The Blue Jays looked finished not long ago. By the time the trade deadline hit, Toronto was sitting in a hole after coming within one out of a World Series title last year, and the club seemed buried. Then the Cubs stepped in and pulled off the Kevin Gausman deal - and in a twist that has worked out for Toronto, one of the pieces Chicago gave up has helped spark the Blue Jays’ push back into the American League wild card race.
Toronto’s August surge has changed the picture fast. The Blue Jays went 17-11 in the month and, even at 68-70, they’re only 1.5 games behind the final wild card spot in the American League. A big part of that turnaround has been Brett Bateman, the former Cubs prospect who has turned into an unexpected difference-maker.
Bateman had spent the entire 2026 season at Triple-A Iowa before the trade. He was hitting .312/.430/.421 with a 126 wRC+, and the numbers backed up what the Cubs already knew: the 24-year-old was ready.
His speed and defense only added to the case. The issue was opportunity, not readiness.
Chicago simply didn’t have a place for him, and if he had been a right-handed bat, maybe the Cubs would have taken a longer look instead of bringing in Tyrone Taylor.
The Blue Jays gave him that opening on August 8, and Bateman has made the most of it. In his first 88 plate appearances, he’s slashing .333/.384/.410 with a 127 wRC+, and he has produced 0.9 fWAR in just 19 games. More than the numbers, he’s given Toronto a reliable presence at the top of the lineup.
For Chicago, Bateman is the rare prospect success story. The Cubs have done a solid job developing college hitters, and Bateman fit that pattern after being taken in the middle rounds of the 2023 draft. He moved through the system with success at every stop, especially as one of the outfielders the organization has handled well in recent years.
Even if his breakout is happening in Toronto instead of Chicago, it still reflects well on the Cubs’ development work. They turned Bateman into a valuable trade chip and used him to land an established starting pitcher for the stretch run. The only catch is that Gausman still needs to do more than post a 5.14 ERA in his first five starts with the Cubs if that move is going to fully pay off.
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