A New Year's resolution that the Toronto Blue Jays should aim for in 2026

New Year, new me as the old saying goes. As the Toronto Blue Jays reflect on what made them so successful in 2025, they'll also be looking at the areas that they can improve upon ahead of the 2026 season.

When you get to within two outs of winning the World Series, you have to think that the majority of your year went very very well. And while that is true for the Blue Jays, there was also one issue that seemed to plague them throughout the year, and with a few adjustments already made this offseason, they could build on their 94-68 record thanks to this improvement.

A New Year's resolution the Toronto Blue Jays should be aiming for in 2026

This probably feels obvious, but the Blue Jays had such a discrepancy in home runs for and against at the beginning of the season, it's a minor miracle they pulled to within a -18 home run differential by the time the season ended. That was the worst differential among the American League teams that made the playoffs, just behind Houston at -17, and only San Diego and Cincinnati were worse.

They ended up hitting 191 home runs which tied for 11th in the league, but they allowed 209, which was in the bottom five of the league. Three different starters, José Berrios, Chris Bassitt and Kevin Gausman allowed 20+ home runs each, while Max Scherzer and Bowden Francis allowed 19 each. Those were the the five starters the Blue Jays deployed going into the season. Meantime, relievers Jeff Hoffman, Chad Green, and Yariel Rodriguez allowed a combined 37 home runs out of the bullpen.

The silver lining with that group is that only two of those players are currently slated for full time roles with the Blue Jays next season. Bassitt, and Scherzer are both free agents, Green was released in the middle of the season and Rodriguez was DFA'd at the beginning of December. Berrios is expected to be in the rotation - pending any further moves by the Blue Jays, and Francis is recovering from an injury and will have to earn his spot back.

Replacing some of those names are Dylan Cease, Cody Ponce and Tyler Rogers. While Cease allowed 21 home runs with the Padres in 2025, he's got a career 1.1 HR/9 and is projected to bring that down to 1.0, which is better than the projections are giving Bassitt, Scherzer and Berrios. Meantime, Rogers career 0.6 HR/9 should bring down those numbers from within the bullpen. Ponce is a bit of an unknown but his numbers from Korea show a 0.5 HR/9 rate which would have been the best mark among any Blue Jays pitcher that threw at least 50 innings last season.

On the offensive side of the equation, the Blue Jays managed to be middle of the pack without having anyone hit more than 32 home runs and only four players even reached 20. If the Blue Jays get Anthony Santander back and fully healthy for a full season, he might be able to make up that -18 difference himself if everyone else replicates their home run totals. Santander hit just six home runs in 54 games last year but there's been positive news about his status all offseason.

As well, bringing back Bo Bichette, signing Kyle Tucker, Alex Bregman, or Cody Bellinger, or doing a combination of any of those things could also bring up the power numbers of the Blue Jays in 2026. The Blue Jays only significant loss this offseason in their lineup is that of Bichette, who brought 18 home runs to the table last year.

But it isn't a loss if they manage to sign him, and in fact the Blue Jays can only make upgrades from this point forward. Last year, they entered the season with Alan Roden and Will Wagner as the starters in right field and DH respectively. If they make no further moves at this point, those positions will be taken up by a combination of Nathan Lukes, Anthony Santander, George Springer and Addison Barger, which already feels like a much better starting point.

If they do get Bichette back, plus any of the other free agents mentioned they'll be adding a player who equaled or surpassed what Bichette did himself in 2025. Bregman hit 18, Tucker got to 22 and Bellinger topped them all with 29. While the Blue Jays offense was structured around ways to overcome the lack of power at times and just wear opposing pitching staffs down, they could also help themselves right out of the gate if they can find ways to even out that -18 home run differential in 2026.