Blue Jays watched Brewers succeed with the offensive formula Toronto abandoned

As the Toronto Blue Jays' disappointing 2026 season comes to a merciful end, they can look to a National League powerhouse that has become one of the most efficient offences despite producing similarly puny power numbers. 

The Milwaukee Brewers have MLB’s best record (99-59 going into Sept. 24) and are second in the majors in runs scored (810) and runs per game (5.13) despite hitting the second-fewest home runs (151) in MLB. 

The team below them? That would be the Blue Jays, who have hit just 150 homers, despite a lineup featuring sluggers Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and George Springer, and powerful newcomer Kazuma Okamoto. The big difference is that Toronto is near the bottom in runs (636, 29th in MLB) and runs per game (4.0, last)

A big reason for the offensive disparity is that Milwaukee is hitting .275 with runners in scoring position (2nd in MLB) and has scored the most runs in these situations (653), with the most hits (417) and the highest OPS (.801). The Blue Jays have hit .243 with runners in scoring position (T-24th), with 466 runs (27th).

Brewers did most of their damage in big moments while the Blue Jays couldn't come through

The Brewers have also hit more than a third of their home runs (51) with runners in scoring position, the third-highest total in the big leagues. The Blue Jays have hit 34 long balls in the same scenarios, the second-fewest in baseball. 

A better comparison would be to contrast the opportunistic Brewers with last season’s American League Champions Blue Jays squad. 

Last season, Toronto led the majors with a .265 team batting average, while Milwaukee is currently batting .257 (T-3rd) as a team. The Blue Jays scored 798 runs last season, or 12 less runs than the Brewers with four games to go, and averaged 4.98 runs per game, 0.20 fewer runs/game than the Brew Crew.

Toronto was closer to the middle-of-the-pack in home runs last season, with 191 dingers (tied for 11th), 40 more than Milwaukee hit this season. Milwaukee has excelled at scoring runs once they get on base, leading the league in run scoring percentage at 34%, compared to 32% for the Blue Jays last season. 

While Toronto had the best RISP average last year (.292, compared to .279, 2nd in MLB in 2025), they had the third-lowest stolen base total (77), less than half of the Brewers 159. That meant some of those hits didn’t lead to runs, and Milwaukee scored 42 more runs with runners in scoring position.

Toronto hit just 42 of their homers with runners in scoring position, nine fewer than Milwaukee, and the Blue Jays also ran into 47 outs on the basepaths in 2025, compared to 38 for the Brewers this season.

Milwaukee took Toronto’s blueprint of a contact-first approach, timely hitting, smart baserunning, and sharp fielding, and improved upon it to the tune of a 6-10 win improvement. The Blue Jays will attempt to re-establish this gameplan following a vital offseason and looming labor disruption this winter.  

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