KANSAS CITY – Josh Donaldson walked up to Roberto Osuna, slapped hands with the rookie closer and gave him a hug. Across the clubhouse Troy Tulowitzki sat with his legs up on a table, talking things over with Ryan Goins, Kevin Pillar, Chris Colabello and Mark Lowe. Jose Bautista strode through the room, exchanging hugs. A quiet David Price gently stuffed gear into a duffel bag. Around a corner in the manager’s office, John Gibbons leaned back in his chair, mulling matters with general manager Alex Anthopoulos, assistant GM Tony LaCava and pro scouting director Perry Minasian. Just outside the door outgoing president and CEO Paul Beeston cracked wise about haggling over a single-room hotel provision in a player contract.

These were some of the final moments together for the 2015 Toronto Blue Jays.

“I don’t think any of us were ready for it to end,” says Colabello. “Even down 2-0, 3-1, I don’t think there was ever a second when we didn’t think we’d win. I know there’s only one team left standing, but it’s a great group. It’s a shame it had to end.”

End it did, a 4-3 loss to the Kansas City Royals in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series sealing their fate in the best-of-seven. The Blue Jays fell behind 2-0 to the Texas Rangers in the division series before rallying with three straight wins, and needed to do the same after falling behind 3-1 to the Royals, but after staving off elimination four times, attempt No. 5 got them.

The Royals face the New York Mets in the World Series starting Tuesday.

“It’s disappointing because this team should have gone the whole way,” says Marco Estrada. “I’m proud of these guys, the way we played all year, we got very far, but with this team we should have won the whole thing.

“That’s the way baseball is, the best team doesn’t always win. It’s a crazy sport, it’s not like basketball or football where the best team is probably going to win, you just never know. But you’ve got to tip your hat to the Royals, they battled, they didn’t give up either, and it’s just the way it goes.”

The loss at Kauffman Stadium ended a remarkable campaign that started with spring training back in mid-February in Dunedin, Fla. The Blue Jays went 19-13 during Grapefruit League play, 93-69 during the regular season to win the American League East and then a combined 5-6 in two rounds of the post-season, their first playoffs since 1993.

That’s 205 games over eight months. Over. In a snap.

“I couldn’t be more proud of a group of guys,” said Gibbons. “They laid it out every day, great competitors. It doesn’t matter what the score, they show up to play every day. And a fun bunch, fun group to be around everyday. And I tip my hat to them.”

And then they began to part ways, some for the winter, some for good.

—

Roughly five hours before what was likely his final start for the Blue Jays, Price and a clubhouse attendant emerged from the Blue Jays dugout carrying three cases of beer and carried them across the field to the grounds-crew headquarters in the right-field corner.

It was a gift from the ace left-hander, a small token of gratitude for them taking care of him during the season.

Any karma for his good deed didn’t pay off in his third playoff start for the Blue Jays, as he continues to seek his first career post-season win as a starter after an eighth attempt, despite pitching more than well enough to win Friday.

“I’ve thrown the ball, at times, well in the playoffs,” he says in a corner of the clubhouse, a large group of reporters around him. “I threw OK tonight. I know I didn’t get a win or whatever, but we didn’t win. What happens in October does not define who I am.”

A bold rental acquisition at the trade deadline, Price’s 9-1 record in 11 Blue Jays starts helped pave the way to the AL East title. He beat the New York Yankees in three of his four outings against them and it would have been a clean sweep if not for a blown save.

The playoffs didn’t go as well, but he’s still in line for a large, nine figure payday in the coming months when he hits free agency.

Asked if he’ll be back, he replies: “I don’t know yet.”

Asked if he’s open to a return, he says: “Absolutely.”

Does he plan to take a break before considering things?

“This isn’t something that crosses my mind,” he says. “I don’t know when free agency starts. It’s not something I’ve thought about. I haven’t thought about it all year long. If I would’ve thought about that, I wouldn’t have thrown the baseball the way I have all year long. I don’t think about that. I’ll go hang out with my family and enjoy Nashville.”

