The Toronto Blue Jays have a problem, and everyone can see it. Fixing it? That's the tricky part.
Just months ago, the Blue Jays were one strike away from baseball immortality. They pushed the Los Angeles Dodgers to extra innings in Game 7 of the World Series—a thrilling, heart-stopping battle that had fans on the edge of their seats until the very last pitch. For a team that came that close to glory, the 2026 season was supposed to be about picking up where they left off.
Instead, Toronto's offense has gone quiet. And it's not for lack of trying.
The Blue Jays are making plenty of contact—in fact, they lead the league in lowest strikeout rate. But here's the rub: that contact isn't doing much damage. Toronto ranks 26th in average exit velocity and OPS on balls in play. They're putting the ball in play, but it's not going anywhere.
"Last year's dynamic Toronto offense was fueled by combining a high contact rate with damage on that contact," ESPN's Bradford Doolittle noted recently. "So far, the Blue Jays are getting only half that equation right."
The obvious culprit? Bo Bichette's departure. But his replacement, Kazuma Okamoto, has been on a power binge lately, so that theory doesn't hold up as well as you'd think.
Injuries have certainly played a role. Alejandro Kirk and George Springer have both missed significant time, and their absence has left a gap in the lineup that's hard to fill.
But even the regulars are struggling. Take Vladimir Guerrero Jr., for example. He's walking nearly as often as he's striking out, and his .328 average ranks among the American League leaders. That sounds great, right? But his slugging percentage sits at just .427, and his isolated power—a key metric for measuring raw pop—is less than half his career average.
"Contact is great," Doolittle wrote. "High-quality contact is what got last year's Jays to the World Series."
The good news? There's reason to believe this is just a slump. As the weather warms up and the bats heat up, expect some positive regression. The Blue Jays have the talent, the track record, and the heart to turn things around. They just need to find that spark again—and fast.