SAN FRANCISCO – This especially miserable offensive rut the Toronto Blue Jays are in isn’t going to last forever. Eventually, they’re going to resume scoring runs at a better clip, even if just at the still-wanting-but-better-than-this levels they’d been at for most of the season.
So, to avoid thinking in prisoner-of-the-moment terms, what the Blue Jays need to figure out leading into the Aug. 3 trade deadline is, first, how much can they reasonably expect their lineup to correct under the given circumstances, and second, what can they do in the market to upgrade and better leverage the group they have.
Without a substantial turnaround soon, a third option they may be forced to consider is whether to step back and sell-off some expiring assets, an option that would have been unfathomable at the start of the year.
Yet after a 10-1 thumping from the San Francisco Giants on Monday night, they’re a season-high seven games below .500 at 42-49, unravelling after Kazuma Okamoto’s solo shot in the sixth ended a stretch of 29 innings without a run, the fifth-longest in team history. And while the uber-average American League hasn’t run away from them, eventually they’ll be out of runway for their performance to normalize.
Heading into the day, Fangraphs’ objective playoff odds still gave them a 26.4 per cent chance of reaching the post-season, underlining the talent on the roster. But it’s got to start happening with the players on the roster now, as there isn’t much help imminently arriving with Jesus Sanchez (ankle) just starting to hit and run and Addison Barger (back, elbow) in stasis.
To that end, manager John Schneider and the coaching staff urged hitters to “get out of the individual stuff” and “put together a team approach,” getting back to the “nine-on-one mentality” that was so key to their 2025 success.
“We need to do a better job of generating some traffic and swinging with a little bit more intent,” he continued. “I know I said (Sunday) they bullied us with fastballs. So if that’s going to be the case, you’ve got to throw some uppercuts instead of just putting the ball in play. We’ve talked about that. … Trying a lot, but it really comes down to not one person worrying about themself, it’s the nine out there worrying about the nine.”
To try and spark some change, Schneider pushed Ernie Clement up to the leadoff spot, and while he reached to open the first and third innings, both rallies quickly fizzled out. Over eight dominant innings of three-hit ball, Landen Roupp largely lived on the edges of the zone, with the Blue Jays rarely putting balls over the heart of the plate into play.
That’s a tough way to get to damage.
Meanwhile, the malaise at the plate crept into the rest of their game, as Andres Gimenez’s wild relay to third as the ball from Heliot Ramos’ triple in the first came back to the infield allowed the right-fielder to score the game’s first run.
Kevin Gausman allowed a second run in the third on Willy Adames’ double-play ball and another in the fourth when the Giants, with runners on the corners, caught the Blue Jays napping and executed a delayed double steal, Victor Bericoto coming home.
Then in the sixth, when Okamoto’s massive drive to left-centre gave the offence a touch of life, they came apart, the third baseman missing a potential double-play ball that led to a five-run frame. The Giants piled on from there, too.
That’s why traffic on the bases is good, putting pressure on the pitcher and the defence and creating havoc. The Blue Jays have been trying all year to get back to that, and it remains a moving target.
Asked why that is, Schneider replied, “the obvious answer is you need some guys that have performed at a higher level to do that.”
“I always say that we’re at our best when everyone’s kind of feeding off of one another,” he continued. “When you look at it as a whole, if you’re not hitting homers and not walking, it’s tough to generate any kind of consistent traffic. So you need a couple of guys to get going, Kirkie, Varsh, Vlad, George, and you need the rest of the guys to follow suit a little bit. And I think that when a few of those guys aren’t getting as many hits consistently or producing as many runs, it can kind of get to that one or two trying to do too much, and then everyone else is trying to do too much. So you’ve got to have some guys that you expect to do it, do it.”