Did the Toronto Blue Jays Get Better or Worse After a Chaotic 25-26 Offseason?
It's an exciting time for the Toronto Blue Jays organization. The club just won an American League pennant and invested heavily in getting better in the offseason. Obviously, Toronto had a heartbreaking ending to the 2025 MLB season, losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games during the World Series. Game Seven of that series will go down as one of the greatest games in baseball history; if the Blue Jays had just a little more luck on their side, surely they could’ve ended up winning what would’ve been the club’s first championship since the 1993 season. It was still the best season that Toronto had had in a long time; they still won two postseason series and edged out the Yankees for an American League East Division title.
The Blue Jays followed their exhilarating 2025 season by being one of the most active teams on the free agent market this winter. The club got off to a strong start to the offseason in November, agreeing to terms with former Cy Young finalist Dylan Cease on a seven-year, $210 deal. This was the largest contract that was handed out to a pitcher this offseason and the most lucrative contract in franchise history. It was surprising to most that the Jays were willing to make this sizable commitment, especially after Cease had a down year in 2025 by his standards. The 30-year-old had a 4.55 ERA on the season in 32 starts with the Padres. Perhaps Toronto liked his underlying numbers enough to think that a bounce-back season is imminent. The strikeout stuff was still there, as the right-hander fanned 215 batters, which was sixth in the majors last season. High-strikeout numbers and durability are the two things that likely made Cease such a hot commodity on the free agent market. His 880 strikeouts since the start of the 2022 season are the most of any starting pitcher in the majors in that span.
The next two big signings made by Toronto were on the international side. In order to bolster their infield, they brought in Japanese phenom Kazuma Okamoto on a four-year deal worth $60 million. This was the largest contract handed out to an international player this winter. The 29-year-old third baseman has been a star in Japan with the Yomiuri Giants. He’s a six-time NPB all-star and has led the league in home runs three times in his career. Okamoto is expected to be the Opening Day third baseman for the Blue Jays, with Ernie Clement moving over to second base. The fourth-largest contract Toronto handed out this offseason was also to a player coming from overseas. The team signed Cody Ponce to a three-year, $30 million contract. The 31-year-old is coming off the best season of his professional career. He was the MVP of the KBO with the Hanwha Eagles, pitching a total of 180.2 innings and posting a 1.89 ERA with a sub-one WHIP and a 12.6 K/9. The former 2nd-round pick in the 2015 MLB Draft most recently pitched in the MLB with the Pirates back in 2021 and did not have much success at the big league level. The Blue Jays are hoping that he can carry over some of his success in Korea, as Ponce is expected to pitch in the back end of the team's rotation.
Toronto wasn’t done yet, as they also signed former Giants set-up man Tyler Rogers to a three-year deal worth $37 million. The submariner is coming off a career year with San Francisco, pitching to a 1.98 ERA while also leading the league in relief appearances with 81. The one free agent that Toronto had this offseason that ended up returning for 2026 was 41-year-old starting pitcher Max Scherzer. His new contract has a base salary of just three million, but he can receive up to $13 million via innings-pitched incentives. The three-time Cy Young Award winner only made 17 starts in the regular season, but he was key for the Blue Jays in their World Series appearance. The eight-time all-star started in Game Three of the series as well as the historic Game Seven.
The Blue Jays were one of the biggest spenders this offseason and brought in a great deal of talent. However, the team also lost a lot of players who were key parts of that memorable 2025 team. This is what makes it an interesting discussion on whether the team is actually better on paper than they were last season. The most significant loss and surely the most gut-wrenching loss for fans is longtime shortstop Bo Bichette leaving Toronto to go play for the New York Mets. The 28-year-old had been the Jays' starting shortstop for the last seven seasons. In his Blue Jays career, he was a two-time all-star selection, and he received AL MVP votes in four different seasons. After ten seasons in the organization, he had his signature moment in the final game of his Blue Jays career. A no-doubt home run off Shohei Ohtani gave the Blue Jays a 3-0 lead over the Dodgers in the third inning. Obviously, they ended up being on the wrong side of that game, but it was still a moment that Jays fans will remember forever. Bichette ended up signing one of the biggest contracts of the offseason with the Mets. The two sides agreed to a three-year $126 million contract.
