Several Blue Jays finally showing what this team needed all along

The Toronto Blue Jays have been playing some of their best baseball of the season lately, most recently picking up an impressive series win against the heavyweight Philadelphia Phillies over the weekend.

They entered Monday still just 3.5 games back of the final American League wild card, albeit with several teams ahead of them in the standings. Their playoff odds are justifiably slim. Yet recent performances from key players on the rosters are reminders of what could have been for this group. 

Blue Jays fans have a right to ask the question: where has this team been all season? 

Why have the Blue Jays been winning games all of a sudden?

Those three games against the Phillies exemplified what the Blue Jays are doing right now that they weren’t in the first half of the season. 

First is hitting in the clutch, best exemplified in Philadelphia by Andrés Giménez and Nathan Lukes. The former came through with three late RBIs in Saturday’s come-from-behind victory, ultimately setting the stage for Lukes’ game-winning home run in the eleventh inning. 

Lukes has been a solid contributor for most of 2026, but Giménez has been dreadful offensively for large stretches of the year. While nobody should expect him to be one of the team’s best hitters, it’s amazing how much better the offense performs when he contributes at the plate. 

Alejandro Kirk has been much better at the plate as well, looking much more like the player he was last year rather than a guy playing through a broken thumb. 

On the starting pitching side, solid performances from Shane Bieber and Max Scherzer have also been a welcome sight. 

The fact Bieber wasn’t moved at the trade deadline was certainly a surprise, and several contending teams around the league are probably kicking themselves right now for not acquiring him. He’s kept the Blue Jays in the game in four of his last five starts, with a weird, rain-soaked disaster in Washington being the lone exception. 

It’s hard not to wonder how the season might have shaken out had the Blue Jays had even this version of Bieber from the get-go. The same can be said for Scherzer, who was excellent on Saturday as he climbed to 10th on MLB’s all-time strikeout leaderboard. 

Scherzer has allowed just three runs total over his last two starts, which is in stark contrast to his early-season performance. He finally looks healthy after battling several injuries over the first few months of 2026. 

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. remains the elephant in the room for this team, however. He hit a home run in a return from a multi-game absence on Saturday, but failed to build on that performance in Sunday’s loss. Whether he can actually get back on track before time runs out remains to be seen. 

Still, it’s hard to argue that the Blue Jays don’t look like a much better team right now—this season could have gone completely differently had they gotten performances such as these before selling at the trade deadline. 

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow