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Instant Reaction: Blue Jays eliminated from postseason contention with 4-2 loss to Orioles
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Photo credit: Jamie LeBlanc-Imagn Images
Tristan Morgan
Sep 23, 2026, 18:13 EDT
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The Toronto Blue Jays were eliminated from postseason contention on Wednesday afternoon, dropping the opener of a doubleheader 4-2 to the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards.
The loss left Toronto at 77-81 with four games remaining, and the Blue Jays will miss the postseason for the second time in three seasons. In 2025, Toronto won the American League pennant and came within inches of a World Series title. The hangover from that season’s success lasted longer than almost anyone would have thought, even lately, with Toronto losing four of its last five and going 4-6 over its last 10.
Max Scherzer took the loss on Wednesday, striking out seven across five innings while allowing four earned runs on three walks. He began the game in the first, striking out three; however, Baltimore adjusted quickly. 
Jeremiah Jackson’s RBI single started the scoring, putting the Orioles on the board, and then came a play that could sum up Toronto’s defence for a large part of the season. Jackson was hung up in a rundown involving Brandon Valenzuela, Andrés Giménez and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and while the Blue Jays chased him, Colton Cowser broke from third and stole home to make it 2-0. It was an easily avoidable run, but mistakes like this compound on each other, and Baltimore kept going from there after taking advantage of the lacklustre defence. 
The game slipped away in the fifth. Scherzer walked Dylan Beavers with one out, and Pete Alonso drove a 1-1 pitch to left-centre for a two-run homer, his 41st of the season, into a 7-mph wind blowing in from centre field, still managing to pummel it 412 feet. It doubled the Orioles’ lead to 4-0.
Even in defeat, Scherzer moved closer to a huge career milestone. His seven strikeouts pushed his career total to 3,550, four shy of Justin Verlander’s 3,554 for eighth on the all-time list. Scherzer is lined up to start Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Cincinnati Reds, where five strikeouts could potentially carry him past Verlander.
On the other side, former Blue Jays starter Chris Bassitt was effective in his second start against Toronto since leaving for Baltimore in the offseason. He went five innings, allowing two earned runs while walking one and striking out two, lowering his season ERA to 4.64.
The offence, as it has so often this season, could not finish the job. Toronto collected ten hits but scored only twice and left eight runners on base. Giménez doubled twice against his former teammate, and both Ernie Clement and Valenzuela added two hits, yet the production amounted to little.
The lone rally came in the sixth. George Springer singled, and Kazuma Okamoto walked, ending Bassitt’s afternoon, and Valenzuela followed with a two-out, two-run single off Luis De León to cut the deficit to 4-2. That was as close as Toronto got. Baltimore’s bullpen, capped by Andrew Kittredge’s 11th save, finished with four scoreless innings.
The Blue Jays’ bullpen did its part as they have all season. Jose Rodríguez struck out two in a perfect sixth, Brendon Little worked a scoreless seventh while intentionally walking Alonso, and Paul Sewald added a clean eighth. Those three combined for 45 pitches, which could help out Toronto with a bullpen game potentially looming in Game 2 of the doubleheader.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was back in the lineup, subbing in for Sean Keys in a lineup switch less than an hour before first pitch, after back soreness forced him out early on Sunday and kept him out Monday. Guerrero Jr. hit a frozen rope double in the first inning, 103.6 mph off the bat. However, he then grounded into an inning-ending double play in the fifth with Toronto still chasing its first run, and he finished 1-for-4.
The contact quality still shows up in flashes for Guerrero Jr., as it did at the start of Wednesday, but the production has failed to follow through all season. A year removed from hitting .292 with 23 home runs and 84 RBI, in what was already considered underperforming, he has posted career lows in most major offensive categories, including average, home runs and RBI, and his nine home runs are by far the fewest of his career. 
As a team, Toronto never won more than four straight games all season, even during a 17-11 August that revived its wild-card hopes. The Blue Jays spent most of the year taking one step forward and one step back, and the glaring issues never truly went away.
Health was a constant obstacle. Addison Barger’s season ended with elbow surgery; Trey Yesavage was sidelined following knee surgery; Shane Bieber saw just 11 games as he faced multiple injuries; and Cody Ponce barely got to play under the bright lights at Rogers Centre before suffering a career-ending ACL sprain.
The underlying problems were just as clear all year. Toronto’s 97 errors rank 27th in the majors, and the club has allowed more stolen bases per game than any team in baseball (0.9). Cowser’s steal of home in the second inning was that weakness in one play. Toronto is also on track for its second-fewest wins in a season since 2021, ahead of only the 74-win 2024 campaign.
The Blue Jays still have four games to play, beginning with the second half of Wednesday’s doubleheader against Baltimore at 6:35 p.m. ET, where CJ Van Eyk faces Trey Gibson, who starts Game 2 for the Orioles, and Toronto will look for some payback as they could eliminate Baltimore from postseason contention with a win. From there, the focus shifts to an offseason full of questions, from rotation depth and defensive struggles to an offence that was silent for most of the summer that certainly needs pieces added this winter. Above all sits the revitalization of franchise cornerstone Vladimir Guerrero Jr., which is a near must for success in 2027.
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