Blue Jays Will Be Without Chris Bassitt for Rest of Regular Season
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The Toronto Blue Jays were just dealt a major blow.
As they try to close out their first division title in a decade, they'll have to do it without one of their workhorse starting pitchers, as the Blue Jays announced they have moved Chris Bassitt to the 15-day injured list with what they are calling lower back inflammation.
This comes at a time when it was revealed that Jose Berrios would move into the bullpen and after Max Scherzer was lit up on Friday for seven earned runs in the first inning. Considering Toronto has been coasting to the finish line in a way that has made their AL East lead a little too close for comfort, this news couldn't have come at a worse time.
ROSTER MOVES:
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) September 20, 2025
🔹 LHP Mason Fluharty recalled from Triple-A and will be active tonight
🔹 RHP Chris Bassitt (low back inflammation) placed on 15-day IL pic.twitter.com/3KKrtBBgMA
Bassitt has a 3.96 ERA on the year across 32 appearances (31 starts). His ERA+ is nine points above the league average and he's been able to limit hard contact against him while increasing his strikeout rate and lowering his walk rate compared to when he struggled last season.
All of that has resulted in another solid campaign for the veteran starting pitcher, and he was expected to be key part of this rotation in the playoffs. That still is the case, as he will be eligible to come off the 15-day IL when Game 1 of the ALDS is set to get underway, but how he's going to look after the layoff is anyone's guess at this point.
In the meantime, Mason Fluharty will take Bassitt's spot on the active roster. This is the left-hander's third stint with Toronto this season, and he currently owns a 4.91 ERA and 87 ERA+ across his 51 appearances.
How Blue Jays Might Replace Chris Bassitt for Remainder of Regular Season
At the time of writing, no explanation has been given by Toronto about how they are going to set up their starting rotation for the remainder of the regular season. But since Fluharty is a reliever and he's not a like-for-like replacement of Bassitt, the Blue Jays will likely have to shuffle things around a bit.
The first thought would be to move Berrios back into the starting rotation since that would be an easy fix. However, since they are planning to use him out of the bullpen in October, getting him used to that role might also be something they try to do.
If that's the case, then perhaps they move Eric Lauer back into the rotation since he's more accustomed to moving between a starting and reliever role. With only a couple more turns needed before the playoffs get underway, Toronto just needs a quick solution that will allow them to have Kevin Gausman and Shane Bieber ready for the first two games of their upcoming playoff series.
How they go about that will be something to monitor.