The experience with his new teammates?

“That’s what makes playing this game so special – the relationships,” he says. “Baseball’s going to end for everybody, but it’s those relationships that you make along the way that you can take on with you forever. It’ll always be with me.”

—

Ben Revere is upset, and he has every right to be. The speedy outfielder came to the plate in the ninth inning with men on second and third and ended up striking out for the second out. But that at-bat changed when home-plate umpire Jeff Nelson gave Wade Davis a dodgy strike on a 2-1 fastball well off the zone. Dioner Navarro, who struck out moments before, also had a questionable strike call swing during his at-bat.

“Terrible,” said the usually reserved Revere. “It changes the whole game. Even on Navvy, it changes the whole game. That should’ve put me in a 3-1 count. Now he has to throw me a strike. But instead it’s 2-2 and that puts me in the hole, and now I’m battling. It was a terrible call. I know these guys are battling, but in that situation, that was just… You can’t call that. That puts me in a bad situation. It changes the whole game.”

He’s not the only one upset. Several players believe Davis balked multiple times in the ninth, with no call. Then there was the Mike Moustakas home run in the second that might have been pulled over the wall by a fan, although the replay official ruled the initial point of contact wasn’t definitive.

The guy reached over. I saw him,” said Revere. “If you reach over the fence, it may have gone out. It may have hit the fence and gone up and come back. You never know. You see the fan reach over and catch the ball. I’m thinking that should’ve been an automatic double.”

—

A clubhouse attendant approaches Mark Buehrle and asks if he can take his equipment bag. Uh-uh Buehrle shakes, saying that he planned to take it on his own. Moments later, the bag is slung over his shoulder and as he walks out of the clubhouse, he shouts, “see you guys in spring training! Good luck!”

Buehrle is another free agent and his future is up in the air. He may retire, or he may not.

“Go home and see what happens,” he says of his plan. “If we would have went to the World Series and won, if we lost last round, that wasn’t going to change my decision. I’m going home, talk to the wife and we’ll figure it out.”

One thing that may have the potential to sway him is the way he’s feeling.

“I played catch the last couple of days because they said if we get to the next round there was a chance I was getting activated [for the World Series], and I felt pretty damned good,” says Buehrle, who took a cortisone shot in his sore left shoulder last month. “So we’ll see.”

The last piece remaining on the Blue Jays from the blockbuster with the Miami Marlins in November 2012, Buehrle helped his team finally get through to the post-season in his third try. A deeper run didn’t come in a difficult loss in which Royals starter Yordano Ventura twice showed up Blue Jays players on the mound.

“They’ve got a good team over there,” says Buehrle. “It kind of ruins it that they have a couple of guys on their starting staff that don’t respect the game and stare at guys when they get guys out, that’s kind of frustrating, but for the most part there are some great guys over there so you can’t let a couple of guys ruin it for them. I’m happy for them, I wish we were advancing but they outplayed us and they’re going to the next round.”

—

As they so often do, Blue Jays players are speaking with awe about Bautista.

The all-star right fielder became the first player in franchise history with a multi-homer game, going deep in the fourth and again in the eighth, a two-run shot that tied things up.

“Unreal performance by Jose,” says catcher Russell Martin. “He’s definitely that type of player who loves being in that moment. He loves the big situations and we’ve seen him do it before, and again today. He did everything he could in his power to try to win. Unfortunately, we just fell short.”

Adds Donaldson: “Bats had a great season, a great game. It’s just been awesome to be able to watch him play on a day-to-day basis and a lot of other guys in this room as well. … He’s been great for us all year. Tonight was another night where he was on the big stage and did a great job for us.”

Still, Bautista isn’t finding much joy post-game.

