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4 AL East players the Blue Jays need to keep in check this season
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Photo credit: © Eric Canha-Imagn Images
Ben Wrixon
Mar 27, 2026, 08:00 EDTUpdated: Mar 27, 2026, 07:54 EDT
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The divisional nature of MLB baseball means seeing the same teams and players more than a dozen times per year. The Toronto Blue Jays got awfully familiar with the stars on their AL East rivals last season, and keeping them in check will be no less important in 2026. 
Here are four players on opposing teams the Blue Jays need to keep under control in their quest to repeat as American League champions: 
Roman Anthony – Red Sox
Anthony is a budding superstar on a Boston Red Sox team that appears poised to provide the Blue Jays with some stiff competition this year. 
The 21-year-old recorded an .859 OPS (140 OPS+) in 71 games last year as a rookie, then proved it was no fluke by raking in the World Baseball Classic for Team USA. He’s the guy the Blue Jays need to keep in check if they want to get the best of Boston this year, which looks as if it will be much easier said than done. Fear the Roman Empire.
Yandy Díaz – Rays
Junior Caminero is the biggest bat in the Tampa Bay Rays’ offence, but Díaz has been a pesky thorn in the Blue Jays’ side for a long time. 
Toronto’s pitchers held him to a .776 OPS in 2025 after he recorded a 1.040 OPS or better against them each of the previous three seasons. He’s managed a .412 on-base percentage against the Blue Jays in 72 career games.
Stopping him is the key to shutting down the Rays’ lineup—especially with old nemesis Brandon Lowe finally gone. 
Adley Rutschman – Orioles
Rutschman hasn’t been great at the plate for the Baltimore Orioles over the last two years, but you sure wouldn’t know it by watching him hit against the Blue Jays. 
The switch-hitting catcher has slugged eight home runs with 19 RBIs in 20 games played against Toronto since the start of 2024. His total OPS during that time, when including the rest of the league, meanwhile, is a paltry .691. 
The Blue Jays need to handle Rutschman like the rest of the majors when they play the Orioles this year. 
Giancarlo Stanton – Yankees
Aaron Judge is unstoppable. His current prime might be the best stretch by a right-handed hitter in the history of baseball. So, with that in mind, the Blue Jays should accept what he’s going to do and focus instead on locking up his partner in crime.
Stanton clubbed 24 home runs with a .944 OPS in the 77 games he played in 2025. It was the best he’s hit in a New York Yankees uniform, and he enters this season ready to go despite claiming his elbows hurt so bad he can’t open a bag of chips.
The Blue Jays shut him down in the ALCS—they’ll need to keep doing it to stay kings of the AL East. 

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