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The Toronto Blue Jays made it all the way to extra innings of Game 7 of the World Series.
The record books won't show it, but they were practically champions, only losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers after the MLB season refused to end on time.
That's part of what has made Toronto's start to the 2026 season a curious one, particularly at the plate.
The Blue Jays are making loads of contact, but they're hitting for very little power. It's a different recipe than they had last season despite rostering many of the same guys.
"Last year's dynamic Toronto offense was fueled by combining a high contact rate with damage on that contact," ESPN's Bradford Doolittle wrote in a new article on Wednesday. "So far, the Blue Jays are getting only half that equation right. Toronto has by far the lowest team strikeout rate, so the contact has been there. But the Blue Jays rank just 26th in both average exit velocity and OPS on balls in play."
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The first place the mind goes is to the departure of Bo Bichette, but his replacement in the lineup is Kazuma Okamoto, who is on a power binge of late.
Injuries have played a part, for sure, with Alejandro Kirk and George Springer both missing ample time.
Still, there's been a power decline even among the guys regularly in the lineup.
"Vladimir Guerrero Jr. provides the perfect example," Doolittle writes. "He has walked nearly as often as he has struck out, and his .328 average ranks among the AL leaders. But his slugging percentage is just .427 and that isolated power figure (.099) is less than half his career average. Contact is great; high-quality contact is what got last year's Jays to the World Series."
It feels like there'll be some positive regression to these stats as the weather warms up across the league.
But if the Blue Jays don't start hitting for some power, it's tough to see them making it back to the World Series.
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