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Jackson Roberts is a Newsweek contributor based in Hoboken, NJ. His focus is MLB content. Jackson has been with Newsweek since July of 2025 and previously worked at The Sporting News and MLB Network. He is a graduate of Swarthmore College and the Newhouse School at Syracuse University. You can get in touch with Jackson by emailing j.roberts@newsweek.com
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Playoff roster decisions are agonizing for every Major League Baseball front office, but the Toronto Blue Jays are dealing with some particularly tough calls this year.
Thanks to their deep core of veteran starting pitchers, the Blue Jays are likely going to leave someone off their first-round playoff roster (and potentially longer) that deserves to be there based on merit.
Toronto already tipped its hand to some degree when it moved lefty Eric Lauer, who has an 8-2 record and 3.32 ERA entering play on Thursday, to the bullpen after the arrival of trade deadline acquisition Shane Bieber.
TORONTO, CANADA – JULY 18: The front logo decal on the batting helmet of Jose Reyes #7 of the Toronto Blue Jays before the start of MLB game action against the Texas Rangers on July…
TORONTO, CANADA – JULY 18: The front logo decal on the batting helmet of Jose Reyes #7 of the Toronto Blue Jays before the start of MLB game action against the Texas Rangers on July 18, 2014 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)
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Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images
That may not be the end of Lauer’s misfortune, as one baseball writer predicted on Wednesday.
FanSided’s Chris Landers projected that Lauer would be left off Toronto’s playoff roster, as at least one current starter will likely be shifted to the bullpen in a long relief/piggybacking role.
“The addition of Shane Bieber alongside Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, Jose Berrios and Max Scherzer will leave somebody out in the cold come October,” Landres wrote. “And it’s hard not to think that someone might be Lauer, whom the team demoted once Bieber broke in late last month.
“It doesn’t help that the cracks have started to show for the veteran lefty in recent weeks, with an ugly 5.57 ERA since the start of August. Maybe Toronto will want to keep him around in a long relief role, but they have multiple lefties to keep in the ‘pen as is.”
Lauer missing out on the playoff roster would be a perfect example of why baseball is such a cruel sport at times. The Blue Jays would never have taken the three-game lead they have in the American League East entering Thursday without the unheralded lefty stabilizing the rotation early in the season, while Scherzer was injured and just about everyone else struggled.
Still, in a scenario where Toronto only decides to keep 12 pitchers, which most teams do nowadays, it’s hard to find a use for Lauer when other starters will be available to do the same job he’s struggling with now.
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