Last season, the Blue Jays learned a brutal lesson the hard way:
A âstrong rotationâ isnât the same thing as a deep one.
World Series – Los Angeles Dodgers v Toronto Blue Jays – Game 7 | Daniel Shirey/GettyImages
Toronto entered 2025 believing it had enough starting pitching to survive the year without drama. The names looked reliable. The track records looked steady. The plan felt safe.
Then one injury cracked the foundationâand everything after that felt like improvisation.
By the end of spring training, Torontoâs starting five featured Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, JosĂ© BerrĂos, Max Scherzer, and Bowden Francis.
The only real concern was age. Francis was the youngest at 28, but he had closed 2024 with enough momentum to inspire confidence. On paper, it was a veteran-heavy group designed to eat innings and keep games stable.
That stability lasted three innings.
Scherzer got hurt almost immediately, and suddenly Toronto wasnât testing depthâit was exposing the lack of it.
The club cycled through replacements and short-term solutions, not because it wanted to, but because it had no other choice.
Easton Lucas was the first attempt at patchwork, and for a moment it looked like the Blue Jays had found a miracle.
Over his first two starts, Lucas allowed four hits and zero runs across 10.1 innings. Then the illusion collapsed. Over his next two outings, he surrendered 14 earned runs in just 6.2 innings.
Toronto sent him down, and the scramble resumed.
Yariel RodrĂguez and JosĂ© Ureña were asked to cover spot starts. Paxton Shultz and Braydon Fisher were used briefly in opener-style roles as the organization tried to survive the rotation schedule without letting it unravel completely.
At the same time, Francis stopped being the steady fifth starter Toronto hoped for. In 14 games, he posted a 6.05 ERA, allowing 43 earned runs in 64 innings, giving up 19 home runs and producing a 1.531 WHIP. His final start came on June 14.
And then came the kind of move that only happens when a team feels exposed:
Spencer Turnbull.
Toronto signed him on May 5, ran him through a short minor league tune-up, and rushed him into relevance. His first appearance came out of the bullpen on June 11, where he delivered two solid innings. A second bullpen outing followed, then he got a start on June 20 against the White Sox.
It went badly. Four runs in two innings. A week later, he was gone.
That entire stretch felt like a team trying to outrun a problem it couldnât fix.
Then Eric Lauer arrivedâand quietly changed everything.
Lauer didnât come with hype. He came with stability. From June 11 through August 16, he threw 62 innings, struck out 63, and posted a 3.05 ERA, locking down a rotation spot when Toronto desperately needed someone to stop the bleeding.
Scherzer returned on June 25 and was effective through the summer, and by late August, Toronto had shifted from shortage to something else entirely: abundance.
Shane Bieber arrived at the trade deadline. Trey Yesavage was called up. Suddenly, the Blue Jays had more usable arms than they had rotation spots.
And in baseball, thatâs the kind of âproblemâ teams dream of having.
Thatâs the mindset Toronto carries into 2026.
The rotation depth is no longer theoreticalâitâs layered.
Gausman and BerrĂos still project as Opening Day fixtures. But now theyâre joined by Yesavage and Bieber, with Toronto also adding Dylan Cease as a top-of-the-rotation weapon.
Cody Ponce provides swingman flexibility. Lauer is back in the mix. And unlike last year, there are actual answers behind the first five names.
This isnât just about talent. Itâs about avoiding desperation.
Toronto doesnât want another season where one injury forces a mid-year emergency signing. They donât want to be stuck turning openers into starters, or hoping a small sample holds up for one more turn through the rotation.
They want options.
And unless everything goes wrong at once, the Blue Jays finally look built to withstand the kind of chaos that nearly swallowed them in 2025.
Because the difference between last year and this year is simple:
In 2025, Toronto survived the rotation.
In 2026, it might finally control it.
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