Blue Jays shut out of Silver Slugger awards highlights their anemic 2026 offense

The Toronto Blue Jays just won the American League Team Gold Glove. The voters felt they were the best defensive team in the league, and gave them the hardware to prove it. It was also the same week in which FanSided announced the Louisville Silver Slugger finalists, and Toronto was nowhere to be found.

Of the 30 teams in baseball, only three have no finalist at all: the Mets in the National League, and the Athletics and the Blue Jays in the American League. The winners will be announced Tuesday, November 17 and the Blue Jays will not be among them.

It is not a surprise, exactly. Everyone who watched the 2026 Blue Jays knows the offence was the problem. But the shutout still lands as a clear verdict in what went wrong last season. The league thinks the Blue Jays can play defense. It does not think the Blue Jays had a group of hitters who could actually hit the ball.

The 2026 Blue Jays finished last in baseball in runs scored (648), last in home runs (152), and last in RBI (616). They were 29th in walks (459), 26th in slugging percentage (.381), and 28th in OPS (.691). Their outfielders finished last in baseball with just 41 home runs as a group. Of the 133 players in the majors who hit more than 15 home runs this season, exactly one was a Blue Jay.

That one was Kazuma Okamoto, and even though he did not get a nomination, he still had a great first year. Okamoto hit .232/.310/.452 with 33 home runs and 92 RBI in 636 plate appearances. He provided the only real power on the roster, with the next closest Blue Jay, George Springer, hitting 15.

The knock on Okamoto is his 28.8 percent strikeout rate and an inconsistent season in which he went through some gigantic cold stretches. But it's the gap between him and everyone else on the roster is the story.

The biggest name missing from the list is Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who hit .260 with nine home runs and 57 RBI in 2026. His .359 slugging percentage ranked fourth among Toronto's five qualified hitters.

He hit his first home run at Rogers Centre on September 13, in the team's 75th home game of the season and his 289th plate appearance at home. A year earlier, he hit eight home runs in 18 postseason games on the way to Game 7 of the World Series. This year he hit nine in 141 regular-season games.

So the 2026 Blue Jays were, by the numbers, the best defensive team in the American League and the worst offensive team in baseball. That is a problem they will be hoping to correct in the offseason.

Silver Slugger shutout should further steer Blue Jays into revamping offense before 2027

The obvious name to start fixing this issue is Seiya Suzuki. The Cubs outfielder hit .270 with 26 home runs, 86 RBI and 81 walks in 143 games this season. His 26 home runs would have ranked second on the Blue Jays, behind only Okamoto, and his 81 walks would have led the club.

MLB insider Ken Rosenthal has already called Toronto a logical fit for Suzuki who also received a qualifying offer from the Cubs. So signing him will cost draft-pick compensation but at this point it should be a draft pick worth giving up. Suzuki is nominated for a National League Silver Slugger among a group of six other outfielders.

The Blue Jays had five nominations for the Silver Slugger award in 2025. Guerrero (1B), Bo Bichette (SS) Springer (OF and DH) and the team award. To go from that group to nothing in one year should be enough motivation to sign guys who find themselves on the list this year.

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