The Toronto Blue Jays may have fallen to the modern-day dynasty Los Angeles Dodgers in game seven of the World Series, but their inspired run through the 2025 postseason opened up doors for the franchise like never before.
No longer viewed as the desperate, neglected middle child in MLB free agency, Toronto was finally able to secure some top of the line free agents. The Blue Jays signed starting pitcher Dylan Cease to a seven-year, $210 million contract, and Japanese slugger Kazuma Okamoto to a four-year, $60 million deal.
After years of getting so close yet so far to signing big name guys (see Shohei Ohtani circa 2023), Toronto’s World Series run turned it from an “on the brink” franchise to a destination for big name players.
Patrick Mooney, Katie Woo, and Will Sammon of “The Athletic” listed Toronto and Cease as the biggest winners of the MLB offseason.
“After pushing the Dodgers to the 11th inning of a World Series Game 7, the Blue Jays capitalized on all that postseason revenue and this newfound momentum,” Mooney, Woo, and Sammon wrote. “Following years of being used by free agents for leverage and failing to close deals for top players, the Blue Jays were able to showcase Torontoâs electric environment throughout the playoffs and lure in elite talent.”
Blue Jays Spending Big This Offseason
Toronto now has the fifth most expensive payroll in the MLB. At $295 million, the Blue Jays are now second time offenders of exceeding the luxury tax limit, and will pay extra on all overages this season. But really, what this means, is that ownership is willing to invest in the team’s winning product; for better or for worse, the MLB has become a pay-to-win league, and the Blue Jays now find themselves among the likes of the Yankees and Phillies as far as investment capital goes.
Just under 45 percent of the Blue Jays 2026 payroll is tied up in four players: Cease, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer, and Kevin Gausman. Guerrero, Springer, and Gausman all earned their keep and then some last season, but what made Toronto so dangerous in the playoffs was its depth.
In last years’ playoff run, three of Toronto’s five most valuable qualified hitters were Ernie Clement, Addison Barger, and Nathan Lukes; those three make up 2.57 percent of the payroll combined. That is truly the way to win in the MLB these days: pay for top of the line players and hope most of them make an impact, then get production from a few scrappy young guys who cost nothing in comparison.
The Blue Jays struck that balance perfectly in 2025, and now need to carry it over into this upcoming season.
Blue Jays Acquire Dylan Cease; Will He Put It All Together?
The signing of Dylan Cease makes plenty of sense as far as potential goes, but he may have earned more than he’s proven to be worth so far in his career. The only free agent to earn more than Cease this offseason was Kyle Tucker, who signed a four year, $240 million contract with the Dodgers.
It’s hard to get a read on Cease; on one hand, he finished last season with the San Diego Padres with a record of 8-12 and an ERA of 4.55, not a stat-line worth $210 million. But then you look at the strikeout numbers throughout his career: in every full season of his career, he’s eclipsed 210 strikeouts without going over 190 innings pitched.
Cease was in the top-10 percentile in K-rate and whiff-rate in the league last season. The Blue Jays are banking on their pitching staff to find a way for him to allow less runs and become less of a boom-or-bust type pitcher.
If they can do that, they have a Cy Young candidate just waiting to explode.
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