
Just two outs away from their first title in 33 years, the Toronto Blue Jays came up short in Game 7 of the 2025 World Series, falling to the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
Seemingly inspired by the bad taste left after the Game 7 defeat, this offseason involved plenty of turnover within the Blue Jays organization, determined to right their wrongs and finish the job in 2026.
Most notably, infielder Bo Bichette departed for the New York Mets, but he was replaced by a plethora of additions this winter. Kazuma Okamoto serves to be the club’s everyday third baseman, while Ernie Clement shifts from third to second base and Andrés Giménez shifts over to shortstop.
The Blue Jays traded outfielder Joey Loperfido back to Houston in exchange for Jesús Sánchez, who will be the club’s everyday left fielder, at least versus right-handed pitching while Anthony Santander remains on the injured list.
On the pitching front, the club made some substantial additions, including Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce in the starting rotation and Tyler Rogers in the bullpen. They also reunited with Max Scherzer.
Perusing the 2026 betting menu for Toronto, the Blue Jays have many futures that align with their aspirations to return to the World Series.
Many would agree that the Blue Jays drastically outperformed their preseason projections in 2025. Coming into the season, BetMGM put their win total at 78.5, with both sides at -110 odds.
With the upcoming free agencies of Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who had not yet been extended at the time, book makers were not sold on the Jays performing well, and they were considered to be potential sellers at the deadline heading into the year.
Now, with Vladdy’s extension signed and World Series reached, BetMGM has improved the Blue Jays’ preseason win total by a whole 10 games for 2026, although the under is favored (-120).
Even after winning the AL East in 2025, BetMGM gives the Yankees (+180), a sizable edge over Toronto (+260) to win the division in 2026.
With a roster shaken up after the World Series appearance, BetMGM expects some regression to the mean and finds themselves closer to the Boston Red Sox (+300) in odds than they do to New York for the division.
BetMGM gives the Blue Jays the third-best odds to win the American League in 2026 after winning the pennant just last season.
Trailing, New York at +450 and Seattle at +500, Toronto finds themselves behind both teams they knocked out in last year’s Postseason. The Boston Red Sox are right behind them at +700.
Interestingly, the Blue Jays and the Mariners have the same odds to win the World Series, per BetMGM, even though they do not have the same odds to win the American League.
This could be due to how much easier of a division the AL West projects to be for Seattle, and if either team were to make it to the World Series, the difference between who they play is marginal enough not to change the likelihood of victory for either franchise.
Tied with the third-best odds, Toronto only trails the Yankees (+1000) and Dodgers (+225) to hang a banner in 2026.
It should be highlighted that even though the Blue Jays have the third-best odds to win the World Series, the gap in implied probability between them and the Dodgers is insanely drastic.
Extension signed, face of the franchise Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is tied with five other players for the fifth-best odds to win the American League MVP award in 2026 at +1600.
Coming off a remarkable Postseason run where Guerrero boasted a 241 wRC+ in 18 games, there’s no doubting that he can’t perform on the biggest of stages. Maybe this spectacular run in October can carry over into the upcoming regular season where the expectations for this Blue Jays group remain very high.
With no clear-cut favorite on the team leading the AL Cy Young odds, Toronto instead has three players all within a reasonable longshot’s chance to win the award.
Out of the three, Gausman figures to be the lean since he most likely has the lowest floor compared to his rotation mates.
With Cease adapting to a new team, league, and pitching environment, generally being cautious of his performance is wise. Yesavage, even after a dominant Postseason run, is technically still a rookie, and as opponents accrue more data against him, they will likely improve.
After it was announced by manager John Schneider on March 19 that Yesavage would begin the season on the IL with a right shoulder impingement, the AL Rookie of the Year race saw some major shifts.
Yesavage, who was once the favorite to win the award, has fallen to the fourth-best odds at +650.
Now, former NPB star Kazuma Okamoto, set to make his MLB debut with the Blue Jays this season, has surpassed the rest of the field to find himself as the favorite at +450.
It should be noted that this race — out of all the award races in the American League — is shaping up to be the closest, and two Blue Jays are either leading or near the top of the pack.
Considering no other Blue Jay is a favorite in their respective award races and the team projections lean towards a regression from their 2025 results, Kazuma Okamoto AL ROTY Winner seems like the profitable Blue Jays future.
Even though Okamoto is just slightly favorited over Tigers’ top prospect Kevin McGonigle (+475), backing up the NPB veteran as he adjusts to the MLB seems safer than banking on the upside of an unproven prospect.
Knowing that this is the most wide-open race out of all the main player awards, sprinkling Trey Yesavage AL ROTY Winner at +650 also makes sense.
Before the injury announcement, Yesavage was the favorite, and if he recovers well without missing much time, he could definitely accrue enough counting stats to qualify in the voter’s minds.
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