Halfway through the 2026 season, the Blue Jays are still hanging around the Wild Card race, but the 39-45 record entering Jun. 29 tells the story of a team that hasn’t found a real groove. And when a club is stuck in that kind of middle ground, the obvious question starts creeping in: what if Toronto still had some of the pieces from last year’s 2025 roster?
A look at four former Blue Jays with new teams this season gives a mixed answer. Some have been useful elsewhere.
Some haven’t. And one has gone from a brutal start to looking like himself again.
Ty France has been one of the more productive ex-Jays. After being one of Toronto’s trade deadline pickups last year, he left in free agency and landed with the San Diego Padres, where he’s worked mostly in a platoon at first base. In 58 games and 165 at-bats, France has hit .255 with an .810 OPS, plus 20 runs scored, seven doubles, two triples, 10 home runs and 29 RBIs.
Ty France GRAND SLAM!
The @Padres have scored 5 in the first inning 💪 pic.twitter.com/4SbyF3a72v
- MLB (@MLB) June 20, 2026
That pace works out to something close to 30 homers and 90 RBIs over a full season, and he’s also giving San Diego strong defense at first, with 10+ Defensive Runs Saved already. For a Blue Jays team that has lacked punch this year, that kind of production would have played.
Seranthony Domínguez has not been nearly as sharp after leaving Toronto. He signed with the Chicago White Sox in free agency and started 2026 as their closer, but command issues pushed him into more of a closer-by-committee role.
Through 32 relief appearances, the 31-year-old is 3-3 with a 4.30 ERA and 1.33 WHIP, and he’s given up 14 earned runs, including five home runs, across 29.1 innings. That line looks a lot closer to what the Blue Jays have gotten from Jeff Hoffman, so Toronto probably isn’t feeling the loss too deeply there.
Chris Bassitt’s first year with the Baltimore Orioles has been rougher than anyone expected. After three steady seasons in a Blue Jays uniform, the right-hander has gone 4-4 with a 5.27 ERA and 1.63 WHIP in 56.1 innings, allowing 33 earned runs and 70 hits while striking out 37.
He’s also on the sidelines now with back issues after surgery to remove a facet bone spur from his back. Bassitt could still return later this season, but the Blue Jays’ decision to let him walk looks like the right one based on how things have gone so far.
Then there’s Bo Bichette, whose Mets tenure has taken a sharp turn since a dreadful start. After signing with New York over the winter, the former Blue Jays shortstop drew plenty of heat from Mets fans when things went sideways early.
But Bichette has flipped the script in recent weeks and looks much more like the player Toronto remembers. Over his past 30 games, he’s hit .305 with an .854 OPS, along with 20 runs scored, five homers and 19 RBIs.
Bo Bichette hits his first home run with the Mets 🍎 pic.twitter.com/7PA9bf7fn2
- MLB (@MLB) April 11, 2026
For the season, Bichette is sitting on a .254/.300/.388/.688 slash line with 44 runs scored, 10 home runs and 46 RBIs in 84 games. Kazuma Okamoto has helped cover plenty of the offense Toronto lost, but the idea of Bichette and Okamoto together in the same lineup this year is an easy one for Blue Jays fans to imagine.
In Other News...
Blue Jays Fans Are Fueling An All-Star Debate Nobody Can Ignore
Fan voting always has a way of turning the All-Star conversation into a popularity contest, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is sitting in the middle of that debate at first base in the American League. In Phase 2 of the voting, Blue Jays supporters have helped push Guerrero ahead of Ben Rice, giving Toronto a real chance to put one of its biggest names in the starting lineup.
The twist is that the numbers tell a different story, which is why this race has become such a talking point beyond Toronto. Rice has put up the stronger season by the usual measures, and if Guerrero ends up winning the spot anyway, it figures to stir up plenty of second-guessing from fans who believe the lineup should reflect performance as much as star power. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jays Just Sent A Brutal Message About Simeon Woods Richardson
Simeon Woods Richardsons brief run with the Blue Jays ended up looking more like a roster squeeze than a reward for recent success. After Toronto designated the right-hander for assignment, he cleared waivers and was sent outright to Triple-A Buffalo, keeping him in the organization as pitching depth for now.
It is a notable turn for a pitcher the Blue Jays just acquired from the Minnesota Twins earlier in the month, especially after he tossed 10 scoreless innings in Toronto. Even so, the club clearly decided there was enough uncertainty underneath the surface to move him off the active roster, and the fact that no other team claimed him says plenty about how the rest of the league viewed him too. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jays Just Reached A Point Fans Have Been Dreading
The Blue Jays have reached the point nobody around the team wanted to see, dropping six straight home games and slipping under .500 as the standings start to pull away from them. Toronto has spent much of the season fighting to stay relevant in the American League East and wild card picture, but the margin for error is shrinking fast, and the offense has not offered much help while injuries and uneven starting pitching keep piling on.
Runs have been hard to come by, especially with men in scoring position, and that has turned even winnable nights at the ballpark into frustration. With fewer than 80 games left, the pressure is not just about stopping the skid, it is about forcing the front office to decide whether this group is still close enough to justify buying at the trade deadline or whether the slide has already changed the conversation. [Read more 🡒]