The first full month of the 2026 schedule was one to forget for the Toronto Blue Jays. The revolving door of injuries, the constant churn of players on the roster, and the general lack of offense has been concerning for the defending American League Champions. They ended the month of April with a 14-17 record.

The Blue Jays weren’t quite the tire fire that the New York Mets or Philadelphia Phillies were during the first month of the season (at least their manager survived the early-season purge), but record-wise, Toronto wasn’t that far off from being one of the biggest disappointments of the campaign so far.

Credit to the pitching staff — or what’s left of it, at least — for grinding out the first five weeks of the schedule, because they’ve held up their bargain for the most part in the early going. Overall, they had a 4.24 ERA to start the season, which was 19th in MLB. Their starter ERA was 4.38, which ranked 19th again, but the relief pitching was a tad better at 4.10, ranking 17th overall.

It’s funny because this starting rotation is being viewed as grinding through the first month of the season, being held together by duct tape and popsicle sticks, and yet the campaign has just begun. These discussions about starting rotations running on fumes are usually reserved for the end of the year, but this one has barely begun.

That’s why the concern-o-metre was never truly that high when it came to pitching for the Blue Jays early on; it was their lineup that’s been lacking this whole time. And yes, that even includes losing key contributors like Alejandro Kirk, George Springer, and Addison Barger.

Few teams are equipped to lose one-third of their starting lineup just weeks into the season, but the Blue Jays were more than capable of scratching across enough runs to at least give themselves a chance to win. For a long stretch there, the Blue Jays’ lineup did not hold up their end of the bargain.

Traditionally, the Blue Jays are slow starters, with March/April being their lowest winning percentage split in franchise history. Maybe it’s the cold weather in visiting ballparks, maybe it’s hitters trying to get their timing down, but the Blue Jays ending the month of April with a winning record has been a rare occurrence.

Given all that’s transpired, it wasn’t shocking when they emerged from April having a 14-17 record and being six games back of the division lead. This is what the Blue Jays generally do in March and April; just look back to last year as a prime example.

It’s easy to forget that the 2025 Blue Jays also struggled out of the gate. Through their first 30 games, they had a 14-16 record and were staring up at a 3.5 game deficit in the division. May, June and July were electric, but the season started a little hairy, and the last two months of last season were nail-biters as well.

Last April in particular was a difficult start to the season. They actually struggled even more to score runs, posting a team-wide 85 wRC+ in April. By comparison to this year’s Blue Jays, who finished April with a 91 wRC+, this year’s squad is slightly ahead of last year’s.

By matters of injuries and slow starts, the Blue Jays’ top five performers from last year look vastly different.

In 2025, it was Springer, Myles Straw (???), Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette and Alejandro Kirk leading the way on offense to begin the season. Even though Straw saw limited ABs, he made the most of his opportunities, and Springer laid the groundwork early for his renaissance season, as many were still questioning whether his resurgence was legit.

Fast forward to 2026, and there are two similar names on the list, but the rest have been former role players like Ernie Clement, who is suddenly the second-hottest hitter on the team, or light-hitting Andres Gimenez, and one of the newest outfielders on the team: Jesus Sanchez.

Be honest … if you saw those eye-popping numbers from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to start the year, but you didn’t know he only had two home runs, would you care all that much? In isolation, those statistics are off the charts for Vladdy, but it’s just the lack of extra-base power that’s missing from his game.

Once again, plucky Mr. Straw is making the most of his opportunities by hitting league average, playing plus defense and being a solid baserunner.

While the Blue Jays struggled for a while there to put runs on the board, averaging 3.72 runs scored per game during their 5-13, there were some positive takeaways from the first full month. Guerrero hasn’t quite awoken from his slumber, but is still contributing, even if it’s a boatload of singles.

Clement continues to put the bat on everything and leads the league in doubles. Straw earns his keep with his versatility and knack for delivering a big hit. Gimenez has been a bigger presence at the plate, and Sanchez has been a nice early-season pickup for the Blue Jays.

Outside of their season-opening sweep of the Athletics and their 7-4 finish to the month against the Dbacks, Angels, Guardians, and Red Sox, the Blue Jays weren’t playing their best baseball. They were dealing with a litany of injuries, and many hitters were still trying to find their footing.

Even during stellar seasons like 2025 for the Blue Jays, every squad is going to have a bad month (or two). Perhaps the Blue Jays’ mantra has been to get that month out of the way early, so there’s nothing but room for improvement the rest of the way.

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