José Rodríguez debut highlights how badly Blue Jays’ pitching depth collapsed

The Toronto Blue Jays have had a complete whirlwind of a season in 2026, following up their AL pennant-winning campaign from a year ago with one of the most confusing seasons in baseball. Whereas Blue Jays fans earlier this year would've predicted the team winning the AL East division or at the very least not being one of the worst offensive teams in MLB in 2026.

Where did it all go wrong for the Jays this season? There's a seemingly endless number of problems to point to, from underperforming stars to an inability to score runs. However, one way to sum up Toronto's season is to point at the amount of injuries they've dealt with.

In particular, their pitching staff has been taxed unlike ever before, as the Blue Jays have set a franchise record for the most pitchers used in a season with 40. While in and of itself this doesn't necessarily indicate a poor pitching staff, it does shine a light on the revolving door of arms and the lack of reliability that Toronto's dealt with, especially with their starting rotation.

Earlier this year it seemed as though the Blue Jays had one of the deepest and well-rounded pitching staffs in MLB. Instead, their rotation has been unraveling throughout the season.

What happened to the Blue Jays' pitching depth?

Long story short, some of their key pitchers got bitten hard by the injury bug. Offseason signing Cody Ponce was primed for a breakout season in his return to MLB, but completely tore his right ACL during his first start. Trey Yesavage looked to be a Rookie of the Year favourite but he suffered a knee injury in August that kept him out for about a month.

Ponce is currently on the 60-day IL, joining the likes of Bowden Francis, José Berríos, Yimi García, Jake Bloss, and Patrick Corbin. Over this past offseason, Toronto was touted as having some of the best pitching depth in all of MLB thanks to their signings of Dylan Cease and Ponce to an already-stacked rotation.

However, this 'depth' has actually turned into quite a weak spot. 15 different Blue Jays have started games this year, making for one of the busiest rotations in baseball.

José Rodríguez became the 40th pitcher to appear in a game for the Jays this season, pitching in just 3.1 innings for Triple-A Buffalo after being acquired from the Dodgers on Sept. 1. Rodríguez getting called up and receiving crucial MLB innings in September for a postseason-hopeful team is perfectly emblematic of the chaotic and odd circumstances the Jays have found themselves in with their pitching staff this year.

Out of Toronto's 157 games thus far this season, 62 of them were started by pitchers who are no longer on the team's active roster, whether due to injury, trade, or DFA reasons. For a team that was trying their best to string together any potential miracles to make the postseason, they simply haven't had the consistency in their rotation to make that happen.

In a potential postseason series, it's clear that Cease would start Game 1 and José Soriano would start Game 2, but the plan from that point on would have been complete chaos. While the bullpen has been a pillar of absolute stability, thanks to the incredible performances from the likes of Louis Varland, Spencer Miles, Tyler Rogers, it would have been incredibly hard to win more than one playoff series with that kind of plan.

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