Blue Jays' Problems Are About More Than Just Brutal Injuries

The Toronto Blue Jays' early season struggles can't be solely blamed on their brutal string of injuries.

Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider | Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

As losses continue to pile up for the Toronto Blue Jays — they've lost 12 of their past 15 games entering Sunday — the easy explanation is to point to an over-sized injury list.

As of right now, Trey Yesavage, Shane Bieber, José Berríos, Cody Ponce, George Springer, Addison Barger, Alejandro Kirk, Anthony Santander, Bowden Francis, Ricky Tiedemann, Yimi Garcia and Lazardo Estrada are all sidelined with varying ailments and various return timetables. And that's not even including Daulton Varsho, who left Friday night's game in Arizona with left knee discomfort and is day-to-day.

Tough as it is to overcome the loss of four starting pitchers and four would-be regulars in the everyday lineup, there are other problems plaguing the Blue Jays that have set the club back even further.

What (Else) Is Wrong With the Blue Jays?

Toronto Blue Jays relief pitcher Jeff Hoffman | Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images

Unlike most of his teammates, Jeff Hoffman has remained healthy through the early stages of the 2026 campaign — much to the chagrin of many Toronto fans. Currently sporting a 7.71 ERA and a 2.04 WHIP, he has struggled with command (eight walks in 9.1 innings) en route to a league-leading three blown saves so far.

Even with an apparent demotion from John Schneider into the eighth inning role during Saturday's game against the Diamondbacks, things didn't get any better for Hoffman. Entering what was a 2-2 game, he surrendered two hits, a walk and, ultimately, a Corbin Carroll grand glam that promptly put Arizona up 6-2 before an out was even recorded in the inning.

Thanks to the struggles of Hoffman and Brendon Little's woeful start before being optioned to Triple-A Buffalo, the Blue Jays' bullpen is not where the club hoped it would be. The club's relief corps is currently sporting a 4.86 ERA — good for 22nd in baseball — and have converted just two saves in nine opportunities. Even the oft-maligned 2025 unit finished 16th with a 3.98 ERA.

Moving away from pitching, the offense simply hasn't performed to expectation. As it currently stands, they are tied for 26th in runs scored (73), a whopping 45 runs behind the league-leading Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals. Their .679 OPS places them 20th across baseball. Although they don't strike out much (MLB-low 139 strikeouts), they also don't draw many walks (59, good for 30th over-all).

Sure, you can point to injuries here, as Springer, Barger, Kirk, Varsho and even Santander figured to be significant component's of Toronto's offensive attack. However, no member of that group outside of Varsho (who has only missed a game) was producing up to expectation even when they were healthy.

Perhaps the most indicative sign that something is off with this year's Blue Jays comes in their defensive difficulties.

Fielding was, theoretically, an area of improvement this winter after Bo Bichette left for the New York Mets, enabling Ernie Clement to move to second base, Andres Gimenez to shift to shortstop and inserting Kazuma Okamoto at third. To date, though, Toronto ranks 29th in fielding percentage (.978, seven percentage points off their 2025 mark) and fourth in errors (16).

Optimistic Blue Jays fans will be quick to point out that the club was just 16-20 as late as May 7 last season and didn't truly turn things around until the end of May. That said, they never dipped as far as six games below .500 at any point last season, nor were they burdened by the expectations that come with being a reigning American League pennant winner.

There is still plenty of time to turn things around, and maybe the return of a few sidelined players does the trick. But while Toronto waits for its injured list to get a bit smaller, there are other troubling signs that will need to be addressed in order to right the ship.