Situational baseball is dragging the Blue Jays down this season

Last year, the Toronto Blue Jays made it a point of honor to be opportunistic and excel at situational baseball. That run took them all the way to Game 7 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, where they were just two outs away from the title.

This season, however, it's a completely different story. Admittedly, this can be partly explained by the number of injuries the Toronto team has had to deal with and the fact that two of the team's best hitters, George Springer and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., haven't been producing any power in 2026.

But the Blue Jays' inability to play good situational baseball is widespread.

The proof? With runners in scoring position, the Jays' hitters have a .235 batting average, a low .662 OPS, and a 21% strikeout rate. Nothing to write home about.

Saturday's game against the New York Yankees was the prime example, as starter Kevin Gausman pitched seven near-perfect innings, but the offense managed just one hit in ten opportunities with at least one runner in scoring position.

If the players need to take a hard look at themselves to try to find a solution for these critical situations, manager John Schneider needs to do the same.

In what world did rookie Charles McAdoo stay at the plate with the game on the line, when Guerrero Jr. and Alejandro Kirk were available off the bench?

And why wasn't Ben Rice sent to first base—which was unoccupied—in the ninth inning of yesterday's (Sunday) game, also against the Bombers, while Jasson Dominguez was in the on-deck circle?

This kind of thing, along with a lack of opportunism, simply can't happen anymore if the Blue Jays want to stay in the race.

Created by humans, assisted by AI.