So I’m sitting here alone, in my room and the Jays are behind, yet again, five runs. And we could talk about all the things that continue to go wrong for this club. The lack of clutch at bats in clutch situations, the lack of tightness on the defensive side. And exacerbated by the fact they are losing so much, just the amount of times they put it into contact and other teams do the same and it doesn’t seem to go their way. But sadly, that is what it means to be a below average baseball team.

One could say there was reason for optimism in the first half, beyond the constant crutch of them being in the World Series a year prior- they had a lot of baseball left to play and were within striking distance of a wildcard spot…. but we just can’t say that anymore with them more then 100 games into the seasons and 10 games below 500.

And no one is more devastated than I am, it’s raining outside and my team is gonna be a seller. But, if we were just to move on and not take anything anyway from this season, just throw up our hands and say “ well, that’s just baseball, we would be missing just exactly what “ that’s just baseball” means.

Part of the beauty of baseball, is exactly what the Blue jays were able to accomplish in 2025, a team could click at all the right moments in a season and everyone could suddenly have career years. This isn’t just a “ fluke” or “ luck” it’s just a collection of some really good players getting hot at the right time. But then you can say the same on the teams that don’t compete, that didn’t have career years, they underperformed. Showing that baseball giveth and taketh away. Could you imagine a scenario in which Springer, Vladdy Kirk, clement and okamoto were smashing at the same time, this team would be better. But last year, for a good reason, all the stars aligned for the Jays. Far more than another sport, baseball is designed to humble you. Only the teams with real star power, like the dodgers can face that kind of plurality. For example, Mookie betts and several pitchers on the dodgers has faced declines, but that’s easily made up for by Dalton Rushing’s breakout performance and Pages looking like a future HOF added with wrobleski’s cy young year and the continued brilliance of Ohtani. The Jays just had no contingency plan though. If you told me Vladdy and Springer were having bad years, I would have said there’s no way then we are in contention. 

But let’s ask the million dollar question, that may not have any answer. Why id it so hard for the Jays to replicate what they did last year?

Baseball demands adjustments: 

The thing is that adjustments only go so far, this team should not be excused by other teams being able to adjust, but in someway that has happened. The pitch to contact approach, really was used against the Jays the season, and we can safely say that now. Rarely ever do the pitchers feel threatened enough with the blue jays batters. Simply because they know that if they hit their spots, seven of the nine guys they can retire. And it’s empowering for a pitcher really. They need to execute simply, there is no Yandy Diaz, or Junior Caminero, that’s gonna be all over anything you throw, so you throw some wild, and then smoke one down the middle trying to get back in the strike zone.

There was the Kansas City royals in 2016 the team that beat the Jays in the ALCS, an they played a lot like the 2025 Blue Jays, with a lot of grit, backbone offensively, just wouldn’t go away. And now teams like Tampa are kind of doing their own version of that. It is the cycle of progression and discovery. Someone is always gonna come along and use a different advantage because every season is a different playing field.

Bo Bichette’s absence:

Has anyone ever thought that the reason Vladdy isn’t hitting well is because his best friend, that he literally grew up beside, isn’t there behind his back? I think we saw shades of this in the Mets vs Jays series where both guys felt like they were torn away for business. It’s sad for Bichette really. He might not be having a great season, but I’m sure all jays fans this season are missing a guy to just get the 2 RBI double and single you needed at the moment. There was also perhaps a calmness to his energy that is overlooked too often. He isn’t loud like Vladdy and perhaps that’s why he felt the Jays should have given him more. And should they have? Absolutely. They should have given him every penny. He earned its, just as much as vladdy. Vlady’s great season last year eclipsed Bo Bichette in many ways being part of the foundations that led to the framework of the that 2025 team. Get contact on the ball, find a way to drive in runs and drive the ball into the opposite field.

Injuries:

In terms of setting the tone, it’s safe to say that injuries were the biggest reason this team failed to replicate that 2025 magic. When your all star catcher spends half the season on the bench, and then Springer misses 17 games, it isn’t just a production game, it’s missing your best guys in the moments that matter. Key turnaround moments in the season, where that one series, or one run prevented by Kirk’s throw or a Springer dinger, could have tipped the scale in Blue Jays favour and maybe they could have had a little bit left in the tank. You can say Springer has been bad, but not helped with missing 17 games earlier in the season. This is just the tip of the iceberg though. 

If we mention, Cody ponce, Jose Berrios, Yimi Garcia, a Calvary of pitching and hitting on the IL with Barger and Santander. Arguably your two biggest power guys when it comes to changing a game with one swing of a bat. Pitchers feel like they can just attack the more contact oriented guys, there is no Barger or Santander, squaring you up in the box. It makes a big difference.