This was not how it was supposed to go.
Coming into the 2026 season, the Toronto Blue Jays were seen as fringe contenders, retaining most of their roster and even adding many new and improved pieces. In their first series of the year, they swept the Athletics with relative ease and looked ahead at one of the easiest starts to a season any team could ask for against the Rockies and White Sox.
It started out with a jarring 14-5 loss at home against Colorado, but most weren’t too worried, as the general consensus was that this type of game happens once and a while. They have now lost every series since and sit four games below the .500 mark. There’s a lot to look at here.
Last year’s Blue Jays team put pride on the defensive side of the ball, ensuring that they were going to let other teams beat them before they beat themselves. This year, the script has completely flipped, and the Jays have been beating themselves up left and right. Whether it’s terrible routes to the ball, overthrown throws or simple mental lapses, Toronto has made countless silly mistakes that have cost them multiple games.
It mainly takes place on the infield, where Blue Jay players have just seemed to lose any simple baseball fundamentals. Tyler Heineman has overthrown multiple balls into the outfield and even the pitchers are making embarrassing mistakes trying to throw to first base. For a team that was almost picture perfect on defence last year and lost their supposed “worst defender” in Bo Bichette, it’s eye-opening how lost they look so far this year.
While the self-inflicted wounds are what have cost the Jays in crucial moments, it’s been the bats that have kept the team completely out of games. With the team’s elite defence now turning to dust, they have also switched into one of the worst teams in baseball at hitting with runners in scoring position. Whereas last year, they racked up clutch hit after clutch hit, this season has been the complete opposite. In their most recent series against the Milwaukee Brewers, the team managed a gutsy 9-7 win in the opener but lost the next two games 2-1 in both.
From top to bottom, the current lineup has been putrid when it comes to getting a clutch hit. George Springer has come back down to earth after his incredible 2025 campaign. He’s now hitting .159 with a .601 OPS, while Vladdy is having his usual slow start, posting a .237 average and .699 OPS. Outside of Ernie Clement, Andrés Giménez and Vladdy, the rest of the lineup has been hard to watch. Nathan Lukes and Alejandro Kirk (before his injury) have all been having career-worst starts, leading the team to struggle to come up with any big innings. Daulton Varsho has been picking things up recently, but he was also struggling mightily in the beginning.
The theme of the season so far has been how little they’ve been able to capitalize on the big moments. Bases loaded, nobody out, runners on the corners with one out, they’ve been able to drive in maybe one runner but nothing more. Although Bichette has been looking shaky on the New York Mets, there’s no doubt the Blue Jays coaching staff have been reminiscing about his ability to drive in runners in scoring position.
Although most of their issues stem from poor at-bats and defensive mishaps, the injury bug has derailed the team since before the season even started. Anthony Santander, three starting pitchers in Trey Yesavage, José Berríos and Shane Bieber are yet to appear in a single game due to an overlapping injury from before the season. Many forget Santander is even on the team, but he was supposed to be one of the team’s most dangerous hitters, while Bieber and Yesavage were both bona fide starters in an already stacked pitching rotation.
Now, just a few weeks into the season, players are going down at an alarming rate, forcing management to make some serious decisions. Player injuries include:
– George Springer: Fractured toes, week to week
– Alejandro Kirk: Fractured thumb, out 6-8 weeks
– Adison Barger: Left ankle sprain, placed on 10-day IL
– Cody Ponce: ACL sprain in first appearance, out for the season
– Yimi Garci: Elbow injury, 15-day IL
It’s going to be a challenge to win games when your top players aren’t in the lineup, and players who simply shouldn’t be in the majors are on the field. This goes for both pitching and position players; the latter of the two hasn’t shown to be as bad an issue as the first.
Before he got sent down to the minor leagues, Brendon Little was the easy target for fans to attack after a loss. The lefty already had a reputation for being one of the most unreliable players in the sport after an abysmal second half to last year led to fans turning on him completely. This year was a chance to make up for any mistakes he made last year, but unfortunately, some things never change.
In five games for the Blue Jays this year, Little posted a 24.55 ERA. Yes, you read that right.
He was awful. Although you can also blame the office for not putting up any runs during his outings, he also let go of some games that were in reach.
Thankfully for Toronto fans, they have been able to breathe a bit easier when Jeff Hoffman has been on the mound, as he’s looked steadier as of late. It just so happens that he now has the reputation for being one of the most untrustworthy closers in all of baseball, even if he posts a sub-3 ERA for the rest of the season.
It’s still relatively early in the season, and there’s a ton more baseball left to play. If you don’t remember, last season, the Blue Jays were in a miserable state around the mid-point of the season, and they had one of their best playoff runs in franchise history. There’s more than enough time to turn things around but if things stay the same as they are now, look out for a long season ahead, Blue Jays fans.