Blue Jays keeping 2026 playoff dream alive after trade deadline ‘restructuring’

PHILADELPHIA — Myles Straw peered around the Toronto Blue Jays clubhouse as Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop” blared in the background. It was as if he needed to take stock of the room and a new 26-man roster. The team had changed a lot.

“It seems to be a pretty good vibe,” Straw said, “for what just happened these last couple days.”

There was shock in the clubhouse after the Jays’ busy trade deadline for remaining and new players. It’s understandable; three big-league staples, Kevin Gausman, Daulton Varsho and Jeff Hoffman, departed while four MLB players and six prospects arrived. The Jays blended present and future across six deadline moves — but for the big-league club, right now is what matters.

“This wasn’t a teardown,” Max Scherzer said. “If anything, this was a restructuring.”

Manager John Schneider admitted he is already scoreboard watching with nearly two months left to play. You probably are, too. There’s a reason leaving 13 runners in scoring position on Thursday in Chicago hurt so much. There’s a reason Tyler Rogers’ final few pitches in Friday’s 5-4 victory in Philadelphia were so tense.

The games still matter for a Toronto team that entered Friday just 3.5 games back of a playoff spot. The playoff odds are very low, with many teams between Toronto and October. But the Blue Jays still believe.

“We purposely kept guys here that we thought could help us win,” Schneider said, “and purposely acquired guys that we thought could help us win this year and going forward.”

The Jays, and specifically their manager, have to say things like this. They can’t publicly admit defeat with two months to play. But Toronto’s additions, at least on Friday, are giving their optimistic words real life. A win on the weekend would mean four straight series wins.

José Soriano’s Blue Jays debut was the perfect encapsulation of Toronto’s dual interests, balancing 2026 and beyond. Every heavy sinker ducking under a Phillies bat helped both causes. The right-hander, who threw 4 2/3 innings with one earned run allowed in front of a raucous Philly crowd, is under team control through 2028.

Soriano will likely make dozens of starts for Toronto. Even as he’s in the midst of a solid season, with a 3.29 ERA in 22 starts entering Friday, the Jays hope to get more of him. They look at Dylan Cease, another starter with untamed stuff, as an example for how to turn Soriano from great to elite.

“Trying to dominate the 1-1 and the 0-0 counts,” Schneider said. “Those are things we talk about. Dylan is kind of a good template for that.”

That progression won’t come all at once. Soriano said he was told to keep things simple on Saturday, doing what he had done with the Angels. Any pitch shape changes or arsenal tweaks will come later. Overhauling takes reps and buy-in from a player who just arrived five days ago. In the meantime, Soriano’s outings still have meaning. Friday’s start and every one that follows this year is about keeping a dream alive.

The same is true for rookie Brett Bateman, who was promoted from Triple A and made his MLB debut Friday. When the Jays got the 24-year-old from the Cubs as half of the return for Gausman, he made sense as a potential long-term solution in centre. Bateman was having a career year in Triple A, hitting .312, but likely 2026 NL MVP Pete Crow-Armstrong blocked his path to MLB. It took just four days in the Blue Jays organization, and one diving catch with the Buffalo Bisons, for Bateman to earn his big-league debut. Now he’s on a team that desperately needs wins.

“This isn’t like, ‘Hey, let’s see what this kid can do that we traded for,’” Schneider said. “We think he can help us win games.”

On Friday, the new guys all did the job. Soriano held Philly’s lineup largely quiet and handed the ball to the bullpen with the lead. Bateman was on base all night, launching a double to left on his first big-league pitch and walking twice more. Josh Smith, brought over as a buy-low from Texas, tallied three hits, stole a base and launched an insurance home run. The additions won the day, even if just barely.

“I think it makes them feel a little bit more welcome,” Schneider said, “a little bit more normal. (He’s) kind of just able to fit in a little bit more. And the guys that have been here are doing a really good job of embracing the new guys.”

Even if all of Toronto’s new players take off, though, the postseason isn’t a sure thing. The Jays traded Gausman, their seventh-inning reliever and an innings-eating rotation piece, and Varsho, their fantasy football commissioner and outfield roamer. They’re behind many teams that bought big at the deadline. So much will need to go right for a team that entered Friday with 4 percent playoff odds.

The Jays probably need Trey Yesavage’s MRI review of his meniscus injury to go well Monday. They’ll need Spencer Arrighetti, who left his rehab start on Thursday with lingering foot issues, to get back on a mound soon. They’ll need Braydon Fisher and Brendon Little to step up and fill the leverage role Hoffman left. More than anything else, they’ll need Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who missed his third-straight game on Friday, to get healthy and get right at the plate.

That’s a lot to go right.

Those many hopes are the reason Toronto’s front office made moves for the future earlier this week. A respectable front office can’t bank on that many dominoes falling in their favour. But inside the Blue Jays clubhouse, the post-victory music still plays. They have to believe, so they do.

“We just know we’re still in the hunt,” Straw said.

Wheeler and Jays dugout jaw

Phillies starter Zack Wheeler and the Jays dugout exchanged profanity on Friday. It stemmed from, of all things, the starter’s back heel.

The Jays, Schneider said, thought Wheeler’s heel was illegally off the pitching rubber during his motion. They alerted home plate umpire John Tumpane early, and hitting coach David Popkins was later ejected for continuing the gripe.

As Popkins was ejected, Wheeler let the Jays dugout know how he felt. He dropped an obscenity, and Straw appeared to return the favour. After the game, Schneider diffused the situation.

“Wheeler is an unbelievable pitcher and has been for a long time,” the Jays manager said. “I have all the respect in the world for him, and you guys all know how I feel about Don Mattingly. We were just getting information that his foot was off the rubber.”

In the grand scheme of things, the issue is meaningless. Wheeler hasn’t established himself as one of baseball’s best pitchers because of a little daylight between his foot and the rubber. But for a Jays team that needs every inch and every win right now, they tried to find one on Friday.

“I’m going to keep doing what I do,” Wheeler said after the game. “I’ve been pitching over there forever, and I’m going to keep doing it. You know, they’ve lost a lot of games over there, so they’re probably trying to pick some things up to complain about.”

— The Athletic’s Matt Gelb contributed to this story.