The Toronto Argonauts finished the CFL regular season with a franchise-record 16 wins and head into Saturday’s East Final against the Montreal Alouettes as the heavy favourite.
However, heading into the playoffs with the league’s best record does not always guarantee a Grey Cup victory.
Watch the Argonauts take on the Alouettes LIVE Saturday on TSN, TSN.ca and TSN App at 3 p.m. ET/12 p.m. PT.
Edmonton is the only other team to finish with a 16-2 record, winning the West Division with the impressive record in 1989. But that team was unable to win a single playoff game, losing to the eventual Grey Cup Champion Saskatchewan Roughriders in the West Division Final.
The team that finished with the best regular-season record has won the Grey Cup just four times over the past 10 18-game CFL seasons. The 2018 Calgary Stampeders (13-5) were the last team to win the Grey Cup after finishing with the best record. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers finished with the league’s best record (11-3) in during the COVID-19-shortened 2021 season and raised the Grey Cup in a win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Over the past two full seasons, both the Ticats and Bombers finished atop the league with 15-3 records but lost in the Grey Cup.
Argos head coach Ryan Dinwiddie says the time to dwell on the regular season has passed and winning the next game is the only thing that matters for the defending Grey Cup champions.
“The regular season is over now and now it’s time to play big-boy football in the playoffs,” said Dinwiddie following Toronto’s final regular-season win against the Ottawa Redblacks. “You throw all the records out the window and now we’ve got to find a way to win the next game.”
Familiar foes will renew their rivalry in a rematch of last year’s East Final where the Argos won 34-27.
Toronto swept the season series against the Alouettes (11-7), including a 39-10 blowout win in their only meeting at BMO Field. The Argos will have to stop the momentum of a white-hot Alouettes team that has now won six straight games.
The Argonauts are heavily favoured heading into Saturday’s game, opening at -9.5 point favourites on FanDuel. The Double Blue also remain betting favourites to win the Grey Cup (+100), while the Alouettes have the longest odds at +1300.
The Argonauts last finished with the league’s best record (15-3) in both the 1996 and 1997 seasons, ending both seasons with Grey Cup wins. Dinwiddie says that for his team to make its mark in CFL history, they have to continue to work and finish off the season with another pair of wins.
“We have to win the Grey Cup. You look at the NFL and the Patriots went 16-0 and they lost in the Super Bowl, and no one recognizes that,” said Dinwiddie. “We have to win the Eastern Final and the Grey Cup to be one of the legacy teams.
"We did our job in the regular season, but we have a lot of work to do and a lot of ways to improve.”
