5-year, $55 million contract to highly coveted starting pitcherA. J. Burnett, formerly of theFlorida Marlins, on December 6.

On December 23, 2005,Rogers Sportsnet reported that the Jays added a much needed 30 plus home run hitter to their lineup by getting third baseman and 2002 World Series MVPTroy Glaus and minor league shortstop Sergio Santos in a trade with theArizona Diamondbacks. In return, the Diamondbacks received second baseman and 2005Gold Glove Award winnerOrlando Hudson and pitcherMiguel Batista. Glaus passed a team physical on December 26, and the trade was officially announced the next day. On the same day as the announcement of the Glaus deal, the Jays acquired solid-hitting first basemanLyle Overbay and right-handed pitching prospectTy Taubenheim in a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers; with pitcherDave Bush, pitching prospectZach Jackson, and outfielderGabe Gross going to Milwaukee. Glaus and Overbay were both introduced to the Toronto media together a few days later.

Transactions for the Toronto Blue Jays during the 2005 regular season.^[2]

Source^[3]

The2005 MLB draft was held on June 7–8.

Round	Pick	Player	Position	College/School	Nationality	Signed
1	6	Ricky Romero	LHP	Cal State Fullerton		2005–06–16
3	86	Brian Pettway	OF	Ole Miss		2005–06–27
4	161	Ryan Patterson	OF	Louisiana State		2005–06–13
5	146	Eric Fowler	LHP	Ole Miss		2005–06–18
6	176	Joshua Bell	C	Auburn		2005–06–14
7	206	Robert Ray	LHP	Texas A&M		2005–06–14
8	236	Jacob Butler	OF	Nevada		2005–06–13
9	266	Paul Phillips	RHP	Oakland		2005–06–13
10	296	Josh Sowers	RHP	Yale		2005–06–13

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

• Vernon Wells,Gold Glove Award

All-Star Game

• Roy Halladay, pitcher
• Shea Hillenbrand, designated hitter^[4]

^[5]

• 2005 Toronto Blue Jays team page at Baseball Reference
• 2005 Toronto Blue Jays team page at www.baseball-almanac.com

• Toronto Blue Jays seasons
• 2005 Major League Baseball season
• 2005 in Toronto
• 2005 in sports in Ontario

• Use mdy dates from November 2013
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