It took the Blue Jays a village of mistakes to blow a seven-run lead against Seattle Mariners

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The great news after the Blue Jays suffered possibly the most humiliating loss in their history – they’re okay.

Hey, they realize you might be worried about how they’re doing after coughing up a series of hairballs in a game they had already won. But they’re going to be fine.

“Aw, you know,” said manager John Schneider afterward. “The post-season is great and the post-season sucks.”

Is that a Knute Rockne line? Because if not, the Jays should write that down. Maybe they can have that carved into the wall over the manager’s desk. That way, every one of them down through the years can look up and remind themselves of what baseball’s really about – being great while also sucking.

The Jays were not inclined to start the post-mortem after Saturday’s series-ending 10-9 loss in a game they’d once led 8-1.

Not because it’s too early, but because it’s already too late. They’d talked about in the clubhouse afterward. It’s all taken care of.

“The overall theme [of the post-game clubhouse talk] was we’re just very fortunate to be in this situation,” said starter Kevin Gausman.

So baseball is a bit like summer camp – not everyone gets to go. (Also, not everyone gets paid many millions of dollars to go.)

But what’s really important is that the players appreciate the moment. (And get paid millions of dollars.)

What led to a total collapse in the late innings? Hard to say. That didn’t get a lot of attention. There was too much congratulating everyone on growing so much and being such good friends. Maybe they said so little about it because there were so many mistakes made that it was hard to narrow it down.

Was it Teoscar Hernandez taking a curtain call after a home run he’d hit in the fourth inning? Was it Tim Mayza giving up four runs on his first four pitches in relief? Was it Bo Bichette rugby tackling teammate George Springer in centre field on a bloop hit he had no business being anywhere near?

Was it switching out Whit Merrifield? Or leaving Springer in? Or taking Gausman out?

Based on the result, all of the above. It takes a village of mistakes to blow a seven-run lead.

It was all those things, plus a dozen other small instances of kindergarten instinct where the killer sort was called for.

The game took so long – well over four hours – that by the end, you’d nearly forgotten that this was once so far in the bag that you needed a ladder to go get it. That was a different era, back when they could still reasonably claim to be championship material.

But again – don’t concern yourself. They still think that. Somehow, blowing up in the season is proof that the Jays are even bigger winners than they thought.

“My message going forward into the off-season is, as much as it sucks right now, it will make that group better,” said Schneider.

Okay, wow. I didn’t realize congratulations were in order. So … congratulations? On … learning so much?

This must mean they’re refunding everyone’s tickets because this was just a … oh, okay, they’re not? Cool. Belay that, people. This was not a drill. It only looked like one if you were there.

Schneider grinned throughout his post-game, positively glowing at how well things had turned out. By comparison, Seattle manager Scott Servais looked blank. Maybe because he still has work to do.

The only time Servais’s mask fell is when someone told him his team had just staged the biggest road comeback in post-season history.

“That’s awesome!” Servais yelped.

But is it as awesome as the Jays now that they know what it’s like to lose horrendously? Probably not. Again, because of the lessons and learning, or something.

First lesson – seven runs is the new three goals. It’s not enough. In the future, either score more, be smarter or pre-celebrate less. Doing all those things would be optimal.

What you might’ve liked to see as well was just a few moments of contrition for what now feels like a season badly bumbled. Maybe explain to people how that happened, or seem just the teensiest bit embarrassed that it happened on your watch. Anything, really.

But nope. The Jays are already onto the next. Seven runs? Forget about it. Happens all the time. Even when it’s never, ever happened before in a game they’ve been playing since people rode horses to work.

“We’ve been playing this entire season with the expectation of being in the World Series,” said Gausman. “Now we kind of know what to expect when next year those are the same predictions.”

Get that, people. Now they know. Baseball is hard. Especially when you’re giving up huge leads. Be prepared.

“We’re all excited for that,” Gausman said. “Unfinished business.”

A couple of hundred yards to the south, on the Rogers Centre field, the Seattle Mariners were still out there, celebrating actual unfinished business.