Toronto also lost some pieces of the excellent pitching staff it featured last season. Chris Bassitt had been a crucial part of their rotation since he signed with the Jays before the 2023 season. The 37-year-old had logged 541.1 innings in his three seasons with Toronto, which was second on the team behind only Kevin Gausman in that span. Bassitt ended up finding a new home with the Orioles, signing a one-year, $18.5 million contract with Baltimore. The team also lost set-up man Seranthony Dominguez. He ended up landing with the White Sox on a two-year, $20 million deal. The 31-year-old didn’t end up joining the Blue Jays until the trade deadline, when he was traded from the Orioles. The right-hander was a crucial part of Toronto’s bullpen in the postseason; he pitched in 11 of their 18 playoff games, which was tied for second on the team.
It’s pretty clear that the area where the Blue Jays improved the most this offseason is in their starting rotation. When a team adds a starting pitcher as talented as Cease and also shells out over $200 million for him, they should expect to have an improved rotation. With Cease’s track record for having some of the best strikeout stuff in the game, as well as being one of the more durable arms in the game, Toronto should expect him to make a big impact. Ponce is also an addition that Blue Jays fans should be excited about after he had one of the best pitching seasons in KBO history last year. It's clear that Ponce has much better stuff than the last time he pitched in the majors. It’s unfair to expect him to put up the same video-game numbers he had in Korea, but a full season of a sub-four ERA seems like a reasonable projection for a player with a track record like Ponce has. Another reason why Blue Jays fans should be excited about their rotation for this upcoming season is that they’ll be able to enjoy a full season of Trey Yesavage. The Blue Jays' top prospect didn’t make his debut until the final month of last season. He actually made more starts in the playoffs than he did in the regular season. The 2024 first-round pick was one of the biggest storylines of the 2025 MLB Playoffs. At just 22 years old, he struck out 39 batters, which was the second most by any pitcher in the 2025 postseason. The first full season of Yesavage is a massive storyline in Toronto ahead of the 2026 season.
One area where Toronto likely got worse this offseason is on the left side of the infield, which was one of the strengths of their position player group last season. This is mostly due to the loss of Bo Bichette. Of course, the Blue Jays did replace him with Okamoto, who comes over from Japan. That’s not to say that fans shouldn’t be excited about adding him to their squad, but there are reasons why Bichette commanded over twice as much money on the free agent market. Toronto’s addition of Okamoto also forces Clement to move over from third base to second base, and Andres Gimenez to make a move from second base to shortstop. Another reason why the Blue Jays' lineup could take a step back from last season is that it’s safe to assume that outfielder George Springer takes at least somewhat of a step back from what he did in 2025. The four-time all-star had an out-of-nowhere breakout last season and was arguably the team's best hitter. At the age of 35, he improved his OPS by nearly .300 points. Springer had a .674 OPS in 145 games in 2024, then shockingly posted a .959 OPS in 140 games in 2025. It would be an even more impressive revelation of his career if the 12-year MLB veteran was able to put up similar numbers again in 2026. If anybody in this Toronto lineup is going to regress, it will likely be Springer, mostly due to how hard it would be to sustain those types of numbers this late in his career.
The Blue Jays enter the 2026 season with a ton of excitement around their new squad. It would be impossible not to have high expectations after the club came up just short of a World Series title and then proceeded to hand out the largest contract in franchise history the following offseason. With a bolstered starting rotation that now includes Cease and Ponce, as well as Yesavage, for hopefully a full season. The pitching staff could be one of the best in baseball. However, the departures of key players such as Bichette, Bassitt, and Dominguez leave questions about who can step up and replace their contributions. There’s no question that Toronto can be one of the best teams in the majors again next season, but a lot will be revealed over the grind that is the 162-game MLB season.
