Blue Jays’ biggest flop to begin 2026 MLB season

The Blue Jays are sitting in fourth place in the American League East with a 5-7 record, and that puts them 3.5 games behind the New York Yankees. While there are 150 games to play in the season, poor starts can be difficult for any team to overcome, particularly when they fall behind in the early stages of the pennant race.

If the Blue Jays don’t get it together quickly and they Yankees continue to play well — they have gotten out of the gate with an 8-3 record — the deficit could grow to 7 or 8 games before the end of the month and double-digits at some point in May.

Intimidating lineup has not hit its stride

The Blue Jays have one of the most intimidating lineups in the American League and their big names certainly are capable of coming through for them in a big way — especially when the game is on the line. That has not happened to this point.

The biggest name is Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and he has not been able to find his power stroke to this point in the season. He has just one double and one home run, and those are not the kind of numbers that Guerrero expects from himself. He is slashing .268/.412/.366 and he has collected nine base on balls, but he has not gotten the kind of big hits that the Blue Jays are used to seeing.

Guerrero is not a typical power hitter because he does not try to lift the ball the way Aaron Judge of the Yankees does. As a result, when Guerrero goes on a hot streak, he is often bashing line drives up the power alleys. The home runs often come with great velocity, but he does not hit the high, majestic moon shots that some sluggers do.

Springer needs to pick up his production 

The Blue Jays are also depending on outfielder George Springer to get back on track quickly. Springer has not been able to find his stroke to this point, as he is slashing .184/.273/.367 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI. By the time Springer hits his stride, the Blue Jays expect to see him blast 25 to 30 home runs after he hammered 32 home runs last year for the American League champions.

Springer has already struck out 14 times and the Blue Jays know that he will strike out more than 100 times this season, but they need to see more contact than he has delivered to this point.

The Blue Jays also need to see more production from Ernie Clement and Dalton Varsho, both of whom have not been helping the offense to this point. The Blue Jays have also been hurt by the fractured thumb suffered by catcher Alejandro Kirk. The squatty catcher is expected to be out for six weeks after getting hurt in Chicago in a series against the White Sox.

Blue Jays fans hope that series in the South Side of Chicago is not going to be a harbinger of what follows this season. While the White Sox are expected to be somewhat improved after consecutive seasons of losing more than 100 games, the idea of that team sweeping the Blue Jays is nearly unfathomable. Yet, that’s just what happened.

The Blue Jays can’t allow teams that are expected to be bottom feeders to get well by shutting down the Toronto attack. To this point, Toronto’s explosive offense has failed to deliver. Guerrero, Springer and the rest of the Blue Jays must start to come through quickly or their dreams of getting back to the World Series will fade away.