Coaches in any sport will tell you the games you lose earlier in a season are difficult to make up for later in a campaign. Especially when you’re battling to make the playoffs.
That’s where the Toronto Blue Jays are right now. Fighting for an American League wild card berth after posting losing records in three of the first four full months of the 2026 MLB season.
After a 4-and-1 start in March, the Jays went 10-16 in April, 11-15 in June and 11-13 in July. The lone winning record during that four-month span occurred in May, and just barely too, with TBJ going 15-and-14.
As of this writing, the Jays were off to a strong August at 8-and-4, leaving them within grasp of a wild card berth. That said, right about now, last year’s World Series runners-up could surely use some of those games they lost in April, June and July.
“This is the kind of baseball that Blue Jays fans expected to see in April,” says Ben Wrixon, writing for the Jays Journal. “Had they played like this from the start, they would likely be sitting comfortably in one of the AL wild card spots, instead of fighting for their playoff lives with the season winding down.”
Indeed.
And, as Wrixon also points out: “The road ahead won’t get easier with the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays next on the schedule. If they can survive this stretch, however, they have a September loaded with matchups against many of the under-.500 teams currently jockeying with them for that last wild card spot.”
Yes, it’s a long season. Injuries happen. Slumps occur (just ask Vladimir Guerrero Jr.). That’s baseball.
But Wrixon’s not wrong. After coming within a whisker of capturing what would’ve been the franchise’s third World Series banner in 2025, the Blue Jays were expected to be a contender, again, right out of the gate this year.
Still, it ain’t over until it’s over.
“The Blue Jays have hope,” says Wrixon. “And, more importantly, they are finally playing better baseball.”
NEED TO KNOW: Toronto infielder Kazuma Okamoto was third in home runs among all Major League rookies at mid-week with 24. Only two fellow freshmen — Munetaka Murakami (26) of the Chicago White Sox and Sal Stewart (25) of the Cincinnati Reds — were leading Okamoto, who was eight round-trippers ahead of the nearest rivals behind him.
CALL TO THE HALL
Nice to see local shinny product Andrew Shaw among the Class of 2026 to be inducted into the Belleville Sports Hall of Fame next month.
The feisty forward was a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Chicago Blackhawks (2013-15) and appeared in a career total of 544 big-league games and another 72 in the playoffs. Playing much larger than his physical dimensions, Shaw was an instant fan favourite in The Windy City with his high-end work rate and rambunctious style. Among his 116 NHL goals was a career-high 20 during the 2013-14 season.
I remember talking to then Owen Sound Attack head coach and former NHLer Mark Reeds during the 2010-11 OHL season when Shaw was playing a key role in that club’s march to a league title. Reeds was a big believer that Shaw could be much more than a needling pest who succeeded in getting under the skin of his on-ice foes. He was correct.
Shaw responded with his best junior season, scoring 22 goals and earning 54 points in 66 games. In 20 OHL playoff games that spring, he collected 10 goals and 17 points.
Shaw took on all comers. With relish. And the bigger the better.
He is joined by Jim Barbeau (basketball), Denis Legros (badminton), Gary Magwood (motorsports) and Blake Scheerhoorn (volleyball) as this year’s BSHOF inductees. Congratulations to all.
