Which former Blue Jays could be playoff bound?

The 2025 MLB playoffs are just around the corner.

On Sunday, the Toronto Blue Jays punched their ticket to October baseball, the fourth time in the past six seasons. They had contributions from all 28 players, as well as plenty of others no longer on the big league roster or even in the organization.

But what about former players? Let’s take a look at which Blue Jays could participate in the playoffs this season. We’ll be including teams that are still four or fewer games away from a postseason position.

American League

There is only one former Blue Jay on the New York Yankees, Ryan Yarbrough. The left-handed pitcher was on the Blue Jays Spring Training roster before signing with the Yankees before the start of the season. In a bulk-inning role, Yarbrough has a 4.36 ERA and 5.05 FIP in 64 innings pitched.

Sticking with the American League East, the Boston Red Sox have two former Blue Jays on their roster: left-handed pitcher Steven Matz and Rob Refsynder. Matz only pitched one season with the Jays, all the way back in 2021, before signing with the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals sent him to the Red Sox before the 2025 trade deadline, and Matz has a 2.21 ERA in 20.1 innings pitched since the trade.

Refsnyder’s tenure with the Blue Jays was even shorter, registering just 58 plate appearances in 2017, before bouncing around the league and finding a home with the Red Sox. This season, he has a 133 wRC+ in nine plate appearances.

Those three players are the only players in the American League who could factor into the 2025 postseason. There is another Blue Jay on a playoff-bound team, Trent Thornton, but he is out for the rest of the season due to a left achilles tear.

Surprisingly, no former Blue Jays play for the Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Guardians, or the Houston Astros.

National League

While there may not be a whole lot of former Blue Jays on American League playoff-bound clubs, that can’t be said for teams in the National League who are still in the race. The Chicago Cubs have three former Blue Jays: Matthew Boyd, Reese McGuire, and Justin Turner. It would be four, but Nate Pearson was designated for assignment recently.

There are two National League West clubs with three former Blue Jays: the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Starting with the latter because they’ve already clinched a berth, Teoscar Hernández is the headliner, but Anthony Banda and Kirby Yates also spent a brief time with the Jays. The latter is one of three players on this list who never played for the Blue Jays.

As for the Giants, who are three games back of a wild card spot, Matt Chapman, Robbie Ray, and Matt Gage are the three former Blue Jays on the roster. Gage’s tenure was brief, but Ray won the 2021 American League Cy Young with the Jays.

Sticking with National League West teams, the San Diego Padres have two former Blue Jays. Will Wagner is one of just two players on this list who played for the Blue Jays this season. He was traded to the Padres for Brandon Valenzuela before the start of the season. The other player is Mason McCoy, who had a cup of tea with the Jays in 2023. They acquired him for Trent Thornton.

Like Thornton, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. will miss the playoffs if the Arizona Diamondbacks make it, as he tore his ACL at the beginning of the month. The 2023 National League pennant winners are just one game back of the wild card spot, and Gabriel Moreno could help lead them to October baseball.

We can’t continue to look at NL West teams because the Colorado Rockies are horrendous, but there are still quite a few former Blue Jays. In the National League Central, Danny Jansen plays for the Milwaukee Brewers, and Yosver Zulueta is on the Cincinnati Reds’ 40-man roster. Lastly, Matt Svanson pitches for the St. Louis Cardinals after the Blue Jays traded him for Paul DeJong, with McCoy replacing DeJong shortly after. The Brewers are going to finish with the best record in MLB, the Reds hold a wild card spot, and the Cardinals are four games out.

Tied with the Reds for the final wild card spot in Richard Lovelady of the New York Mets. Lovelady, like Wagner, is the other player to have played for the Blue Jays in 2025, and he had a 6.75 ERA in 8 innings pitched with the Mets.

The Philadelphia Phillies are going to finish first in the National League East, and they have two former Blue Jays on the roster. Tim Mayza struggled mightily in 2024 and was designated for assignment, ending up on the American League pennant-winning New York Yankees. He could win another pennant, and this season, he has a 4.30 ERA and 4.58 FIP in 14.2 innings pitched.

Also playing for the Phillies is Taijuan Walker, who was acquired at the 2020 trade deadline for Alberto Rodríguez. He’s pitched in a bulk-reliever role this season, authoring a 4.18 ERA and 5.11 FIP in 120.2 innings pitched.

Lastly, don’t count the Miami Marlins out of the postseason race, as they are 9-1 in their last 10 and are in the midst of a six-game winning streak, four games back of the wild card spot. As high as I was on Otto López when he was a Blue Jays’ prospect, I never expected him to hit 15 home runs with Gold Glove calibre in the middle of the infield.

Griffin Conine never played for the Blue Jays’ big league team, joining Yates and Zulueta. Conine, traded to the Marlins for Jonathan Villar, has hit one home run in 71 plate appearances this season.