3 reasons why the Red Sox surpassed the Blue Jays for a playoff spot after their awful start

Earlier this season, both the Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox were off to awful starts. The Blue Jays sported a 17-23 record over their first 40 games and found themselves near the bottom of the American League East.

The Red Sox happened to be even worse, compiling a dreadful 31-44 record resulting in a full 13 games under the .500 mark with almost half the season in the books.

But in the end, the Red Sox did the improbable, surpassing the Blue Jays and secured a playoff spot in the last week of the 2026 season. Boston became the only team in MLB history to start the season with a 31-44 record through their first 75 games and still make the postseason.

How did Boston manage to accomplish this, while the Blue Jays failed miserably? Let’s take a look at some of the reasons why.

 What factored into the Red Sox turnaround while the Blue Jays continued to slump?

The Red Sox star offensive leaders did their jobs

Star first baseman Willson Contreras rose to the occasion to lead Boston in their offensive attack. With Roman Anthony out for a significant period of time with a hand injury, Contreras led the team with 27 home runs and 81 RBIs along with a .900+ OPS to help carry the club.

On the other hand, Blue Jays star first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had his worst ever MLB campaign in 2026. He hit .263 with a sub .700 OPS, adding nine home runs and 56 RBIs on the year. More significantly, Guerrero grounded into 19 double plays, which ultimately killed many potential rallies for the Blue Jays in the process.

The health of the starting rotation

Outside of injured team ace Garrett Crochet, the Red Sox had a relatively healthy starting rotation for much of the year. Between starters Sonny Gray, Payton Tolle and Ranger Suárez, each of them has made at least 26 starts, with Jake Bennett, Brayan Bello, Patrick Sandoval and Connelly Early (before he was traded) filling in the rest.

The Blue Jays injury ravaged starting rotation was one of the main story lines of the year. Other than José Soriano, who was acquired at the trade deadline, and Kevin Gausman, who was traded at the deadline every other starter landed on the IL at some point.

Only Dylan Cease and Gausman managed to pitch more than 20 games for Toronto, while more than 15 different pitchers ended up having to make starts for the Blue Jays over the course of the year.

The hitting and speed difference

When the going got tough, the Red Sox found ways to win even without their strong pitching. Boston ranked 13th in the league with a .721 OPS and 14th in the league in stolen bases with 105. As a result, Boston was able to power their way at the plate and create havoc on the bases to help them to victory.

The Blue Jays, on the other hand, ranked a dismal 27th in MLB for both OPS (.692) and stolen bases (75). So if their pitching wasn’t on their game, it became quite the rare occurrence that their hitting and speed on the basepaths could help make up for it to power them to victory. Toronto’s inability to hit home runs this year made them a very one-dimensional offence.

The Red Sox found a way to grind it out to turn things around this season while the Blue Jays never took advantage of the opportunities in front of them.

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