When Devon Travis arrived for work Friday afternoon, he immediately noticed the temperature of the clubhouse had changed.

It wasn’t a faulty Rogers Centre thermostat, either.

Simply having Josh Donaldson and Troy Tulowitzki around can do that.

Together, the return of the left side of the Toronto Blue Jays infield represents hope.

Hope that a 22-26 record after Friday’s win over the arch-rival Texas Rangers isn’t too much to overcome.

Last year, with a 25-25 record on May 27, a similar situation wasn’t too big of a hole.

Same with 2015, as the Blue Jays clawed their way to a post-season appearance after sitting on a 22-27 record at this same point on the calendar.
If that trend is to continue, Donaldson and Tulowitzki — and their health — will be big reasons why.

“When those guys step in the clubhouse and you see their names on the lineup card, you know it’s business,” Travis said. “You can feel it in the clubhouse, you can feel it on the field, you can feel in the crowd. We’ve got our team back. It’s nice.”

Donaldson contributed immediately Friday night, legging out a first inning double that became a sigh-of-relief moment, considering the calf strain that cost the 2015 AL MVP 38 games happened on a similar turn around first base.

“Probably everybody in the stadium was watching when he rounded first because the last time they saw him do it, that’s when he had his problem,” manager John Gibbons noted.

Physically, both players came out of Friday’s return no worse for wear, but they were handed a planned day off Saturday against Rangers ace Yu Darvish.

“Not that I ever take the game for granted by any means, but when you’ve missed as much time as I have this year, getting back out there, you realize what you were missing,” Donaldson said. “I always want to be out there and I always want to help our team win.”

While the Jays have done well to hang around in the AL East race through a litany of injuries that has landed 14 different players on the disabled list since the start of spring training, many assume now is the time to go on a run.

It makes sense with two of their most productive bats rejoining the fray.

Tulowitzki, however, said it doesn’t quite work like that.

“It’s not that easy,” said Tulowitzki, who reached base three times in his return to the lineup after missing 32 games with a right hamstring injury. “You get back two guys and all of a sudden this team’s going to go on a run? That’s not the case at all.

“This team is playing good baseball. We’ll just try to do what we can.”

Getting Donaldson and Tulowitzki back was important.

Now the focus turns to keeping them on the field for the long haul, a plan which may include a few extra rest days here and there.

Gibbons won’t be leaving their names off the lineup card often, though, and both will be back Sunday for the series finale with the Rougned Odor and the Rangers.

“You’ve gotta keep an eye on it, but baseball’s a long, gruelling schedule and they need to be out there,” Gibbons said. “There’s certain things they can play through and certain things they can’t. We’re conscious of it. If we think they need a day off, we try to give it to them. But they also understand the grind, and that’s part of being a good major league player, you’ve gotta answer the bell.”

Donaldson was sporting a new look Friday night, deciding to add the C-flap protective piece to his helmet, a device growing in popularity across Major League Baseball.

After getting hit in the face by an errant pitch from Kansas City Royals right-hander Kelvin Herrera last August, the time off gave Donaldson a chance to reevaluate his vulnerability in the batter’s box.

“It’s part of the game, but I feel like there’s a lot of balls that get lost up and in on me and it’s just one thing else that can protect my face,” Donaldson said. “When you start dealing with head things — I’ve been hit in the head a couple times — and it’s not very fun to have to go through that. If there’s some protection out there, why not use it?”

The Jays are taking a similar approach to the opportunity to fully erase a troubling start now that they seem to be returning to health.
Why not take advantage?

“There’s definitely an opportunity out there and, hopefully, with this veteran ballclub we can make the most of it,” Tulowitzki said.