TORONTO -- Frustrating. Entertaining. Disappointing.

The Toronto Blue Jays wrapped up yet another roller-coaster season Sunday rife with emotion.

"We were an entertaining team," manager John Gibbons said before the season finale against Baltimore. "A frustrating team but very entertaining. I think we gave our fans some pretty good entertainment along the way. But in saying that too we're all disappointed."

Toronto went into the final game with an 83-78 record, tied with the Yankees for second in the AL East.

The Jays were 38-24, six games atop the American League East, on June 6 -- fuelled in large part by a 21-9 May (a .700 record for the month).

If May was the peak, August was the valley. The team slumped to a 9-17 record (.346) with Adam Lind, Edwin Encarnacion and Brett Lawrie missing chunks of action through injury.

"Every team goes into the season optimistically, all 30 of them. But realistically not all 30 have a shot. We felt we had a shot," Gibbons said.

General manager Alex Anthopoulos also said the team fell short.

"We didn't achieve our goals. That goes without saying," he said.

"It's more disheartening this season, I felt like we were close. Obviously we were there the bulk of the year," he added.

But he repeated his confidence in Gibbons, who has a rolling contract that kicks in every Jan. 1

Anthopoulos said he was excited about the off-season, given the team has some roster flexibility in terms of options and expiring contracts.

But he said it was too early to talk about the 2015 payroll, reportedly around US$137 million this season

The GM did repeat Toronto's stance that it won't offer contacts longer than five years.

The team will have to dig deep into its pocket to re-sign left-fielder Melky Cabrera and needs to solve question-marks in centre-field, second base and the bullpen. The bench and defence also has to be upgraded.

The starting rotation of R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle, Drew Hutchinson, Marcus Stroman and J.A. Happ was better than expected once it came together. Aaron Sanchez, used in the bullpen, is also likely to see action as a starter in spring training.

"You can never have enough depth," Anthopoulos said when asked whether the team can afford to trade any of its starting talent.

Anthopoulos said the team is reviewing what it can do to keep oft-injured third baseman Lawrie on the field.