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Mark Shapiro is still writing his legacy with the Blue Jays
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Photo credit: © Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
Ben Wrixon
Dec 17, 2025, 08:25 ESTUpdated: Dec 17, 2025, 08:23 EST
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The Toronto Blue Jays gave President and CEO Mark Shapiro a five-year contract extension on Friday, extending his stay with Toronto since he left Cleveland for North of the border.
Now, after a tumultuous decade leading the franchise, he has a golden opportunity to cement his legacy. 
Shapiro and general manager Ross Atkins joined the organization in 2015 at an awkward turning point. That year’s team, led by José Bautista, Josh Donaldson, and Edwin Encarnación, won the American East before falling just short of a World Series appearance under Canadian general manager Alex Anthopoulos. The former GM departed the organization after Shapiro was brought in and went off to Los Angeles before landing in Atlanta. 
After being felled in the ALCS again in 2016, Shapiro and Atkins made several unpopular decisions that sullied his reputation with the fans. He let Encarnación and Bautista walk in free agency, then traded Donaldson in 2018, and continued to let veteran players go over the coming years. 
These departures plunged the Blue Jays into several seasons of mediocrity before re-emerging with a talented new core led by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette. This current era has not been without its hiccups: several head-scratching trades, forcing manager John Schneider to pull a dominant José Berríos early in Game 2 of the 2023 Wild Card series against the Minnesota Twins, and some big whiffs in free agency. 
However, as all Jays fans know, this core also came within an inch of winning the World Series in 2025. All of the disappointment and frustration would have been washed away in the ecstasy of a championship coming back to Toronto. But it wasn’t. 
So now, with this new contract extension, Shapiro has been given five more years to write his legacy as the boss of the Blue Jays — and he’s off to a good start. 
His off-the-field decisions have been excellent. He oversaw the renovations to the Rogers Centre, which have drastically improved the fan experience, while his overhauling of the player facilities in Dunedin has boosted the organization’s reputation. 
Speaking of reputation, Shapiro has helped curate the brotherly, team-first culture that the 2025 Blue Jays so perfectly exemplified. The players also deserve massive credit for their effort and selflessness, but Shapiro has done well to assemble a group where everyone seems to have bought in. 
No player is more important to the Blue Jays present and future than Guerrero, and Shapiro deserves praise for working out his contract extension along with Atkins. Both of them will get even more credit if they can lock up Bichette this offseason. 
It’s been a winding road, but Shapiro has ultimately done a lot more good than bad during his time at the top — and now he has a golden opportunity to put the finishing touches on a roster capable of winning a World Series. He might someday have a banner hanging next to the one honouring Pat Gillick if this group can finish the job.

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