Assessing MLB Insider’s New Year’s Resolution for Toronto Blue Jays
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The Toronto Blue Jays just had easily the best season the organization has seen in decades as they made it to their first World Series in over 30 years. However, they came up short against the reigning World Champions, and at no point did it feel like that should have been the outcome.
Time and time again, the Jays were outperforming the Dodgers, and ultimately, the Blue Jays beat themselves more than the Dodgers did. The end-of-game home runs were the final dagger in their coffins and caused the biggest heartbreak these athletes had ever felt.
In game seven of the Fall Classic, the Dodgers hit a home run in the eighth to pull them within one, another in the following inning by Miguel Rojas to send it to extra innings, and then the final dagger came from Will Smith in the 11th to secure their victory.
So, when MLB insider Zachary Rymer (via Bleacher Report) came out with their New Year's Resolution for all 30 ball clubs, it seems extremely fitting that the Blue Jays need to be knocking off the late-game long balls.
"...it was on brand for the Blue Jays to be sunk by a couple of late home runs. Specifically, it was on brand for closer Jeff Hoffman, who gave up 15 homers in 68.0 regular season innings before that fateful shot off Miguel Rojas' bat," said Rymer.
There is no arguing with Rymer in his case for the Jays. Ultimately, their pitching staff was the Achilles heel to their season, and the organization is doing everything in its power to make sure that doesn't happen again.
New Closer in the Pen
It feels like their biggest reliever that they acquired this offseason is likely to be the new closer for the team, Tyler Rogers. Rogers finished 2025 with a 1.98 ERA, and while he wasn't a strikeout machine by any means (48 in 77 innings) he had a mere four home runs in 81 games, exactly what Toronto is looking for.
The only other arm that they have signed to the relief staff is Chase Lee, who the team acquired in a trade from the Tigers. Lee is a low-risk high-reward move as he was exceptional to start the year but had quite the meltdown in the second half of the year.
Jeff Hoffman’s FIP was a 4.90 this season because of the 1.99 HR/9 he allowed.
— Robbie Hyde (@gingersnaphyde) November 2, 2025
That came back to bite him at the worst possible time. pic.twitter.com/rGKZgzpN2M
Opening day is creeping up on the Blue Jays and there is still work to be done but the Rogers move has been one of the best they have made since the end of the World Series. The late inning home runs have to stop for 2026 or they could face the exact same destiny.
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Maddy Dickens resides in Loveland, Colorado. She grew up with two older brothers, where their lives revolved around sports. She earned a master's degree in business management from Tarleton State University while simultaneously playing basketball and competing in rodeo at the collegiate level. She successfully parlayed a reserve national championship into a professional rodeo career and now stays involved in upper-level athletics by writing for On SI on several different MLB teams' pages, along with some NCAA sites.