How the Blue Jays Made the 2025 World Series

At long last, the “movie” came to screens in Toronto. After failing to make it to the playoffs in 2024, the Blue Jays were very active this past winter to fortify their roster. But even though the Blue Jays made the World Series in 2025 — the first time Toronto will be in the Fall Classic since 1993 — thanks, in part, to some of those adds, it was thanks to the superstar slugger and key acquisitions made beforehand that helped make the difference.

Peeking at roster construction

Generally speaking, playoff and World Series-bound teams are always built through a mix of homegrown and acquired talent. And that’s mostly the case with the 2025 Blue Jays.

Toronto had just four homegrown hitters — Alejandro Kirk, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Addison Barger, and Davis Schneider — on the ALCS roster. However, many of the key pieces were grabbed via free agency and trades. And, much like the Jays’ front office, there’s a Guardians-type of flair amongst the team as a whole.

Nathan Lukes was drafted by Cleveland in 2015, the last year current Jays team president Mark Shapiro was in charge with the then-Indians. Andres Gimenez and Myles Straw were acquired from the Guardians last winter. Shane Bieber, once a Cy Young Award winner in Cleveland, was acquired midseason. Ernie Clement, one of the heroes of the ALDS & ALCS, was also a Cleveland draft pick.

As for the pitching staff, only two pitchers (Mason Fluharty and Trey Yesavage) were drafted and developed by the organization. Jeff Hoffman, originally drafted by the Jays a decade ago, bounced around the Majors before landing back in Toronto.

Free agency and trades were the main routes for acquiring the key pieces. Some of that work was done in-season. The Blue Jays had a hefty summer, acquiring bullpen help. Seranthony Dominguez and playoff appearance leader Louie Varland were acquired on deadline week. So was Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who spent a year with the Pirates before finding his way back to Toronto.

But even though Toronto had a highly active offseason (and season) in 2024-25, acquiring Anthony Santander, Max Scherzer, and Gimenez, among others, the groundwork was laid well before then.

Getting back to some the names mentioned earlier, Lukes was a Minor League signing in November 2021. Clement joined the organization on a Minor League deal in March 2023.

And it goes much further than that. After Kevin Gausman put up outstanding numbers in 2020 and 2021 with the Giants, he turned that into a five-year, $110MM deal. In his last year of that contract, Gausman pitched spectacularly. In the playoffs, opposing hitters are batting .161 off him.

Daulton Varsho, one of the Blue Jays’ starting outfielders, was brought in during the summer of 2022.

However, one can track back all the way to the pandemic offseason, when Toronto signed George Springer.

A scorching playoff hero

After the 2020 campaign, Springer signed a six-year, $150MM deal to leave Houston and head to Toronto. At the time, Springer left a powerhouse Astros team to join a Blue Jays team on the rise. Toronto had young pieces & made the shortened season playoffs in 2020.

Springer made an immediate impact, as he hit 22 home runs in 78 games in 2021. However, the offensive production slowly dipped. In 2022, he posted a .814 OPS. Two years ago, it was .732. And in 2024, a .674 OPS.

But in 2025, things were a little different for Springer. He changed his stance, not holding the ball parallel to the ground anymore, and getting slightly crouched as opposed to standing upright. The bat speed jumped, and Springer posted his best numbers since 2019. Thirty-two home runs and a .959 OPS on the season. And in the second half, no hitter had a higher wOBA than Springer (.472).

He continued his onslaught into the postseason, with four home runs across the first two rounds. His fourth put the Jays in the lead permanently in Game 7 — and put him alongside the likes of Joe Carter & Jose Bautista.

Between Springer and Guerrero Jr., the latter of whom is MLB’s current playoff leader in OPS, it’s safe to say the Blue Jays’ top half have the pop needed to win playoff games.

Clutch pitching

Toronto took significant advantage of a Mariners team that was all too eager to swing the bat on certain occasions.

Across the seven-game series, the Blue Jays induced 43 whiffs from the seventh inning onward, compared to 27 on behalf of the Mariners. Nineteen of those came on pitches out of the zone, as Seattle got too aggressive to expand, whether it be on upstairs breaking balls.

But on top of that, the Jays’ bullpen made some very good pitches, like this curveball from Varland that starts on the lower half and breaks down hard.