“There’s still a sour taste in your mouth being so close and having that many opportunities like we did and not being able to come out with a series win,” says Bautista. “We could have played much better baseball, not just tonight, but in the other games that we lost.”

—

If not for 7.2 dominant innings on Wednesday from Estrada, the Blue Jays and Royals never get to six games. The masterpiece capped a season of brilliance in which the right-hander posted a 3.13 ERA over a career-best 181 innings, timed brilliantly with his upcoming free agency.

“[The season] has meant a lot because this group is such a good group, good guys, it was just a lot of fun to be part of this clubhouse, for sure. I’m not sure what’s going to happen but these guys are awesome, and I’m going to keep in contact with all of them and who knows? I hope to come back but it’s not up to me right now. …

“This is one of the best clubhouses I’ve ever been a part of. Everyday showing up, there’s a lot of energy in there. I love these guys, it’s one of the best teams I’ve ever been a part of, not only on the field, but off the field in the clubhouse.

“If a team could have done it, it could have been this team. I kept saying it, I thought we had the best team, they just outplayed us this time and that’s the way it goes. We dug ourselves in a hole early on, we tried coming back, there’s no giving up on this team, we battled to the ninth inning. We almost came back, we almost had it, just fell a little short.”

—

The signing of Martin to an $82-million, five-year deal last off-season marked the beginning of the Blue Jays’ transformation. Apart from shepherding the pitching staff and the contributions both at the plate and behind it.

A native of Chelsea, Que., he helped reignite the fan base.

“I think the future is bright in Canada for baseball,” he says. “We had a tremendous year. It definitely didn’t have the finish that we wanted, but we’re definitely going to hold our heads high. I’m proud of the group that we have. I’m proud of how we fought.”

The other pivotal off-season addition was Donaldson, the likely AL MVP. Together with Martin, the duo brought a new focus and determination to the Blue Jays.

“It’s been an amazing season,” says Donaldson. “Obviously we wanted it to continue, but there are so many guys in here that stepped up and became better players and really contributed throughout the entire year. It’s been a fun ride. …

“It’s tough to look toward the future now, but it’s going to be fun. I felt like we had a lot of growth with a lot of guys in our lineup and in our pitching staff. Hopefully we keep going in the right direction.”

—

To some Blue Jays fans, nothing R.A. Dickey does will ever be good enough to justify sending the World Series-bound Noah Syndergaard and Travis d’Arnaud, prospects at the time, to the Mets for him in December 2012. Nevermind that the swap would never have happened without the Marlins deal, and that Dickey has thrown 654.2 innings over the past three years with 39 wins – an inability to repeat his Cy Young Season is his only sin.

A good outing against Texas in Game 4 of the ALDS had garnered him some goodwill, but much of that was lost when he gave up five runs in 1.2 innings against the Royals in a 14-2 drubbing in Game 4.

“My game in particular, I know we only scored two runs, but I could have at least given us a chance later in the game. That kind of got away from us,” Dickey said.

None of that should diminish his role in putting another banner up in the Rogers Centre rafters, a first since 1993.

“That was an incredible experience for everybody in here and the city and the country for that matter,” he says. “It was just so fun, I don’t know if I’ve ever had as much fun as a professional baseball player as I did the last two months and the first series and a half of the post-season.”

But eventually, all the elimination games were too much for the Blue Jays.

“I don’t know if it was pushing our luck,” Dickey says. “The games are so tight and good and usually well played in the post-season that they turn on the smallest thing – the guy that didn’t execute a bunt, or the guy committed an error, whatever it may be, the games hinge on that it seems so often in the playoffs. Every game was a maiden voyage, it wasn’t like we’re pushing our luck today, it was just another game.

“That’s what made this team pretty special, there was no game that was bigger than another one, we just came out and played, and tried to play as hard as we could and leave it all out on the field and even tonight, that was a microcosm of what we’ve done all year, we never gave up. We never gave up on each other, we never gave up on the game, and that’s why we were good.”