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Blue Jays 2026 40-man Roster Review: Jeff Hoffman’s impressive postseason was ruined by one home run
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Photo credit: © John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Jan 9, 2026, 07:00 ESTUpdated: Jan 9, 2026, 04:33 EST
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Jeff Hoffman’s 2025 season was something.
This is Blue Jays Nation’s annual 40-man roster review ahead of the new season. If you missed the most recent article, we looked at Kevin Gausman. In this article, we’ll look at Jeff Hoffman.
The right-handed pitcher was drafted ninth overall by the Toronto Blue Jays all the way back in 2014, but was traded just a year later in the Troy Tulowitzki deal with the Colorado Rockies. After toiling away in the big leagues as a starter, Hoffman began to find success in 2022 with the Cincinnati Reds.
In 2023, he earned a spot in the Philadelphia Phillies bullpen, authoring sub-2.50 ERAs in both 2023 and 2024. That led to the Blue Jays signing Hoffman to a three-year deal worth $33 million, with incentives that could bring the total value to $39 million.
Hoffman had one of the regular seasons of all-time. Measuring his success (or lack there of) depends on how you frame his stats.  Hoffman entered 40 save opportunities, picking up 33 saves along the way, the fourth-most in baseball. He also struck out 29.3% of the batters he faced, but his BB% jumped from 6% to 9.4%, so good, but not great.
Looking at Hoffman’s season from a glass-half-empty point of view, a closer probably shouldn’t have a 4.37 ERA and 4.90 FIP. His numbers ballooned in high-leverage compared to last season, but more worrisome was the long ball. Hoffman gave up 15 home runs in 2025 the second-most for any reliever, and only one fewer than Jackson Rutledge. For a closer, that is not good, anyway you slice it.
But then, there was some optimism thanks to his postseason. Heading into Game 7 of the World Series, Hoffman had given up just one home run in 11 innings of work, striking out 16 of the 43 batters he faced (37.2 K%) while issuing just two non-intentional walks (4.7 BB%). He also allowed just five hits, giving him a 0.82 ERA and 1.86 FIP. He looked like the closer the Jays dished out $33 million for.
Then, as we all know, he gave up that home run. There’s no need to go into any more detail about this home run, because personally, it still makes me incredibly sad two months later. It’s legitimately hard to fall asleep sometimes. The only other thing I’ll add to this paragraph is that it ruined what was otherwise a fantastic postseason for Hoffman.
It looks like the 2026 season will be year two of Hoffman as the closer, barring any out-of-the-blue trade. There’s no doubt that Yimi García, Louis Varland, and maybe even Tyler Rogers will push Hoffman for the closing job, but it seems highly unlikely he’ll be usurped, at least to begin the season.
The good news is that Fangraphs’ Steamer expects Hoffman to rebound, maybe not to the level he was at with the Phillies, but to the point where there won’t be discussions about moving him away from the closing job. It projects he’ll have a 3.47 ERA and 3.49 FIP in 63 innings pitched, with a 29 K% and 8.6 BB%, while his home run total is projected to drop to just eight. Let’s hope that’s the case.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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