At this juncture in spring training, most people are ready to fast forward to Opening Day. The longer this thing drags out, the more potential there is for injuries, so pack these guys in carbonite and let’s get this show on the road.

But for formality’s sake, the Blue Jays have to finish out their spring schedule, and there are still several reasons to keep a close eye on this team as they attempt to bounce back after a disappointing 2024 season.

The bulk of this roster is ready to go, but a few last-minute decisions are hinging on some late play in Grapefruit League action. While other players are putting on a show and having fans eager to get started with the “real” games on March 27.

From the Blue Jays side, these are five reasons to keep watching this club down the stretch in spring training.

It’s “only” spring, but Max Scherzer’s spring training games have already become appointment viewing. After an injury-shortened 2024 campaign with the Rangers, the 40-year-old appears to be back, now with a nasty new slider added to his repertoire.

It’s still too early to declare Scherzer has discovered the fountain of youth, but how huge would it be if the Blue Jays got some semblance of the 2022 or 2023 iteration of the three-time Cy Young winner? With a healthy and effective Scherzer, Toronto’s rotation becomes one of the best in the division.

There’s still a lot of runway to go to declare this a solid one-year signing for the Blue Jays, but Scherzer has cleared all the hurdles thus far and leads all Blue Jays pitchers in strikeouts and ranks among the top five of all starters in spring training.

The latest wrinkle now has Scherzer dealing with some thumb soreness, which has pushed back his next start from this Thursday. Hopefully, it’s not a nerve-related injury, which is what happened to Scherzer last year with the Texas Rangers.

When the Blue Jays announced Daulton Varsho was undergoing rotator cuff surgery, most assumed he’d likely miss Opening Day. But Varsho is ahead of schedule and might be ready to make the trip north to Toronto for the season opening series against the Baltimore Orioles.

His bat is already in mid-season form, but Varsho has yet to get into the field for spring training action in center field. And with only a handful of games left, it doesn’t make sense to rush the Blue Jays’ most valuable fielder if they don’t need to.

If John Schneider has time to work Varsho into a few games before next Sunday and he checks all the boxes, maybe he’ll be ready for Opening Day after all. Throwing is going to be the final green flag for Varsho, but the Blue Jays are running out of time to see him play the field and throw in live games.

The bat is clearly ready to play and the Blue Jays could activate him to start the season and have Varsho DH a handful of games and then ease him into the field, but the safer call is for Varsho to start the season on the IL and call him up when he’s 100 percent.

It was always going to be an impossible task for Bowden Francis to follow up his electric second half from last season. And spring training results should always be taken with a grain of salt, but there might be a few red flags with Francis through his first three starts.

Six earned runs over 6 2/3 innings of work with three home runs and six walks are a little troublesome from a pitcher who had a phenomenal WHIP from the time Francis rejoined the starting rotation last year. As the Blue Jays’ fifth starter, expectations aren’t sky high, but Francis still has to be serviceable out of the rotation.

He might only get two more chances to get work in before opening day, so these last two games will be crucial to helping Francis turn things around and build momentum into the season opener.

Positional battles always add a bit of intrigue to what can be a procedural spring training. Most of the everyday spots in the Blue Jays lineup are accounted for, but it’s those bench spots that are still up for grabs.

Davis Schneider, Alan Roden, Joey Loperfido, Nathan Lukes, Myles Straw, Steward Berroa, Orelvis Martinez, and Addison Barger are left vying for spots on the Opening Day roster. There isn’t one particular player who stands out among the bunch, which means these last few weeks are extremely important for players on the bubble.

Roden has been one of the best success stories of spring training, but I think the club will leave him and potentially Martinez in triple-A to continue to develop and get everyday at bats. The same could happen with Loperfido, Berroa, and Lukes, leaving Schneider, Barger and Straw as the players who make the cut.

Yet as we’ve seen already, all it takes is an injury or two to change plans, so these spots aren’t set in stone. But as the Opening Day roster takes shape, it may come down to the eleventh hour when it comes to deciding who will be the 25th and 26th men in the fold.

This year’s spring training has been a night and day difference for Kevin Gausman compared to last year. While he had an abbreviated camp in 2024, Gausman hasn’t looked this good in years. His fastball velocity was back around 95-96 MPH and his slider velocity was even up a few ticks on Monday.

Considering Gausman struggled with fastball velocity out of the gate in 2024, this year’s spring training results are a huge positive for the stability of Toronto’s starting rotation. The Blue Jays could use another Cy Young-esque season from one of their starters in 2025, and Gausman might be the guy to do it.