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About two hours later, he had an answer: No. 2. For Partipilo, those were a long couple of hours.

“It’s a lot of plus and minus. The minus is, I’ve got all this Reyes product. I thought he was going to be with us for a while and I invested in all this inventory,” Partipilo says. “You’re going to take a margin hit on that stuff. But Tulowitzki came in and the numbers just spiked. They haven’t stopped since.”

Two days after the Tulowitzki trade, the Jays announced another stunning trade with the Detroit Tigers for star pitcher David Price. Suddenly, Canadians were starting to talk playoffs and pennants. Attendance at games has been growing steadily since and this weekend’s three-game series against the New York Yankees is completely sold out.

Taking the Jays from snooze to sensation wasn’t cheap. The baseball website fangraphs.com estimates the team added about $9 million to its payroll for the rest of this season following the July 31 trade deadline compared to the season opener, the fourth-largest payroll expansion in the league. And there are costs associated with all the extra people at the games — more hot dogs, more beer, and more rush-ordered Tulowitzki jerseys.

It takes money to make money, however. And if the team keeps up its hot streak, Rogers Communications Inc. — which owns the Blue Jays, the stadium they play in and the channel that broadcasts their games — is going to make a lot of money.

“There’s clearly upside — in the stadium, with advertising revenue and with the loyalty impact for Rogers customers,” says Gordon Hendren, president of Charlton Strategic Research Inc. “There’s no question this is a good business decision.”