A look at the Blue Jays 2026 rotation if everything works out
Photo credit: Matt Marton-Imagn Images
The Toronto Blue Jays could have one of the best rotations in baseball next season if everything works out according to plan, they could potentially have: Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, Dylan Cease, Tatsuya Imai and Trey Yesavage.
The Blue Jays are already have three confirmedand they working on Imai and Cease this winter to make them long time Blue Jays.
Blue Jays could have top 3 rotation in MLB next season.
Edward Eng of Jays Journal spoke on the potential the Blue Jays have for next season when it comes to pitching.
They have a high probability to acquire two big names in free agency, which would put them right back as being favourites for the World Series.
" Not that their starting five of Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, Chris Bassitt, José Berrios and Max Scherzer was a pushover, but the Dodgers practically had four No. 1 aces pitching in their rotation to help lead the team to winning success."-Eng
The two biggest ones to focus on, are the ones they need to acquire which are Cease and Imai.
Cease has finished in top 5 Cy Young voting twice and could have won it in 2022, being runner up to Justin Verlander. His biggest strength is his strikeout ability recording 1231 strikeouts in 1015 1/3 innings.
"Adding the 29-year-old right-hander and his strikeout ability to the Jays rotation will no doubt make them that much more daunting to play against, especially with someone like Cease in the No. 3 slot."-Eng
Imai would be a huge acquisition for the Blue Jays, the other landing spots for him are the Yankees and the Red Sox, beating them two out to acquire him, would also send a message across the whole league.
Imai has been a phenom over in Japan, and would join the wave of Japanese players dominating in the MLB like Shogeo Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
"Imai is coming off a stellar 2025 campaign with the Saitama Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball in which he compiled a 10-5 record with a 1.92 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, together with 178 strikeouts in 163 2/3 total innings over 24 games played."-Eng
The other three, Bieber, Gausman and Yesavage are all proven to show up when it matters most. Adding Imai and Cease to this rotation, would show that the Blue Jays are a big player in free agency now, and that their a serious organization built to win.
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