{"id":601340,"date":"2026-04-13T14:30:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T14:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/601340\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T14:30:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T14:30:07","slug":"toronto-blue-jays-have-to-push-on-through-amid-struggles-injuries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/601340\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Blue Jays have to \u2018push on through\u2019 amid struggles, injuries"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a less-than-ideal start to 2026 for the Toronto Blue Jays<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re just over two weeks into the season and the Jays have already been hit with a heavy dose of highs, lows, injuries and inconsistency. All of the above will happen over the course of 162 games, but the Jays have had more than their fair share so far.<\/p>\n

They swept the Athletics<\/a> in their opening set, but have lost four straight series since, highlighted by a six-game losing streak that spanned series against the Rockies, White Sox and Dodgers. The Jays picked up a much-needed win in the finale with the Dodgers and opened their series against the Twins with a 10-4 comeback win, plating all 10 runs after falling behind 4-0.<\/p>\n

If it was the start of a turnaround, it was extremely short-lived.<\/p>\n

The Jays were outscored 15-6 over their next two games as starters Eric Lauer<\/a> and Max Scherzer<\/a> allowed seven and eight earned runs, respectively, to a team that finished 23rd last year in scoring.<\/p>\n

Through the first 15 games of the season, the Jays are 6-9 despite a soft schedule. They started 8-7 last season on their way to reaching the World Series, but didn\u2019t have to handle near the level of injuries the 2026 team has early on. Manager John Schneider isn\u2019t letting his team use that as an excuse and vowed they would continue to soldier on amid a challenging start.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re missing some guys,\u201d Schneider told reporters Sunday<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s not an excuse, but I think we\u2019re missing that hit to kind of keep that flow where it should be.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just have to push on through. The minute you start thinking about it or dwelling on it, it keeps going. It could be a grand slam. It could be a broken bat. It could be a swinging bunt. You need something to go, and then hopefully it turns for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

All in all, the Blue Jays have 10 players currently on the injured list, six of which have gone on the shelf since the start of the season. The absences are huge \u2013 both on both on the mound and at the plate.<\/p>\n

PlayerInjuryStatusSP Bowden FrancisUCL tearOut for 2026 seasonRP Yimi GarciaElbow15-day ILOF Anthony SantanderShoulder60-day ILSP Shane BieberElbow15-day ILSP Trey YesavageShoulder15-day ILSP Jose BerriosElbow15-day ILSP Cody PonceACL60-day ILC Alejandro KirkThumb10-day ILOF Addison BargerAnkle10-day ILOF George SpringerToe fracture10-day IL<\/p>\n

Toronto has four starting pitchers and three players from their Opening Day lineup out of commission. Some of those absences were anticipated, such as Anthony Santander<\/a> being out for most of \u2014 if not all \u2014 of 2026, as well as the delayed starts from starters Shane Bieber<\/a>, Trey Yesavage<\/a> and Jose Berrios<\/a>. And surprise injuries to Alejandro Kirk<\/a> and other key pieces have only made things tougher.<\/p>\n

But health is only one factor.<\/p>\n

The Jays have underperformed in a number of key areas so far in 2026, and it was their starting pitching that let them down this past weekend against the Twins. Jays starters Patrick Corbin<\/a>, Lauer and Scherzer allowed a combined 19 runs in 11.2 innings the past three games and put the lineup in early holes they couldn\u2019t always dig out from.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about keeping the game where it should be and lining the bullpen up accordingly,\u201d Schneider said via MLB.com\u2019s Keegan Matheson<\/a>. \u201cSolo homers aren\u2019t going to beat you. This series, whether it was walks or a hit-by-pitch before, that leads to two- and three-run homers. That\u2019s tough to claw back from.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Blue Jay bats have also left lots on the table. Toronto is slightly above average in team OPS (13th at .693) and has struck out the least number of times across baseball (104) this season. However, they\u2019ve struggled to parlay that into runs and enter play Monday sixth-worst in MLB with 57. Situationally it\u2019s even more grim as Toronto ranks third-last in team OPS with runners in scoring position (.596) and they\u2019re a ruinous 1-for-20 with the bases loaded this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody has to look in the mirror and figure out what they can do better,\u201d Scherzer said after his rough outing. \u201cYou can\u2019t feel sorry for yourselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the big leagues.\u201d<\/p>\n

The one bit of good news for Scherzer is he said he felt fine after leaving his previous start against the Dodgers last week with forearm tendinitis. He said he needs to see how he bounces back in the days ahead but was confident he\u2019d be able to make his next start when the Jays take on the Diamondbacks in Arizona.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday I got beat with walks and missed executions. I paid for it,\u201d said Scherzer Sunday<\/a>. \u201cHopefully [the forearm injury] is behind us.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are no excuses. You either win or lose.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Jays are off on Monday before hitting the road for a nine-game trip that begins Tuesday evening in Milwaukee against the Brewers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been a less-than-ideal start to 2026 for the Toronto Blue Jays. We\u2019re just over two weeks into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601341,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[712,49,48,462,82,75156],"class_list":{"0":"post-601340","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-apple-news","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-toronto-blue-jays-sports-baseball-team-team-statscom-238"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}