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3 reasons why the Blue Jays need more bullpen depth heading into 2026
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Photo credit: © Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images
Veronica Chung
Feb 18, 2026, 08:00 ESTUpdated: Feb 17, 2026, 19:24 EST
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The Blue Jays may have had a busy offseason, focusing on adding to their pitching staff in high-profile arms like Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce.
On the bullpen side, the team signed Tyler Rogers to give the relief core a different look with his submarine delivery. Still, the age-old adage stands: you can never have enough relievers and looking back at 2025, the Jays could have used a few more arms down in the bullpen to provide some stability when things were going off the rails.
Here are three reasons why the Blue Jays must add more bullpen depth throughout next season.

Injuries and volatility are inevitable

Relievers are volatile due to the nature of relief pitching. With only a few innings to pitch, relief pitchers can be excellent in one game while tanking others at times. This logic applies to managing different seasons; some good relievers can have a stellar season and then have their worst year.
No teams are immune to this rule, and the Blue Jays aren’t either. There’s simply no guarantee that effective relievers can replicate their numbers the next season; it’s simply too hard to predict how well a reliever will perform in a season until they get their chances on the mound.
Another factor that also complicates the bullpens is injuries. Every player has an injury risk, but pitching is one of the more precarious positions when it comes to injuries.
Yimi Garcia was regarded as one of the best strikeout relievers in Toronto’s bullpen, but he was forced to the sidelines early in the year, and the team had to be creative with its depth chart. The same goes with Nick Sandlin, who was relied upon heavily by John Schneider before he also went out for most of the season.
Whether they are in the circle of trust or not, any reliever injury can set a team back for a few games. And those few games could cost them their position in the playoff contention.

Safety net for young relievers

The young relievers stepped up for the Blue Jays last season. Despite their few slip-ups, Braydon Fisher and Mason Fluharty entered the circle of trust last year with their phenomenal performances in high-leverage situations. The best-case scenario would be for both Fisher and Fluharty to repeat their successful years, but there is a world where they slump and fail to live up to expectations.
Every player, especially a young player, deserves more space for trial and error. By building a good reliever depth, young relievers will have a safety net to experiment, reinvent and improve. A team that’s done a great job in constructing this type of depth is the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Their starting pitching depth stood out the most, but their reliever depth ultimately contributed to their second consecutive World Series win. When Emmett Sheehan couldn’t perform, Justin Wrobleski stepped up. When Roki Sasaki struggled as a starter, he turned into a fireballing reliever.
The Blue Jays would need more time to build this cushion for young players. But they can still work to identify good relievers who can be promoted to the big leagues through spring training and identify potential trade targets down the road. The goal is to have as many dependable relievers, so no one is too exposed.

Key to the playoff longevity 

Having a strong bullpen matters in any situation, and this applies to the playoffs even more. The playoffs are an unpredictable beast altogether. If starters can’t go deeper into the game, relievers have to step up to secure a win. It’s a constant pressure cooker that requires resilience. It’s one of the main reasons the Jays added Louis Varland and Seranthony Dominguez at the trade deadline.
Even the World Series between the Dodgers and the Blue Jays were all about pitching in the end. While the Blue Jays’ offensive struggles weren’t completely blameless in this World Series run, Toronto’s relievers opened an opportunity for Los Angeles to come back in Game 7 as it grappled with getting clean outs.
The Blue Jays have learned the hard way that pitching woes in late innings can cost the trajectory of the playoffs. Not paying close attention to the bullpen throughout the season would be the biggest misstep that could backfire. Toronto’s pitching depth cost them the World Series – now isn’t the time to remain complacent.

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