Jeff Hoffman's hold on the closer's role could be in jeopardy early in the season

It wasn't the start Jeff Hoffman was looking for in 2026. Sure, he technically picked up the win in Toronto's 3-2 victory over the West Sacramento Athletics on Friday night at Rogers Centre, but it came with the other, more worrisome statistic of a blown save.

In fact it's not just the blown save that drew the ire of many Blue Jays fans one game in, it's how it happened. Brace yourself though, you may have heard this a few times. Hoffman gave up a game-tying home run in the top of the ninth. It was his Achilles heel in 2025 and it's reared it's ugly head once again right off the bat in 2026.

Jeff Hoffman's hold on the closer's role could be in jeopardy early in the season

In 2015, Hoffman led all closers in home runs allowed with 15, 14 of which came in the ninth inning, a franchise record for the Blue Jays. It also doesn't include the one he allowed to Miguel Rojas in the ninth inning of Game 7 when the Blue Jays were two outs away from winning the World Series. Although, that was the only home run Hoffman allowed in the entire postseason, so there is that.

But standing on the mound at Rogers Centre for the first time since that fateful night, Hoffman was hoping to put win number one in the books for the Blue Jays as they embark on their journey to defend their AL Championship banner, unveiled in an emotional pregame ceremony before Friday's contest. However, after Hoffman struck out Nick Kurtz to begin the ninth, thanks to a successful ABS challenge by Alejandro Kirk, he allowed a home run to Shae Langeliers on a 2-1 four-seam fastball at the top of the zone.

That home run tied the game 2-2, and to be fair to Hoffman, that's a good pitch, in that count. It was 98.1 mph and Langeliers just put a good swing on it and dropped it over the wall in centre field. Also to be fair to Hoffman, he struck out the side, plus one, as his strikeout of Tyler Soderstrom ended up in a dropped third strike and an error, allowing the Athletics left fielder to reach base.

It's unlikely the Blue Jays give up on Hoffman. In fact the general manager Ross Atkins recently spoke about the fact that they were not actively shopping for a closer in the offseason. But last year, despite Hoffman's struggles at times, he showed at other times how dominant he can be and the Blue Jays didn't really have a reliable back up option.

That's not the case in 2026. In fact the two guys who pitched ahead of Hoffman could conceivably but pushed into a ninth inning role. Louis Varland, who allowed a hit, a walk, and struck out one batter in his one inning of work, is a workhorse. He set the MLB record for relief appearances in a single postseason with 15 in 2025. He was hitting 99 mph with his four-seam fastball on Friday night and looks like he could be a closer in the making.

Meantime, Tyler Rogers is another option. He pitched in the eighth inning and got three ground ball outs, around a walk, in his lone inning of work. Now, Rogers' career splits aren't great for his work in the ninth inning. In 55.1 innings pitched he has a 4.07 ERA and opposing hitters have batted .271 with a .711 OPS against him. In the eighth inning though, hitters have hit just .238with a .600 OPS in 242 innings, to a tune of a 2.34 ERA. So he might be better left in that eighth inning role.

But there are options, and guys like Varland can start turning the heat up on the closers role soon if Hoffman falters further out of the gate.