Why the Blue Jays Are Better Built for a 2026 World Series Run Than Last Year
Can the Blue Jays win a World Series without Bo Bichette? Despite the loss of one of their star players, those who took the field on Opening Day for Toronto this season are a significant improvement from last year. While it might not have been that exact lineup, the 2025 Blue Jays did make it to the World Series. A baseball team is never the same in March as it is in October, but if they are starting this season better than the one that took them all the way, redemption is in reach. It’s not a secret that Toronto is a completely different team than they were in March 2025, but how significant are those changes? Almost every single player is different this year, and if a player was on that roster, they’re most likely in a different position on the field, in the order, or in the rotation. The only position starters that stayed the same were Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Alejandro Kirk, but both are in different spots in the batting order than they were last year. However, 20 of 26 players on the 2026 Blue Jays were on the team by the end of last year, which highlights just how much this team transformed over the last seven months.
The Blue Jays basically gave themselves a clean slate, but they started building on it last season. The offseason moves and the unexpected losses are not the only reasons this team is so different. A powerful transformation happened last year, and now this team knows it is good. They know what they are capable of and what they need to do to achieve it. There were no expectations for the 2025 Jays, and now, in 2026, significantly more people on and off the team believe they can win it all. Toronto can either let that pressure overwhelm them or embrace their newfound confidence on the way to a 2026 World Series title.
To start the 2025 season, the Blue Jays lost on Opening Day to the Baltimore Orioles 12-2. The starting pitcher, for the second year in a row, was José Berríos, who is currently on the IL with a right elbow fracture. The two-time All-Star has an all-time ERA of 4.08, and if all goes well, he’ll find his way back into the pitching rotation at some point this year. Fast forward to 2026, and the first starter is Kevin Gausman. His 11 strikeouts are now a franchise Opening Day record, and his all-time ERA is 3.81. He was also in the starting rotation for 2025, and perhaps if Berrios were healthy, he would’ve started a third consecutive Opening Day, but his 10.80 ERA that day doesn’t compare to Gausman’s 1.50 ERA in 2026. These players may have been present on both rosters, but at the very least, Toronto’s choice for a starter clearly worked out better this year.
The rest of the pitching rotation is different, however. At the start of 2025, it was Berríos, Gausman, Max Scherzer, Chris Bassitt, and Bowden Francis. The 2026 rotation will most likely change soon once Berríos, Trey Yesavage, and Shane Bieber all heal up, but for now, it is Gausman, Dylan Cease, Eric Lauer, Cody Ponce, and Scherzer. Both Cease and Ponce were acquired this offseason to add depth to the roster. The former is known as a durable strikeout pitcher with more than 165 innings in the last five seasons and more than 200 strikeouts in each. The latter was the MVP of the KBO last year for a 1.89 ERA and 252 strikeouts over 180 2/3 innings. When you compare those stats to the pitchers who are no longer with the Blue Jays, they are certainly an improvement: It has taken four years for Francis to achieve 200 innings pitched and 182 strikeouts, while Bassitt had a 3.96 ERA last year with only 166 strikeouts over 170 innings. With some of their best pitchers hurt but on the mend, Toronto’s 2026 rotation can only increase its strength from here.
When it comes to infielders that are also strong offensively, Kazuma Okamoto is the player to watch when deciding if the Jays filled the gap that Bichette left. He had a .311 AVG, 94 RBIs, and 18 home runs last season, but he was hurt for most of it, including the postseason run. When Toronto needed him most, he couldn’t contribute. They made it as far as they did without him, and maybe the outcome would have been different if he hadn’t been hurt, but his injury history has been extensive. Bichette has had an injury in each of the last three seasons, making him unreliable. Comparatively, Okamoto had a .327 batting average last year, along with 49 RBIs and 15 home runs. He also proved his worth on Friday with a walk, two hits, and he even scored the winning run for the Blue Jays to defeat the Athletics 3-2. Unfortunately, he missed a lot of last season due to injury as well, but recorded at least 140 games in each of the four seasons preceding the injury, unlike Bichette. Right now, the 29-year-old is exactly what Toronto needs.
There are also Blue Jays who have improved individually in the past year. George Springer batted sixth last Opening Day, while now, in 2026, he leads off the order. He ended 2024 with a .220 AVG but significantly improved by ending 2025 with a .309 AVG, his career best. Addison Barger was not even on the roster at the beginning of last season. This year, he is the cleanup hitter and starting right fielder. He had a similar improvement to Springer, ending 2024 with a .194 batting average and 2025 with a .243 average. Yesavage, of course, had his historic run last year by being the first pitcher to start a game in Single-A, High-A, Double-A, Triple-A, and the World Series all in the same year. Once he’s off the IL, he’ll be competing with Okamoto for AL Rookie of the Year. He shouldn’t be out for much longer, so it’ll be interesting to see the impact he has when he’s with the team for an entire season.
Starting over again after making it to Game Seven of the World Series, but losing would be challenging for any team. Yet both the players and the staff of the Toronto Blue Jays have proven how much they deserve the ALCS banner they hung on Friday. They have so much depth now that not even an extensive IL could keep them from disappointing fans on Opening Night. With this team’s drive and skills to back it up, it would be no surprise to see them hanging up a World Series banner one year from now.
