Mike Wilner: Why the Blue Jays’ magic ran out: Seven reasons why this season went off the rails - Toronto Star

How did the Jays go from a team that was two outs from a World Series title to finishing the following season with a losing record?

Blue Jays manager John Schneider, left, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. during a game against the Athletics on Sept. 7.

Mike Wilner is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star and host of the baseball podcast “Deep Left Field.” Follow him on Bluesky: @wilnerness

The Blue Jays appeared to be good and cooked in late July, sitting 10 games under .500, but they rallied to momentarily take over the final wild-card position in the American League.

That had a lot to do with the fact that the other teams in the race were all so horribly mediocre, but it provided hope that the sequel to a magical season that went all the way to Game 7 of the World Series might somehow last into October.

After a couple of rough weeks, that dream is dead. Now it’s time to look under the hood. How did the Jays drop from 94 wins and the top AL seed in 2025 to finishing with a losing record and quite possibly last in the East?

Following a post-season that was one of the best in major-league history, Guerrero has struggled through the worst year of his career. Playing through elbow, back and hamstring injuries (at least), the half-billion-dollar man has been a below-average big-league hitter. He’d hit just nine home runs with three games to go, tied for his career low (in the 60-game COVID-shortened 2020 season) and only one of those round-trippers came at home.

Slugger’s $500M contract comments draw heavy criticism on a day that saw Blue Jays eliminated from playoff contention.