After a tough Game 7 loss on Saturday, Blue Jays fans were still licking their World Series wounds this week, until a curious move by one of the team’s top pitchers caught their attention.
Starter Shane Bieber, who joined the Jays in July, on Wednesday exercised a $16-million US player option to stay with the team, though many baseball watchers say the 30-year-old could’ve seen a much higher payday had he chosen free agency.
And just like that, fans have hope that Toronto could make another run at the World Series next year.
“I was absolutely shocked,” said Blue Jays superfan Lesley Mak, who’s nonetheless delighted to hear Bieber, a past Cy Young winner, will be back.
“It means he believes in the team, it means the team has shown belief in him,” she said, adding that it confirms all that’s been reported about the camaraderie among the current Blue Jays.
Some baseball observers have suggested Bieber is likely not the only member of the roster fired up about the possibility of a do-over after coming so close to a World Series win last weekend.
The Jays themselves were clearly heartbroken the extra innings loss in Game 7.
“I’ve been crying, for, like, probably for an hour,” said Ernie Clement on Saturday. “I thought I was done with the tears, but I just love these guys so much.”
Star slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr., speaking through a translator, noted that losing Game 7 wasn’t the way they intended to end the season and made a vow.
“We lost one battle, but we haven’t lost the war,” he said. “We’ve got to move forward. I’m very proud of myself, my teammates, and we’ll be back.”
“I actually think that these guys from the Blue Jays, the tight-knit group, they want to run it back,” said former major leaguer Sean Casey, while reacting to Bieber’s decision on MLB Network.
While the Blue Jays can now count on at least one more pitcher under contract for 2026, the job doesn’t end there. Every off-season is a scramble for teams to improve their rosters in an effort to ensure they’re ready to compete in the spring.
Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins and president Mark Shapiro talked to the media Thursday about what the ballclub would need to do in the off-season and if they thought it was possible the team would be back in the 2026 World Series.
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Shapiro says that though the Jays intend to try to win it all again next year, the team might not look exactly the same.
“You’ve got to build off of what happened,” he said. “It won’t work exactly the same way next year as it worked this year.
“It’s been about that pursuit, it’s been about perpetual improvement and … making this a great place to play.”
Atkins said he was “open” to running it back and improving upon what worked.
“I wouldn’t put myself in a box to say that there has to be change to improve,” he said. “I believe in human beings, I believe in the power of development, improvement and the power of cohesion.”
But even the most talented teams must push themselves to make back-to-back World Series appearances. And while Toronto has done that before, it took the franchise another 32 years to get another shot.
“A lot of dominoes have to fall to repeat,” said Steve McAllister, a veteran sports journalist who covered the team’s back-to-back championships in 1992 and 1993.
Witness the San Francisco Giants, who won three World Series titles in five years (2010, 2012 and 2014), without any appearances in between those championships. More recently, the Houston Astros went to the World Series four times from 2017 to 2022 — winning twice — but making only one back-to-back appearance.
Not only do the Jays face long odds of making another World Series appearance, they’ll also have to deal with the potential departure of some of their best players who are now free agents. And Bo Bichette is at the top of that list.
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The Blue Jays said Thursday that the club had made a $22.025-million qualifying offer to Bichette, the first step in the off-season process.
The 27-year-old is one of Toronto’s top hitters and has been with the Jays for his entire career. Usually a shortstop, he moved to second base during the World Series after returning from a late-season knee injury.
Mark Shapiro responds to a question on the importance of bringing back Bo Bichette, electing to focus comments on appreciation for Bichette as a player rather than roster building. <a href=”https://t.co/EXClFoy8O3″>pic.twitter.com/EXClFoy8O3</a>
The two-time all-star has expressed his desire to stay in Toronto — though nothing is a given when a free agent hits the open market.
“I said I’ve wanted to be here from the beginning,” Bichette said again in an interview immediately after last Saturday’s Game 7 loss.
But the Jays’ qualifying offer may be lower than what he would likely command as one of the top free agents this winter. Toronto has shown that it’s willing to spend big when it wants to, with a $500-million contract extension for Guerrero earlier this year.
McAllister says Bichette rates as a priority for Toronto, not only for his bat, but also for what he means to the ballclub, and, in particular, Guerrero.
“There’s a yin and yang there between him and Guerrero,” McAllister said, alluding to the friendship between the duo who came up in the Toronto system together.
Mak says “Bo needs to make a decision” about whether he wants to play for Toronto, or chase his dreams somewhere else.
The Jays will also have to weigh making offers to other notable free agents, including infielders Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Ty France, who just won a gold glove award, as well as starting pitchers Chris Bassitt and Max Scherzer and reliever Seranthony Domínguez.
McAllister points to the impact the 41-year-old Scherzer — likely a future Hall of Famer — had on his teammates, and whether he’ll return for one more season with Toronto.
“Does he give the Blue Jays a discount and come back for another year?” asked McAllister.
The Blue Jays will also be counting on interest from other free agents who may want to play for a proven World Series contender.
With that in mind, Mak believes the team should stock up on as much quality pitching as they can, whether in the starting rotation or the bullpen.
McAllister points out that Toronto’s division rivals, the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, will also be fighting for the best free agents, as will the their World Series opponents, the Dodgers.
The Dodgers, now the back-to-back World Series champions, will also be looking to run it back —in their case hoping to claim a third consecutive championship, something that’s only ever happened a handful of times in Major League Baseball history.
The last time was when the Yankees won in 1998, 1999 and 2000. The Oakland Athletics also won three consecutive World Series, from 1972 to 1974. There were also some Yankees runs decades ago that saw New York win four in a row (1936-1939), and five in a row (from 1949 to 1953).
Despite the relative rarity of a three-peat, the Dodgers are optimistic.
The club has been to five of the past nine World Series, winning this year and last, as well as the COVID-abbreviated 2020 season, but losing to the Astros in 2017 and the Red Sox in 2018.
“It’s a real challenge to go three in a row,” said basketball legend Magic Johnson, who’s among the group of owners of the storied franchise, when speaking to KTLA about the possibility.
That said, Johnson believes the Dodgers “have the people in the clubhouse” to try.
Dodgers chairman and controlling owner Mark Walter has vowed the team will be “back next year” to celebrate another championship.
