Examining the Blue Jays 2025 Postseason Hopes

Photo by UPI.com. https://www.upi.com/topic/Vladimir_Guerrero/

The past 1.5 months of Blue Jays baseball have looked like a boat filled with holes. It feels as if as soon as one weakness is patched up, another rears its ugly head again. As soon as it feels like they have finally risen to the occasion, the starting pitching and bullpen go through immense lows. Once those are solved and the pitching gets back on track, the offense disappears again. Despite all of this inconsistency, the Blue Jays hold a record of 22-24 as we reach Victoria Day. It’s far from perfect or ideal, but with the American League Wild Card playing out as it has thus far, the Jays are still heavily in contention for a postseason berth. A few factors that are currently in play could get them over the top this season and help them stand out from the rest of the pack. 

Offensive Corner Outfielder

As unpredictable as the Jays’ offense has been for the past couple of seasons, management did make an effort this offseason to address the lack of production in the form of Anthony Santander. A switch-hitter coming off a season where he slugged 44 home runs with a WRC+ of 129 felt like a perfect fit for this lineup. However, through 46 games, it has not been as seamless a transition to Toronto as Santander would have likely wanted. Currently, Santander sports a .182/.264/.308 slash line, and while he has brought some much-needed thump to the lineup with 5 HRs, he still has yet to fully cement his spot in the lineup with consistent performance. On top of that, Santander is a net negative defensively, so if he is going to participate as a DH, he has to be able to find some consistency at the plate. Otherwise, he risks becoming an anchor or an overpaid bench piece, neither of which anyone wants for him.

With all that in mind, the Blue Jays could use an alternative option in the corner outfield as a form of insurance for Santander. When you look at how the Blue Jays’ outfield stands as of today, they Daulton Varsho has been doing more than his part on both sides of the game, Nathan Lukes has been a pleasant surprise, and George Springer has seemingly found the fountain of youth after some had suggested his career was close to being all but over. However, Springer is not playing on an everyday basis, and while you hope Nathan Lukes' breakout campaign continues, it would be irresponsible not to have something planned in case it does not. Addison Barger has shown promise defensively when in the outfield this season, but as of recently, it looks like the Jays prefer him at 3B. 

In any case, if the Blue Jays want to keep pace within their division, not only will they need Santander to return to the form they expected of him, but they will also require some outside production from other places as well in the corner outfield.

Depth Starter

Toronto’s starting rotation has been more reliable over the past couple of seasons than they frankly got credit for. Perhaps the shine does not get applied as much when the team still loses at the end of the day, but fans would unanimously agree that the pitching staff has been the most consistent aspect of the Blue Jays team over the past 4–5 years. Where it has lacked entirely is the depth in the rotation when you get past the first five projected starters going into a season. While adding Max Scherzer is undoubtedly a cool moment for the franchise and legitimately improves the rotation, it was not the most shocking thing in the world to see him go down with an injury so early. However, the organization has consistently had a weak hole in their 6-7 slot starters, where they end up sending out hope and prayer options like Easton Lucas, Paxton Schultz, and Casey Lawrence. No disrespect to those names, and granted, options like Eric Lauer, Jose Urena, and Spencer Turnbull were eventually signed, but to not have this glaring need addressed going into the season is frankly unacceptable for a team that fancies itself as competitive. 

Nonetheless, even with the depth now accrued in the starting rotation, adding one more significant starter would not be the worst thing in the world for this team. With the current struggles that Bowden Francis and Jose Berrios are experiencing, you never know when and where you may need a key arm to step in. While a name like Sandy Alcantara seems a tad ambitious, names like Andrew Heaney and Tyler Anderson are much closer in the realm of possibility. Both being rentals, they would not cost a pretty penny, and could still provide a significant impact that could boost not only the performance of the pitching staff, but its versatility as well. 

The Jays’ rotation is not as shutdown or as star-studded as you would expect from a contender like the Phillies or Dodgers, but with a few simple tweaks, it could end up becoming more effective than where they started.

High Leverage Reliever 

Some of the most impressive improvements the Blue Jays have made from last season have been with their bullpen. Granted, it is not a high bar to reach after their bullpen was worth -3.0 WAR last season, but the additions thus far have gone exceptionally well. Jeff Hoffman has performed like an absolute shutdown closer, Yimi Garcia has been worth every penny of that $7.5M deal, and middle relief options like Nick Sandlin, Brendon Little, and Mason Fluharty have all done well when healthy. However, they are not perfect, as recently both Hoffman and Garcia went through stretches where they could not get an out to save their lives. This can be partially blamed on both the offense not being able to produce enough, where every game is close, or not having the starting pitching depth quality to prevent the bullpen from being used early. 

Either way, the bullpen is getting extremely overworked, and we are only in mid-May. Erik Swanson and Ryan Burr coming back should help alleviate and deviate the workload of the relief corps, but if the Jays truly want to ensure everything is spread well, it feels like one more key relief arm is missing. It does not have to be anyone too significant either. A name like Ryan Helsley would be a perfect fit, especially with the versatility in the roles of Hoffman and Garcia, but he seems to be the belle of the ball in terms of available relievers. Perhaps a different approach to someone like David Bednar or Kyle Finnegan would make more sense. Both are currently in the closer’s role and have years of experience there, but both also have spent some time in high-leverage non-closing situations. Having that kind of experience and versatility within the bullpen allows for multiple arms to take on different roles, but also more bullpen options to use in general, thus giving more high leverage options time to rest and become more effective more frequently.

Even if the options are not as high-leverage as a Bednar or Finnegan, bringing the bullpen some help to give them a break will be key if the Jays have any postseason hopes.