Blue Jays vs. Cubs Preview: Toronto hopes to have key players return from the IL soon

The Toronto Blue Jays come home after a somewhat successful 4-2 road trip that included a dramatic finish to Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Rookie pitcher Mason Fluharty was tasked to bail out closer Jeff Hoffman by facing both three-time MVP Shohei Ohtani and one-time MVP Mookie Betts with the bases loaded during the ninth inning of the series finale. Fluharty delivered perhaps the memory of a lifetime by striking out Ohtani and then getting Betts to ground out for his first ever MLB save in historic fashion.

The Blue Jays will now begin a six-game homestand on Tuesday when they take on the Chicago Cubs for a three-game set. Toronto hasn’t faced the Cubs too often during interleague play, holding an even 12-12 record against them in 24 contests. However, Chicago has held the upper hand in recent years, having taken five of their past seven meetings against the Jays dating back to 2022.

Blue Jays vs. Cubs Preview: Toronto hopes to have key players return from the IL soon

The Jays will be looking forward to some much-needed reinforcements that could rejoin their lineup in the coming week. Among them, second baseman Andrés Giménez appears all but ready to go and will likely become one of the first ones to make it back to the ballclub.

Despite a less-than-stellar start to his Jays tenure in 2025, Giménez actually was heating up just prior to his left ankle injury as he batted an impressive .476 with a 1.161 OPS, along with four runs scored, one home run and nine RBIs in the seven games leading up to it. Hopefully, the 26-year-old infielder will be able to regain that success upon his return to Toronto.

More notably, huge trade deadline acquisition Shane Bieber is getting really close to making his debut with the Blue Jays. Bieber posted another strong start with Triple-A Buffalo, allowing just two runs on four hits while striking out six in 5 2/3 innings of work. The word is he likely needs just one more rehab start before finally joining the club for the stretch run to officially activate “Bieber fever” in Toronto. 

As for star outfielder George Springer, he was suppose to participate in live games last week and then set to rejoin the Jays this week. However, his rehab stint has been delayed as he as yet to appear in a rehab game with Buffalo. Nevertheless, Jays manager John Schneider has given the reassurance that Springer was feeling better with each day. Hopefully, once he gets back into a couple of rehab games, so that the 35-year-old veteran can make his way back to Toronto as soon as possible.

As for the pitching matchups for the three-game series, the Blue Jays will have the trio of José Berríos (8-4, 3.89 ERA), Kevin Gausman (8-8, 3.85 ERA) and Max Scherzer (2-2, 4.21 ERA) hitting the mound. The Cubs will counter with their own trio of Ben Brown (5-7, 6.04 ERA), Cade Horton (6-3, 3.18 ERA) and former Blue Jay Matthew Boyd (11-5, 2.45 ERA). 

With the Cubs losing four of their past six games, along with the Jays having one of the best home records in all of baseball, it is time for Toronto to capitalize on the prime opportunity to further expand their American League East division lead.