It's fair to make the claim the Blue Jays have underachieved in general this season, especially when you consider the talent on the roster. Even allowing for injuries, they shouldn't be ranked just tied-16th in scoring.
Perhaps serving as the encapsulation of this underachievement on an individual basis -- fair or not -- is Vladimir Guerrero Jr. And that's despite leading the team in hits, home runs and RBI at the time of writing.
In respect of RBI specifically, Guerrero Jr.'s total of 79 through 134 team games, has him unlikely to reach 100 on the season. (Even though someone with his talent does has the potential to hit 21 over the remaining 28 games.)
This leads to the question of who were the last Blue Jays to reach 100 RBI in a season? Here's a look over the previous 10 years, to see who achieved this feat.
NB - All statistics up to and including August 30
Hernández, Guerrero, Bichette & Semien (all in 2021)
When it comes to the 2021 season, it's a case of 'what if' with the Blue Jays. They ended up missing out on the playoffs by just one game, despite winning 91 times during the regular season.
This is a ballclub which, if they'd qualified, would have been a genuine concern for any team which faced them. They were stacked, as evidenced by scoring the third-most runs in the Majors and having the fifth-best run differential.
One of the main highlights of this, was a lineup which had four players reach the 100-RBI plateau. Yes -- you read that right -- four players.
The Blue Jays were the first team to have four players each reach 100 RBI since the Atlanta Braves, back in 2003. The only other team to achieve this feat to date during the 21st century are the Los Angeles Angels, in 2000.
From a historical perspective the most ever is five players, achieved by the Yankees in 1936. This updated version of 'Murderers' Row' included Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Tony Lazzeri, Bill Dickey and George Selkirk.
Back to 2021, leading the way for the Blue Jays was Teoscar Hernández, with a team -- and career - high 116 RBI. In fact, it was a career-year for Hernández in general, setting single-season bests in hits, home runs, batting average, OBP and runs scored. (He also earned his first All-Star selection.)
Next was Guerrero Jr., with 111 RBI. However, this only told part of the story for a player who, in any other year would have been AL MVP. (He eventually finished second in voting, behind a certain Shohei Ohtani.)
The three-time All-Star was a monster at the plate in 2021, leading the AL in OBP, slugging percentage, OPS and OPS+ while pacing the Majors as a whole in home runs, total bases and runs scored. This was expected to become the norm for him, but as of now the concern is that this will prove to be the exception instead.
Rounding out the foursome were Bo Bichette and Marcus Semien, who both hit 102 RBI. The 2021 campaign representing the coming out party for Bichette, who hasn't stopped hitting since, while Semien used his career year in Toronto to earn a seven-year, $175 million US deal with the Rangers.