Blue Jays closer has been better than you think for the last month and proved it in series clincher

Tuesday night was an important night for not just the Toronto Blue Jays, but for their closer, Jeff Hoffman. The 32-year-old got Cody Bellinger to strike out to send Toronto to their first American League Championship Series in nine years.

Hoffman has had a rollercoaster of a season. His early hot start to establish himself as the Blue Jays closer diminished in the summer with erratic appearances and blown saves. Hoffman finished the regular season with 33 saves in 40 attempts with an ERA of 4.37. What would be more alarming is allowing 15 home runs, the most by a closer in 2025.

However, the last month has salvaged his disastrous summer, and it could be argued that he's the go-to guy to close things out. And believe it or not, it's not as wild a thought as one may think.

Hoffman has found his rhythm heading into the playoffs

The date is August 31st against the Milwaukee Brewers. Hoffman is back on the mound after a disastrous appearance the day before. Less than 24 hours before, he gave up three runs in the top of the ninth, which propelled the Brewers to win the game and the series.

Before he pitched that Sunday, Hoffman's ERA was at 5.11, allowing 32 earned runs in 56.1 innings. By that point, he lost the trust of most Blue Jays fans after he was unable to find his location and left too many pitches over the heart of the plate.

In the final game of the series against the Brewers, Hoffman allowed just two hits with no earned runs and a strikeout. It would only be the beginning of an incredible September.

Since August 31st, Hoffman has allowed only seven hits, one earned run, and has put up an ERA of 0.77. To emphasize his ERA, Hoffman led the way in ERA among Blue Jays relievers with a minimum of 10 appearances.

After being lights out in Game 1 against the New York Yankees, despite the earned run in the ninth inning of Game 3, Hoffman continued to get out of his jams, including this clutch bases-loaded situation in the eighth.

Fittingly enough, Hoffman also got the final strikeout of the game with the pitch that the Yankees struggled with all series, the splitter. Hoffman racked up 25 strikeouts with the splitter, but none were more crucial than that final out Wednesday night.

In his postgame interview with Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal, Hoffman spoke about how special it was to see the Blue Jays make the ALCS.

“We put so much work in this year, ups and downs all year long. All the work is showing right now. We're coming out playing really good baseball. [Game 3] we laid out a little bit of a stinker, and came back and showed what we're really all about today."

Hoffman, since late August, has been showing everyone what he has been all about, and the Blue Jays hope that will continue into the ALCS.