White Sox (Burke) vs Blue Jays (Yesavage): 7/19/26, 12:15pm

[Stangstag]

1 hour ago, Jays24 said:

Look at all the Jays fan cheering for Clement taking 3B like it was a good AB.  Such a clueless fanbase man... no wonder no one's getting booed for this clusterFk of a season lol. 

Yeah you need a hit from Vlad there, advancing the runner does nothing. Its the 9th lol

[Jays24]

9 minutes ago, Stangstag said:

Season was over at the Texas series IMO. This team just doesn’t have the fight in them this year, and they find crazy new ways to lose each week.

f***ing hurts man... especially after the way last season ended, I truly believed we were going to come back strong this year. 

[jaysblue]

4 minutes ago, Jays24 said:

f***ing hurts man... especially after the way last season ended, I truly believed we were going to come back strong this year. 

Not part of the MLB script. 

[gruber9292]

3 hours ago, Jonn said:

Can’t wait until he’s not my CF anymore

Can't wait until Ross Atkins is not our GM anymore 

[JaysFan99]

24 minutes ago, gruber9292 said:

Can't wait until Ross Atkins is not our GM anymore 

How many more years will that be? 

[gruber9292]

4 minutes ago, JaysFan99 said:

How many more years will that be? 

Well there are a lot of gullible idiot fans who are dilusioned into thinking Ross is a great GM and is doing a fantastic job, so it may take a year or two unfortunately given that management swindled Rogers into contract extensions this past year. 

[Eat My Shatkins]

1 hour ago, Stangstag said:

Season was over at the Texas series IMO. This team just doesn’t have the fight in them this year, and they find crazy new ways to lose each week.

Yeah man, a 4 game sweep at home against a team you are neck and neck with for the WC race was the death knell. And that was after losing 2 of 3 to the Astros at home the series before. 6 huge losses in a row at home against direct competition.

3 of them by one run and 2 of them by two runs. Last years team finds a way to win most of those games.

[VladdyAlomar]

🤡

[Eat My Shatkins]

7 minutes ago, gruber9292 said:

Well there are a lot of gullible idiot fans who are dilusioned into thinking Ross is a great GM and is doing a fantastic job, so it may take a year or two unfortunately given that management swindled Rogers into contract extensions this past year. 

He brought back the same team that almost won the World series but with improvements like Okamoto and Cease.

This is on the players, not Ross Atkins. Mainly the core guys like Vlad and Kirk who are hitting well below what anyone would or should expect.

The Jays have also had the 7th most regular season wins and the 5th most playoff wins in MLB since 2022 to go along with 4 playoff appearances in 6 years. 

Pretty good resume when you don't let your emotions take over and cloud your judgement.

[JaysFan99]

30 minutes ago, Eat My Shatkins said:

He brought back the same team that almost won the World series but with improvements like Okamoto and Cease.

This is on the players, not Ross Atkins. Mainly the core guys like Vlad and Kirk who are hitting well below what anyone would or should expect.

The Jays have also had the 7th most regular season wins and the 5th most playoff wins in MLB since 2022 to go along with 4 playoff appearances in 6 years. 

Pretty good resume when you don't let your emotions take over and cloud your judgement.

One could also say he brought back the same team in 2025 that finished in last place the previous season, but got lucky by a fluke season where everyone over performed and now they’re back to the norm.

It’s tough to excuse a last place finish with a top 5 payroll, let alone twice in three years. They also didn’t win a single playoff game in 3/4 of those appearances you mentioned.

My biggest issue is the pitching. They haven’t been able to develop any pitchers in the decade he’s been here (outside of Manoah for 1-2 years and now Yesavage). We are relying on guys like Scherzer and have nothing in our system to navigate injuries. Didn’t he promise wave after wave of talent like the Rays and Brewers have?

[Eat My Shatkins]

19 minutes ago, JaysFan99 said:

One could also say he brought back the same team in 2025 that finished in last place the previous season, but got lucky by a fluke season where everyone over performed and now they’re back to the norm.

It’s tough to excuse a last place finish with a top 5 payroll, let alone twice in three years. They also didn’t win a single playoff game in 3/4 of those appearances you mentioned.

My biggest issue is the pitching. They haven’t been able to develop any pitchers in the decade he’s been here (outside of Manoah for 1-2 years and now Yesavage). We are relying on guys like Scherzer and have nothing in our system to navigate injuries. Didn’t he promise wave after wave of talent like the Rays and Brewers have?

That's mostly fair, but if you want to zoom out even further you've got:

 

2021 - 91 wins

2022 - 92 wins

2023 - 89 wins

2024 - 74 wins

2025 - 94 wins

 

To me 2024 is the clear outlier and looks more like a fluke bad season than 2025 looking like a fluke good season no?

So I can't blame the guy for adding to the core and running it back.

Now the big question going forward is what are Vlad and Kirk? But they are already signed long term so you pretty much have to tweak the roster around them and hope they bounce back.

[jaysblue]

Did the 2025 team overachieve a bit? Of course they did.

They got surprise contributions from guys like Lukes, Clement, Straw, and Heineman during the regular season. Defensively, they were rock solid and arguably the best defensive team in baseball. That simply hasn’t carried over this season.

