Toronto Blue Jays Pitching Staff On Pace for Disturbing Franchise Record

It has not seen them fall completely out of the hunt yet, but the Toronto Blue Jays pitching staff is on pace to set a troubling franchise record.

May 16, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Bowden Francis (44) throws against the Detroit Tigers in the first inning at Rogers Centre. | Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images

The Toronto Blue Jays had much higher aspirations for their 2025 campaign after an offseason that saw them acquire slugging outfielder Anthony Santander and veteran pitcher (and future Hall of Famer) Max Scherzer. To this point, the success has been hard to come by.

The Blue Jays enter Sunday with a 22-23 record, good enough for third in the American League East. The division as a whole has not been as good as it normally is, but Toronto has failed to get things in gear and lay claim to a division led by the New York Yankees.

There has not been one driving factor for the struggles this year, but a multitude of things. Big name members of the offense have failed to produce at the expected levels, and the rotation has not lived up to the lofty expectations the veterans that comprise it have set for themselves. The pitching staff, as a whole, has really struggled in one key area, and it has the team on pace to shatter a previous single-season record.

Toronto Blue Jays On Pace to Shatter Team's Single-Season Home Runs Allowed Record

Balls have flown out of the park at a high rate this year, specifically against the Blue Jays. At the time of writing, they lead the league in home runs allowed, giving up 68 long balls through their first 45 games.

Some quick math tells us that it is a rate of 1.51 home runs per game. Extrapolated over a full 162-game campaign, Toronto is on pace to allow 245 (244.8) home runs this year, which would shatter the previous team record of 204 set in 2012, and rank 12th all-time in MLB, tied with the 2023 Washington Nationals.

Of the top 25 teams in most home runs allowed over a single season, only one holds a record above .500 (the Yankees from 2019), and one holds a record of exactly .500 (the Philadelphia Phillies from 2019). The 2023 Nationals finished their year with a 71-91 record, and the 2012 Blue Jays, who currently hold the team record, finished their year with a 73-89 mark. Allowing home runs at a high rate is not the way to win games.

Bowden Francis has been the key contributor to this so far. Across 46 1/3 innings in nine starts, he has allowed 14 home runs. No other pitcher on the team has allowed 10 or more, but 17 pitchers, including Francis, have allowed at least one.

Francis leads MLB in home runs allowed this year, ahead of Zack Littell of the Tampa Bay Rays and Jameson Taillon of the Chicago Cubs, who each have 13. They comprise three of only 12 pitchers in baseball this year who have allowed 10 or more home runs.

It has not been great from a pitching perspective, and it is not a conducive way to win games. It makes it hard for the offense to keep up, especially when they are not hitting home runs at the same rate, and puts them in an early hole more often than not.

It is a troubling trend for the team this year, and if they can not figure out how to reverse it, that 13-year-old team record will be shattered.