Blue Jays are finally playing good baseball, keeping wild card hopes alive

It’s taken well into the second half of the 2026 season, but the Toronto Blue Jays are finally looking like the team they were supposed to be—albeit with many different faces. 

The Blue Jays entered Wednesday in the middle of an 11-5 stretch, having taken the first two games of four against the red-hot Boston Red Sox. They’ve also picked up series wins against the Philadelphia Phillies, Houston Astros, and St. Louis Cardinals. 

They managed to make it three in a row against Boston in exciting fashion. They scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth to take a 6-1 lead. The Red Sox chipped away, but Louis Varland managed to lock things down for a 6-4 win. The Blue Jays are now 59-63 and 1.5 games back of the final Wild Card spot.

After several agonizing months marked with injuries and underperformance, the Blue Jays are finally stringing together some wins. But is it too little too late? 

What’s changed for the Blue Jays lately? 

The Blue Jays sold at the trade deadline because they’ve been largely incapable of putting it all together in 2026. They haven’t hit well, pitched effectively, and played strong defence all at once.

Still, for most of the year, the Blue Jays’ pitching has been their strength as a team and this has been especially true as of late. Dylan Cease is squarely in the Cy Young mix even after an uneven start on Tuesday night, while Shane Bieber and Max Scherzer appear to be getting healthy.

Those three, coupled with the addition of José Soriano, have given the Blue Jays a competent rotation capable of withstanding an extended absence from Trey Yesavage. Also helping is their improved play on defence. 

Toronto, known for its glovework in recent years, is finally back in the business of saving runs for its pitchers. Andrés Giménez’s fantastic play to throw out Ceddanne Rafaela in the ninth inning of Tuesday night’s win was just the latest example. 

Nathan Lukes, Ernie Clement, and newcomer Brett Bateman—acquired in the Kevin Gausman trade—have all been making an impact on this side of the ball as of late. 

They’ve been contributing offensively, too, with Bateman in particular impressing at the dish. He’s given the lineup a jolt of energy and some much-needed speed on the basepaths. Lukes, meanwhile, has delivered several clutch hits over this recent stretch. 

The re-emergence of Alejandro Kirk has also been a massive boon for the offence. He seems as if he’s finally shaken off the effects of the fractured thumb he suffered in April, racking up base hits and driving runners in when the situation demands it. 

This is the kind of baseball that Blue Jays fans expected to see in April. Had they played like this from the start, they would likely be sitting comfortably in one of the American League wild card spots, instead of fighting for their playoff lives with the season winding down.

The road ahead won’t get easier with the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays next on the schedule. If they can survive this stretch, however, they have a September loaded with matchups against many of the under-.500 teams currently jockeying with them for that last Wild Card spot. 

So, despite everything that’s happened, the 2026 season isn’t over yet. The Blue Jays have hope—and more importantly, are finally playing better baseball. 

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