Kirk was also at his offensive best over 162 games, which helped a ton. Springer had a monster bounce-back season, Vladdy wasn’t awful, and they still had Bo producing at a solid level. Pitching-wise, the rotation stayed healthy and did its job. A lot went right.

The 2026 team, on the other hand, has obviously been a disappointment. The early injuries didn’t help, but the bigger issue is that too many key players have taken a step back.

Vladdy has been awful. Kirk has looked more like the 2023/2024 version offensively. Springer has been a disaster. Straw and Heineman (when here) haven’t been as impactful. Clement has held his own with the bat, but defensively he hasn’t been as sharp. Lukes had a slow start but has at least turned things around, which is encouraging.

Missing Barger and his 25–30 HR power has hurt. Varsho’s power disappearing has also been a problem. This lineup just doesn’t have enough thump when the core bats aren’t producing.

On the pitching side, the starters haven’t gone deep enough into games. Gausman, Bieber, and Yesavage have all been disappointing relative to expectations, and that has put too much pressure on the bullpen again.

Is this all Atkins’ fault? No, not entirely. A lot of this is on the players, especially Vladdy. I actually thought Atkins had a strong offseason. He signed the best starter on the market, who might end up being the AL Cy Young winner, added Okamoto, and strengthened the bullpen with Rogers.

At some point, the players have to perform. The front office can be criticized for certain things, but this season’s disappointment is largely because the core players who were supposed to carry this team simply haven’t done enough.

[glory]

This looks like it will be the 2nd bad season in 3 years, with the "should have been World Series title" season sandwiched in between. Also keep in mind that 2023 was as good as it was entirely because was completely unsustainable pitcher health and performance, with the offense for much of the season looking pretty similar to 2024/2026. It looks like 2025 is the clear outlier here. That doesn't mean things can't be turned around next season, but they'll need to put some work in, starting with selling at the deadline (if that wasn't clear already, it's getting more clear everyday).

[Bob_Gratton]

4 hours ago, Jays24 said:

f***ing hurts man... especially after the way last season ended, I truly believed we were going to come back strong this year. 

Yes, but to fix things will be easy, coz you have many bad contracts that end this year, and if Atkins do a good job at the trade deadline, he can bring a good starter like Peralta, a good reliever, and 1-2 very good bat. 

[Goldbug109]

48 minutes ago, Bob_Gratton said:

Yes, but to fix things will be easy, coz you have many bad contracts that end this year, and if Atkins do a good job at the trade deadline, he can bring a good starter like Peralta, a good reliever, and 1-2 very good bat. 

The Guerrero contract is like the worst in sports history and ends in 14 painful years. It literally handcuffs the team over that time. 

[james jones]

I think Atkins did a terrible job for giving Vlad a $500M contract after his fluke half season in 2024. It's not like Vladdy had a full season of monster performance.

He had a massive slump before ASB and bounced back after ASB.

[Stangstag]

8 minutes ago, james jones said:

I think Atkins did a terrible job for giving Vlad a $500M contract after his fluke half season in 2024. It's not like Vladdy had a full season of monster performance.

He had a massive slump before ASB and bounced back after ASB.

I don’t think that was really Atkins choice at all, totally seemed like an Ed Rogers move. We gotta live with it and hope Vlad gets his head out of his arse

[Jays24]

Crazy thing is that the playoffs Vlad had, teams would have lined up to give him 500M. 

I hate the contract as ive always said that his body type isnt meant for these long term deal.  Heck, no body type is meant for that length of a deal but especially a fatty whose been inconsistent with his play from Day 1.  

[Jays24]

31 minutes ago, Stangstag said:

I don’t think that was really Atkins choice at all, totally seemed like an Ed Rogers move. We gotta live with it and hope Vlad gets his head out of his arse

I love to pile on Shatkins more than most but this was 100% Ed Rogers overruling everyone to make this happen.  Shatkins didnt even want to pay him 300M/10 the previous offseason, which was an obvious screw up.  

[bronson44]

People would have lost their s*** if we let Vladdy walk after last year and would be crying cheap.

It is what it is. It's a cornerstone to build your team and marketing around. I don't expect him to be this bad for the life of the contract. At least I f***ing hope not.

[Bob_Gratton]

3 hours ago, Goldbug109 said:

The Guerrero contract is like the worst in sports history and ends in 14 painful years. It literally handcuffs the team over that time. 

Yes you right, but I still hope he can fix himself in 2028. Will need a new coaching staff for sure, also he need to lose some weights again, and add more muscle ( He can ask  Barger how to do ). He seem to play injured, it's no first time he have back pain, and it's probably due to his bad shape and the way he play in defense.

[Bob_Gratton]

55 minutes ago, Stangstag said:

I don’t think that was really Atkins choice at all, totally seemed like an Ed Rogers move. We gotta live with it and hope Vlad gets his head out of his arse

It's no Atkins, because if this was Atkins, he won't have wait to last second to sign him. The front office seemed to have give up about Vlad and Bichette, but Rogers wanted to sell more tickets, especially after all the investment $$$ he made to improve the stadium. And it's no Gimenez or Hoffman who will have help sell more tickets😂So after plan A and B failed miserably( Ohtani, Soto ) Atkins didn't had the choice to save his job, to overpaid for Guerrero.