Jameson Taillon's return to the IL left the Blue Jays with a familiar problem again.

Toronto essentially has three clear-cut starters right now, and everything behind them is a genuine question mark heading into the stretch run.

Dylan Cease has been the anchor all season, the kind of ace-level performer that's kept this rotation afloat through every other injury.

Jose Soriano has been steady since arriving from the Angels at the deadline, with Toronto winning all but one of his starts since the trade.

Max Scherzer has been the real surprise. Since returning from injury, he's posted a 3.76 ERA and 1.16 WHIP with 34 strikeouts over 40.2 innings across eight starts, going at least five innings in six of them.

Beyond that trio, the picture gets murky fast.

Why none of the internal options look great right now

Spencer Arrighetti sits as the default No. 4 starter, and he's been nothing like the pitcher who dominated earlier this year with Houston.

He's 0-4 with an 8.04 ERA and a 1.53 WHIP, allowing 14 earned runs over 15.2 innings across four Blue Jays starts.

Toronto's defense and some brutal heat may have contributed to his worst outing against the Royals, but that doesn't erase the overall body of work.

Bullpen days every fifth start have become the workaround, and while the results have mostly held up, that pace isn't sustainable through the rest of the season.

Promoting Spencer Miles seems logical given his success as a rookie reliever, but he's never thrown more than 4.1 innings in an outing this year, limiting how much length he could realistically provide as a starter.

Ricky Tiedemann remains an intriguing name on paper, but his injury history makes pushing his workload right now too risky for Toronto to justify.

Michael Lorenzen has starting experience too, but his numbers as a starter with Colorado this season, a 3-11 record, 7.08 ERA, and a league-high 91 earned runs over 25 starts, make that option unappealing.

That leaves Toronto with an uncomfortable reality: sticking with the current setup and hoping Trey Yesavage returns soon enough to actually matter.

Whether that patience pays off, or Arrighetti's struggles force a more drastic move before the season ends, is the question hanging over this entire rotation right now.