George Springer’s struggles with runners in scoring position have become one of the clearest signs of Toronto’s offensive problems.
The Blue Jays are already dealing with a lineup that sits last in the American League in runs per game at 3.98 and in walks with 275, and Springer has become a central part of the issue. He is still getting chances, but the damage is no longer there when those chances arrive.
Through 71 plate appearances with runners in scoring position, Springer is hitting .161/.254/.242 with a 42 wRC+. That means he has been 58% below league average in the situations that matter most.
What makes the drop so striking is how different it looks from a year ago. In 2025, Springer was one of the most productive hitters in baseball with runners in scoring position, posting a .330/.419/.580 line and a 171 wRC+. That was offense 71% better than league average in those spots.
Now the production has vanished. His wRC+ has fallen from 171 to 42, a 129-point drop, and his power has disappeared with it. Springer’s isolated power has gone from .250 to .081, and he has not hit a home run with runners in scoring position.
The last month has only sharpened the concern. Over that stretch, Springer has a .000 ISO and a .154 slugging percentage in those situations, which points to a problem beyond simply making outs. He is putting the ball in play, but the contact is not carrying the same force.
That part matters because pitchers are not simply blowing him away. Over the past 30 days, Springer has struck out in just 14.3% of his plate appearances with runners in scoring position. The issue is what happens after the swing, when the ball is in play and the result is no longer the kind of impact Toronto needs.
The Blue Jays are 13-36 when they score three runs or fewer, and Springer is not the only reason for that record. But his decline in big spots has made an already thin offense even harder to trust.
It also shifts more of the load onto Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Alejandro Kirk, giving Toronto less room for error and fewer ways to keep rallies alive. At this stage, Springer’s numbers do not look like a short-term cold streak. They look like a real change in his offensive profile, one that suggests opposing pitchers have found a new way to handle him.
Until that changes, the Blue Jays are likely to keep coming up short in the moments that decide games.
In Other News...
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Just Faced A Brutal Rogers Centre Reality
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. heard it from the Rogers Centre crowd after another rough night at the plate, and the frustration around his season is starting to spill into the open. He went 0-for-4 in the recent game, leaving his line at .259 with a .695 OPS, and the bigger concern for Toronto is how little thunder has come at home from one of its most important bats.
Guerrero has not hit a home run at Rogers Centre this season, and his last Toronto homer came in Game 6 of the ALCS against Seattle. Even with the boos echoing after a night in which he came up with runners on base every time, John Schneider has not wavered in his belief in the slugger, a reminder that the Blue Jays still see Guerrero as a centerpiece even as the rest of the offense and the standings keep turning up the pressure. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jays Fans May Need A New Villain For This Collapse
Ross Atkins has spent plenty of time as the convenient target for Blue Jays frustration, but the clubs 2026 slide looks harder to pin on the front office than on the roster itself. The new additions have mostly done what they were brought in to do, giving Toronto at least some stability while the season has gone sideways around them.
The bigger problem has been the familiar core not carrying its weight, with offense sputtering and pitching depth thinned by injuries. Even the decisions that looked most consequential in the winter have not aged into the kind of easy scapegoat fans might want, which leaves the Blue Jays searching for a more immediate explanation for how a promising group ended up in this spot. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jays Just Pulled Off A Draft Swing Fans Will Notice
The Blue Jays have officially brought in Will Brick, an 18-year-old catching prospect whose signing gives the organization another young name to tuck into a system that has been paying closer attention to the position lately. Toronto selected Brick in the fourth round of the 2026 MLB Draft, and the deal now gives the club a fresh addition for the lower minors as it keeps building out its depth behind the plate.
What makes this one stand out is how Toronto got it done. The club managed its draft pool with enough discipline to make the bonus work, leaning on savings from other picks to create room for Bricks agreement. For a team trying to stockpile catching talent without losing flexibility elsewhere, it was the kind of maneuver that says as much about the front offices planning as it does about the player himself. [Read more 🡒]