The Blue Jays’ Rotation Makeover Isn’t Talked About Enough

Berríos is one of two pitchers to face 3800 batters since 2021, the year where he was acquired by the Blue Jays via trade from the Minnesota Twins and subsequently inked to a seven-year, $131 million contract extension spanning through the end of the 2028 season. Berríos was merely average in 2025, pitching to a 4.17 ERA over 166.0 innings and notching the lowest single-season strikeout total in his entire career (138, excluding the 2020 season). It’s only a matter of time before Berríos is moved on from by the Blue Jays, as he likely won’t settle for a bullpen role.

Scherzer was one of the most important pieces of the Jays’ run to the World Series in 2025, even getting the nod to start Game 7 of the Fall Classic. In the regular season he only managed to throw 85.0 innings of 5.19 ERA ball, but in the postseason he tossed 14.1 innings of 3.77 ERA baseball; he saved his best for Toronto’s most important games. Scherzer is going to be a slam-dunk Hall of Famer but his career might not be quite over yet, although his tenure as a Blue Jay is more than likely finished.

New Options

Out with the old and in with the new, as the Blue Jays seem to be doing with their rotation. Multiple veteran arms that held regular starting spots in Toronto’s rotation last season are now out of the picture with younger and newer pitchers taking their places. Firstly, it’s important to look at the role that Trey Yesavage could play in Toronto’s success in 2026 and beyond.

Yesavage only pitched 14 innings in the regular season (3.21 ERA) and 27.2 innings in the postseason (3.58 ERA), but over a larger sample size he could prove his dominance on a much greater scale than what we’ve seen. His strikeout rate of 12.7 K/9 in the playoffs was the second-highest among all postseason pitchers in 2025 with at least 20 innings (Tarik Skubal, 15.68 K/9). He’s still maintained rookie eligibility for the 2026 season, so he’ll get plenty of attention in his first full MLB season.

Dylan Cease was signed to a seven-year, $210 million deal by the Jays on Dec. 2 and will function in an ace-type role in Toronto following a strong season where he struck out over 29% of batters for the fourth time in his career (2021, 2022, 2024, 2025). Cease had a large discrepancy between his ERA (4.55) and FIP (3.56) which was the fourth-largest gap among qualified starters behind Sandy Alcantára, Brandon Pfaadt, and Jesús Luzardo. He’s finished top-five in Cy Young voting in 2022 (2nd) and 2024 (4th), and the Jays will expect him to bring the same

The Jays also inked Cody Ponce to a three-year, $30 million deal fresh off winning the KBO’s MVP award with one of the most dominant seasons a pitcher has ever had in Korea’s top league. Ponce went 17-1 with a 1.89 ERA and 252 strikeouts over 180.2 innings of work, and he was the only qualified starter with a WHIP under 1.00 (0.935). Ponce will bring his incredible swing-and-miss stuff back to MLB as the Jays have given him a great opportunity to round out their rotation.

These options may come with some ebbs and flows in their production throughout the season, but they seem like one of the league’s top rotations on paper and through all their recent performances. Yesavage is coming off one of the best rookie playoff performances of all time, Cease is one of MLB’s premier veteran strikeout artists, and Ponce is looking to re-establish himself in the league. The upside is all there for Toronto’s rotation in 2026.

Closing Thoughts

The Toronto Blue Jays have completely transformed their pitching staff from one that wasn’t consistently reliable in the regular season to one of the most intimidating and strong rotations from top-to-bottom. The acquisitions of Ponce and Cease alongside the likes of Gausman, Yesavage, and Bieber make Toronto a true weapon in the AL East.

Obviously we don’t know what the future holds, but it’s clear that the Blue Jays have put the time and effort into making the starting rotation a whole lot better going forward into 2026. Down the stretch this past season their pitching staff was on an absolute roll and led them to the biggest game a team could possibly play, but the hunger to run it back is strong with the Jays. Expect them to make waves with this reworked rotation, and there’ll be plenty of eyes on the reigning AL Champs in 2026.