At the time of his release by the Blue Jays in 1984, Joey McLaughlin was their only reliever ever to have saved 10 games in a season, and his 31 career saves as a Blue Jay were surpassed only by Tom Henke over the franchise’s first dozen seasons. His 2.85 ERA in 1981 and 3.21 in 1982 were bright spots on teams that had yet to make the transition from expansion team to a contender. McLaughlin then had the misfortune of pitching poorly down the stretch in 1983, the first year in which the Blue Jays contended for the AL East title.
