Blue Jays Have More Than Doubled Preseason Playoff Odds With Recent Surge

The Toronto Blue Jays were aggressive this offseason, upgrading their roster knowing that the pressure was on to make the postseason.

With the future of All-Stars Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette up in the air as impending free agents, the front office wanted to give the team as good a chance to make a playoff push as possible.

Designated hitter Anthony Santander, starting pitcher Max Scherzer, relief pitcher Yimi Garcia and closer Jeff Hoffman were all signed. Second baseman Andres Gimenez was acquired in a trade from the Cleveland Guardians as well.

Some of the pressure was relieved when it was announced that Guerrero signed a massive 14-year, $500 million extension to remain with the franchise.

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But, the performance of he and his teammates remained inconsistent, as their offseason additions weren’t making as big of an impact as the team had hoped.

The Blue Jays were an incredibly streaky team, performing at a high level for one stretch and then bottoming out, with peaks and valleys being the norm.

They have had 16 streaks of at least three wins or losses this season, and luckily for Toronto, the winning streaks have begun to outnumber the losing ones.

Currently riding a nine-game winning streak, the Blue Jays have used that success to vault to the top of the American League East standings with a 53-38 record.

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That stretch includes a four-game sweep of the New York Yankees, who are now 3.5 games behind Toronto in the standings, as the Blue Jays' playoff odds have more than doubled from the preseason.

As shared by The Athletic (subscription required) in this week’s MLB power rankings, Toronto had preseason playoff odds of 43.6%. Entering play on July 8, those odds have skyrocketed to 87.7%.

They are now a top-10 team in baseball, coming in at No. 8 in the power rankings this week, with the re-emergence of some familiar faces.

“The interesting thing about the Blue Jays’ improvement is, as Mitch Bannon pointed out, it’s coming from many of the same guys who were part of a disappointing 2024. Alejandro Kirk is an All-Star again, George Springer is raking, and Bo Bichette is closer to his old form than whatever he was last year,” wrote Tim Britton of The Athletic.

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Surprisingly effective performances from Ernie Clement, Addison Barger and Nathan Lukes have helped offset the disappointing production of Santander and Gimenez at the plate.

Left field remains a need, and it wouldn’t hurt to add another player capable of playing center field with Daulton Varsho unable to stay healthy.

If Toronto could add another starting pitcher, preferably a controllable one, they would really be in business not only for 2025 but as future playoff contenders as well.

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