The Toronto Blue Jays have fallen in a way that no one could’ve seen coming.
A year ago, they were in extra innings in Game 7 of the World Series.
This season? They are on the verge of missing the playoffs, and they have also scored the fewest runs in all of baseball.
The roster isn’t that different really. Bo Bichette left for the New York Mets, but the relatively direct replacement for him — Kazuma Okamoto — has mostly delivered on his hoped-for hype in arriving from Japan.
They added to the pitching rotation with Dylan Cease, and good thing, because the offense hasn’t done much good this year.
The biggest change is something that no one expected: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. stopped hitting for power. He’s threatened to go the entire season without hitting a home run in the home confines of Rogers Centre, which seems impossible.
It has all added up to a Blue Jays team on the outside looking in with just a week to go.
And their run scoring in particular gives them a chance to make a brutal kind of history.
Blue Jays Run Scoring History
The Blue Jays have scored 622 runs through play on Sept. 19.
That’s last in MLB, and when the object of the game is to score more runs than your opponent, that’s not a good place to be.
The Blue Jays haven’t been last in baseball in runs scored in a season since 1981, according to Sportsnet:
Blue Jays currently sit last in MLB with 622 runs scored.
They have not finished a season in the MLB basement in runs since 1981
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) September 20, 2026
Even Max Scherzer wasn’t alive then.
How to Avoid Worst Outcome
So the logical thing to do is look at what the Blue Jays have to do in the final week of the season to avoid finishing in last.
Counting Sunday against the Rangers, the Blue Jays have seven games remaining — also three against the Orioles and three against the Reds, teams that certainly have hittable pitchers.
The Blue Jays really only have a couple teams they could potentially catch, though.
The Los Angeles Angels are next-to-bottom with 625 runs this season.
The Seattle Mariners are in 28th in the league with 632 runs.
The 27th-place team, the Reds, is at 641 runs, so while not entirely safe from being caught, it seems unlikely.
Every team the Blue Jays is chasing also has seven games remaining, including Sunday, so there won’t be an advantage or disadvantage in that way.
The reality for Toronto is that season outcomes might go hand in hand here. If they score enough runs to get out of the basement, maybe they sneak into the playoffs. If they don’t, they probably will be sitting at home in October.
Blue Jays Trying To Avoid Nightmare MLB History