With less than two weeks to go in the regular season, every single game and inning is going to be crucial for the Toronto Blue Jays if they hope to be playing baseball into October.

With 11 games left, the pitching staff is going to be taxed a lot with injuries piling up. With the likes of Jameson Taillon likely not pitching for the rest of the season, and Shane Bieber and Trey Yesavage still working their way back from injuries, the starting rotation currently is consisting of Dylan Cease, José Soriano, and Max Scherzer. While the likes of Spencer Arrighetti and Michael Lorenzen, have not been given enough of a leash to go the distance for the Blue Jays in starts, the options fall on the bullpen. After last nights crushing loss to the Detroit Tigers, and a lot of arms already stretched thin with the schedule not slowing down until Thursday, options are thinning more and more.

Spencer Miles and Braydon Fisher have been used as openers to start, which is something the team is currently doing to fill the voids. With the likes of Taillon not likely to pitch again for the regular season, the questions may start to pile up about who else the team has left to go multiple innings.

This gives us a good opportunity to look at who could be called upon for innings down the stretch:

The most likely name that’s on the depth chart for the Blue Jays pitching staff is Chad Dallas. The No. 24-ranked prospect had only made four appearances in the majors this year and has posted a 6.10 ERA across those games. While he has allowed seven runs across 10.1 innings this season, he has recorded 10 strikeouts over that span. Dallas’ last outing before being sent down to Triple-A, he went 2.2 scoreless innings, striking out four batters in a 3-0 win against the Kansas City Royals.

While Dallas’ stuff has been hit hard at times in the big leagues, his cutter has by far been his most effective pitch at generating strikeouts and his sweeper still has a 40% whiff rate. Given that he has a 3.18 ERA in 25 games, it is more of a ready and waiting approach should something unforeseen happen.

Much like Dallas, Van Eyk is another Triple-A arm that the Blue Jays are probably considering leaning on down the stretch. A 4.05 ERA in four appearances in the big leagues this season, Van Eyk has given up 11 hits across 6.2 innings. Albeit a small sample size, it is still a bit tough for a team that’s struggled with preventing runners getting on base. In 105 innings for the Buffalo Bisons. Van Eyk has posted a 4.20 ERA and is the only beaten by Grant Rogers (27) in appearances for the Bisons, compared to his 23 games.

Given the depletion of the Blue Jays pitching staff, at the very least having a fresh arm is proving to be a luxury in todays day and age.  With Brendan Cellucci getting the call yesterday and Ricky Tiedemann being sent back down to the minor leagues, the team could potentially shuffle the deck with Van Eyk coming back up, despite the fact his stuff has not generated a lot of whiffs or ground balls to generally go the distance. A similar workload to that of Arrighetti could come to mind if push comes to shove.

Winckowski’s situation is very delicate given his recovery from an internal brace procedure back in December of 2025. With it now being almost a calender year since the procedure, Winckowski is slowly making his return to pitching. After pitching 6.1 innings in Single-A for the Dunedin Blue Jays, Winckowski was moved to Triple-A Buffalo where he pitched two scoreless innings. With the four-seam fastball averaging around 92 to 93 MPH in his outings so far, down from his usual pre-surgery numbers of 95 MPH, it is still going to be a process for a return to major league action.

With a 40-man roster spot needing to be made in order to potentially add him to the roster, it could be an option should the team move Taillon to the 60-day IL with his injury being possibly season ending. The team can also remove Rudy Martin Jr. who was added late last week to the 40-man roster when Jesús Sánchez was designated for assignment.

The possibilities are all on the table right now, with the team constantly evaluating the minor league rosters on a regular basis, they could feel confident enough to add more reinforcements.

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