The Blue Jays Are All Hands on Deck With MLB’s Best Offense

Before the 2025 season began, very few people expected the Toronto Blue Jays to field a unit anywhere near as strong as the one they’ve currently got. Even fewer thought they’d be leading the American League East by the time August rolled around. Yet, here they are, leading the Boston Red Sox by three games.

This is team that’s been hit hard by injuries on both sides of the ball. Yet, the 26-man roster has taken an “all hands on deck” type of approach, and to this point, it’s working beautifully.

If you’re able to look past the last two nights in which they’ve lost 5-1 and 9-1 to the Los Angeles Dodgers, you’ll see that the Blue Jays have been on a roll for a while now. As we march on through the second half of the regular season, the Blue Jays are 13-9 in the second half, but their success goes well beyond the win-loss record.

Focusing specifically on their offense, the Blue Jays have been the very best in baseball in the second half. Granted, we’re only 22 games in, but it’s hard to ignore the numbers.

Let’s take a closer look at the forces behind this major offensive surge.

All stats updated prior to games on Sunday, August 10

Blue Jays Have MLB’s Best Second-Half Offense

And it’s not just by a small margin, either. In fact, the Blue Jays’ offense has .315 batting average so far, which is a whopping 24 points above the second-best Milwaukee Brewers. Of course, offensive success is hardly best measured by batting average, so instead let’s shift our attention to runs scored and wRC+.

Hey, look, the Blue Jays top the charts here as well. Their 138 runs scored are 15 more than the Brewers, and Toronto’s 149 wRC+ is 21 points above the Athletics … and the Brewers, who both sit at 128. In this same stretch, the Blue Jays have MLB’s lowest strikeout percentage (15.1%) and are fourth in ISO. They’ve been doing a little bit of everything, and it feels like they’re not getting the attention they deserve for this run.

In the second half, the Blue Jays have five “qualifying” hitters on the leaderboards: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, Addison Barger, Nathan Lukes, and Ernie Clement. Amongst this group, none of them have a wRC+ lower than 113, while the lowest OPS of the bunch is Clement’s .780 mark.

Even that is higher than the likes of Bobby Witt Jr., Trea Turner, Teoscar Hernandez, Steven Kwan, and countless other stars have been at over the 22(ish) game stretch.

Everyone’s Playing the Hero Role

The Blue Jays have had 14 hitters register 20 or more plate appearances in the second half, and only Alejandro Kirk (98) has a wRC+ below 100, which is considered league-average.

Every batter on this team has been contributing, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some players who stand out above the rest. Guerrero has a 203 wRC+ in this 22-game stretch, hitting six home runs with 20 runs scored, 16 more driven in, and a .360 batting average. He’s looked much more like his vintage Vladdy self, which is always going to be a major part of why the Blue Jays are winning ballgames.

Bichette is hitting .361 with a 173 wRC+ and 1.2 fWAR, too. As he inches closer to free agency without a contract extension in-hand, he’s setting himself up nicely for a huge payday in the near future.

It’s not just Vlad and Bo though, which is a nice change of pace. So often over the past few years have the Blue Jays relied a bit too heavily on their superstars to carry the team. Lately, they’ve only been a small part of the machine.

Joey Loperfido is hitting .383 with a pair of home runs and a 169 wRC+ in 21 games.

Davis Schneider has two home runs of his own with a team-leading 18% walk-percentage (fifth-highest in the league min. 50 second-half PA) and 151 wRC+ across 16 games.

Barger has four home runs with 18 RBI and a 123 wRC+ across 22 games.

Tyler Heineman, who’s randomly become the best backup catcher ever, has a .357 average with a 206 wRC+ through just 11 games.

You get the point. There are so many different faces prepared to step up and be the hero every single night, which has resulted in the Blue Jays’ offense being one of the very best in the league so far.

The Colorado Series

Let’s address the elephant in the room here. It’s going to be extremely difficult to talk about how much this Blue Jays offense is rolling without mentioning the three-game series against the Colorado Rockies in which the Jays absolutely steamrolled the home team.

Across the three games, the Blue Jays outscored the Rockies on a nightly basis in what looked a lot more like NFL scores than MLB ones. The Blue Jays scored 15 runs in the first game, 10 in the second, and 20 more in the third. All told, they outscored Colorado 45 to 6.

Of course, this outburst is a huge part of why the Blue Jays are atop the leaderboards in most major offensive categories. Still, I don’t think that’s enough to take any of the spotlight away from them.

The Arms Need to Catch Up

Yes, the Blue Jays’ offense has looked great as the month of August marches on. Yet, it’s hard to ignore the fact that this team is only 13-9 since the All-Star break. It’s true that there have been a few games where the bats have been put through the ringer (like the past two nights against the Dodgers), but there have also been five losses where the opposition has scored seven or more runs.

In a very much still-growing sample size, Blue Jays pitchers have posted a 4.80 ERA since the break. That’s good for 25th in baseball. Their 4.20 FIP brings a little bit of hope, but that’s only good for 18th in the league.

It’s a back-and-forth between encouraging and discouraging ranks the deeper you go. Blue Jays pitchers are fourth in strikeouts (193) and have the fourth-lowest amount of walks (46) in the second half, but they’ve also allowed the fourth-most home runs (46) and fifth-most earned runs in the same stretch of play.

Of the four qualifying starters on this staff, Eric Lauer and Kevin Gausman have easily been the two best. Max Scherzer has been decent, but Chris Bassitt, who’s actually been mired in a multi-month slump at this point, hasn’t looked great.

In the bullpen, Jeff Hoffman, Braydon Fisher, and Tommy aNance all have a 2.45 ERA or lower in the second half, but the sample sizes are all under 10 innings. Yariel Rodriguez, Mason Fluharty, and Brendon Little are the only other relievers to have pitched five or more innings in the second half, but all three of them (especially Little) have struggled.

There’s still plenty of baseball left to be played, but the Blue Jays will need their pitching staff to kick things into gear to at least come close to the same level of production the offense has turned in. Unless the hitters are prepared to score 10+ runs a night, the team will need help from both sides of the ball if they’re going to finally make that deep postseason run.