What are the biggest successes and failures among Blue Jay players in 2025?

After winning 74 games in 2024, not many would've predicted the Toronto Blue Jays to be sitting in first place of the AL East in mid-September this season. However, the Blue Jays have caught the eyes of the baseball world with their excellent play.

The Blue Jays have the best record in the American League, and are seeking their first division title in a decade. 2025 could also be the first time since 1993 that the Blue Jays finished with the best record in baseball. As the regular season is winding down, we have a very big sample to conclusively say which Blue Jays players are having success and which ones are not.

Clement and Hoffman's impact in 2025 are obvious

On Sept. 16, Bradford Doolittle of ESPN wrote an article titled "Biggest 2025 success, failure for all 30 MLB teams." Each team had a player for the biggest success and failure selected by Doolittle. For the Blue Jays, Doolittle named Ernie Clement as the biggest success and Jeff Hoffman as the biggest failure.

Not many would have picked Clement to be as important to the Blue Jays roster as he has been. However, Clement has raised his game in 2025 to become an under rated player around the league.

Clement became an everyday player in the lineup due to his defense. Doolittle compared Clement to Ben Zobrist's defense during his World Series championship seasons which he won as a member of the Kansas City Royals and Chicago Cubs. This season, Clement is third on the Blue Jays in hits and doubles and has set career highs in hits, runs scored, doubles and walks drawn in 2025.

However, Hoffman has hurt the Blue Jays in 2025, according to Dolittle. Hoffman had early success into the season, but his pitching has taken a hit since. Hoffman's seven losses in 2025 is a new career-high, and his 4.64 ERA is a drop off from his 2024 ERA of 2.17 as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies. Thirty-three of Hoffman's 34 runs allowed this season have been earned runs and it’s safe to say there is reasonable concern with Hoffman's abilities to close out tight games in October.

"If Toronto's feel-good season is going to last deep into October, the Jays really need Hoffman to be part of the happy tidings," Doolittle wrote.

The 2025 season is not done and the Blue Jays can clinch a postseason spot soon, but the quicker the better for the team. Both Clement and Hoffman have a chance to help the Blue Jays more before the regular season ends on Sept. 28.