Blue Jays' top World Series roadblock just made a difference-making trade we dreaded

Lost in the shuffle of a loaded AL East is that the Toronto Blue Jays will have to compete with other American League superpowers in their quest to repeat as pennant winners in 2026.

Though the AL Central seems devoid of any such teams, the Detroit Tigers still have Tarik Skubal and the Cleveland Guardians have won three of the last four division titles.

It's the AL West that figures to be the greater threat to the Blue Jays, though. The Texas Rangers have retooled behind Brandon Nimmo and MacKenzie Gore, the Houston Astros' rotation has replaced Framber Valdez with Tatsuya Imai and Mike Burrows, and the Seattle Mariners may be even better than last year after acquiring Brendan Donovan.

Mariners' trade for Brendan Donovan could set stage for ALCS rematch with Blue Jays

After pushing Toronto to the limit in the ALCS last year, the Mariners have pulled off the impossible by upgrading their team without trading from their vaunted rotation.

Now, the Mariners did have to pay a pretty penny to bring Donovan in, surrendering top prospect Jurrangelo Cijntje and sterling hot corner defender Ben Williamson as part of the three-team swap. But none of the players they dealt away figured to garner serious playing time on the major-league roster in 2026, making this a successful win-now move for the M's.

Perhaps the most frustrating part of this trade is that the Mariners found a way to more or less keep their elite offense intact despite budget constraints. At the onset of the offseason, it appeared as though they had to choose between keeping Josh Naylor, Eugenio Suárez, or Jorge Polanco. And while they did lose the latter duo after re-signing Naylor, they can now easily plug Donovan into Polanco's spot and let first-round picks Cole Young and Colt Emerson fight it out for Suárez's job at third base.

Oh, and for good measure, the Tampa Bay Rays found yet another three-team trade to thrust themselves into. Just in case this deal couldn't get any less frustrating for Blue Jays fans.

Of course, whether or not Donovan will help bridge the gap between Seattle and Toronto is a question that can only be answered on the field. While the Mariners spent most of the offseason trying to replace talent they lost, the Blue Jays were busy adding Dylan Cease, Kazuma Okamoto, Tyler Rogers, and Cody Ponce to a roster that came within an inning of winning the World Series.

And remember, Bo Bichette missed the entire ALCS last season. His departure hurts, but this Blue Jays roster is significantly better than the one that beat the M's in seven games in October 2025.

Hopefully, that means they can repeat the same feat in October 2026.