Blue Jays May Have to Deal with Surprise Team in Quest to Win AL East Again
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It feels safe to say that the American League East is one of the most difficult divisions in baseball right now as third place in 2025, the Boston Red Sox, would have won the AL Central, and the fewest amount of games won by any team was 75.
The depth in the AL East is almost hard to fathom, and it wasn't until the final weekend of the season that a team was crowned a champion. The Toronto Blue Jays ended up stealing the division from the New York Yankees, but the Red Sox and the Yankees will not be the only concern for the Jays chances at repeating.
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So, who is? Surprisingly, it is the Baltimore Orioles, even though they finished in last place by the end of the 2025 season. However, this ballclub was riddled with injuries, and their offseason has been nearly as spectacular as Toronto's.
New Face For The Orioles
If someone said that Pete Alonso would be a part of the Baltimore Orioles during the 2025 season, they would have been deemed crazy. The five-time All-Star and two-time Home Run Derby champion is easily the most impressive addition that the Orioles made this offseason, but the Orioles also made sure to retain starting pitcher Kyle Bradish.
Bradish has posted three consecutive seasons for Baltimore, where he has posted a sub-3.00 ERA to complement a WHIP no higher than 1.07. The 29-year-old is seemingly continuing to get better, and it was crucial for their success to keep him on the roster.
It is hard to wrap one's mind around how a 75-win team last year could be in contention for a division title after one offseason. But Blue Jays fans have seen this happen once before, so they know better than anyone that it is not far-fetched.
Blue Jays With The Offensive Upper Hand
No matter how good a pitching staff is, Toronto's depth in the hitting rotation gives them the edge over anybody else. Even with the loss of Bo Bichette, the Jays have a plethora of Silver Slugger Award winners including George Springer, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Alejandro Kirk.
Toronto went toe to toe with arguably the pitchers in baseball on the biggest stage a few months ago, and nearly pulled off the upset of the decade. At the end of the day, repeating as a division title winner is more than doable, but it is going to be a rocky road getting there.
GEORGE SPRINGER
— MLB (@MLB) October 21, 2025
THREE-RUN SHOT
BLUE JAYS LEAD 🤯 pic.twitter.com/Qh7qwqYpRx
The Orioles won't be the only ones contending for this title, but it seems like a near guarantee that it is going to take 90 or more wins to get it done. That would be quite the turnaround for Baltimore, but with Alonso leading the charge, do not count them out.
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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.