Blue Jays spiral hits the doom and gloom stage after another grim loss. So what now?​on September 25, 2025 at 2:16 am

When the Blue Jays arrived for work at the Rogers Centre on Wednesday, there was no time to lament the harsh reality of the dire situation they’ve put themselves in.

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And by the end of another miserable, non-competitive night, it was staring them in the face.

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Alone in first place atop the AL East since July 3, a mostly heartless, blowout 7-1 loss to the Boston Red Sox combined with the New York Yankees 8-1 thumping of the White Sox and suddenly the Jays and the Bronx Bombers are locked with the same record.

Console yourself with the fact that the Jays possess the tiebreaker if you must, but this tumble has become ugly fast and one of the biggest collapses in franchise history is now shockingly in play.

Console yourself with the fact that the Jays faced sizzling Red Sox starter Garrett Crochet if you must, as well, but the Jays aren’t hitting anybody these days.

For the doom and gloomers, what seemed impossible as recent as a week ago is now a harsh reality.

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By night’s end, a team that eight days previously had a five-game lead over the Yankees and a division lead that was their’s alone since July 3, suddenly had been reduced to a share at 90-68.
As grim as the situation looked heading into Game 158 played before an at times stunned, at times surly less than sellout crowd, it got considerably worse when Max Scherzer allowed five consecutive hits — for three runs — in the first inning.

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The Jays have now dropped six of their past seven. More worrisome: In five of their past seven games, the Jays have scored one run or fewer, a stunning output for a team that was supposed to be gearing up for a meaningful post season run.

With a relegation to the wild-card round very much in play pending how the last, staggering strides of the AL East race unfold, things have become alarmingly serious in a hurry.

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And suddenly, on the eve of playoff tickets going on sale, the Jays shocking tumble has hit the free fall stage.

While maintaining they are not in panic mode — though they might consider it about now — the Jays are already altering their plans for the final four games in a desperate bid to claim the division title. The hope was that the Jays would have been able to take care of business by now allowing the final week to be reserved for final prep to peak on Oct. 4.

Instead, the worst-case reality is right there in front of them — a wild-card date that would start next Tuesday — with no apparent solution. The Jays plan a bullpen day for Thursday’s last of three against the Red Sox, followed by Shane Bieber starting against the Rays on Friday and rookie Trey Yesavage getting the Saturday start.
Should the Jays need a win to claim the division on Sunday, Kevin Gausman will take the ball for Game 162, essentially removing him from Game 1 of a wild-card round should it fall that way.

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No one is expecting it to happen, but if the downward spiral were to reach all the way to the bottom of the bowl, the season could be over by next Wednesday.

What was unthinkable a week ago is possible in the present.

There’s no time to worry about those particulars now, even as things seem to unravel. On Wednesday, frustration boiled over in the seventh inning when Vlad Guerrero Jr. and hitting coach David Popkins were both tossed after sharing their feelings with the home plate umpire. In the ninth, Alejandro Kirk slammed his batting helmet in anger in the Jays dugout.

So are the Jays feeling the heat?

“I think everything is magnified because of where we are with five games left, but they’re the same as they have been all year,” manager John Schneider said prior the game played before a surly crowd that wasn’t a sellout. “So, you try to not put too much into the last four or five games.

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“You’ve got to figure out a way to scratch and claw against a really good pitcher (on Wednesday) and try to win a series.”

Schneider is surely well aware that the scrap is full on now. Stunning in how quickly it has arrived, alarming in how the offence disintegrates.

So how did the Jays get to this precipice? There are a number of factors, but the discussion has to begin with the tepid performances at the plate over the past month.

Guerrero Jr. has been in one of the worst stretches of his season over the previous 12 games while the bats of Addison Barger and Kirk had each regressed considerably.

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And then there’s the story that isn’t getting enough attention around the team is the continued absence of Bo Bichette, who has now missed 16 games with a left knee sprain. While Bichette has resumed some light hitting work, he’s not able to put full pressure on his leg, which is in a heavy brace for any activities he attempts. A return for an ALDS series would seem to be the best-case scenario and even that isn’t guaranteed should the Jays make it that far.

By most measures, the season was already scored a success for the reversal from a 74-win, last-place effort to what seemed a serious run at first. What happens over the remaining four games of the season will ultimately define it, however.

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