Duplication isn’t on the table for the Toronto Blue Jays, President and CEO Mark Shapiro says, after the team just came shy of a World Series title.
Shapiro told reporters Thursday the Blue Jays magical postseason leaves him “inspired and recommitted” as the team enters the offseason with several roster uncertainties.
“You just can’t recreate something identical,” he said.
“You got to build off what happened – you have to plan to be better.”
After a back-and-forth World Series – the first for the Blue Jays in 32 years – the team came up short against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the defending World Series champions, in Game 7, losing 5-4 in extra innings.
A win would’ve seen the Blue Jays secure its third Commissioner’s Trophy in franchise history, and would’ve been the first since Joe Carter’s walk-off home run in 1993 locked in a back-to-back championship for Toronto.
The playoff run was a surprise to many Blue Jays fans, given the team finished at the bottom of its division last year.
Get daily National news
Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
“No one expected them to do what they did,” Shapiro said.
“We created new baseball fans everywhere. It was compelling and hard not to watch.”
Several key players from Toronto’s playoff run are set to become free agents this offseason, including Game 7 starter Max Scherzer, pitcher Chris Bassitt, and most notably Bo Bichette, who has spent his entire career with the Blue Jays organization.
The club said Thursday it has extended a qualifying offer to Bichette for the 2026 season. He has until Nov. 18 to accept the offer.
By extending the qualifying offer, the Blue Jays will get a draft pick in compensation if Bichette signs elsewhere in free agency.
Fan-favourite Ernie Clement and Gold Glove centre-fielder Daulton Varsho are also entering arbitration years.
But fans did get some good news Wednesday: pitcher Shane Bieber, a trade deadline acquisition from the Cleveland Guardians, exercised his player option for 2026 and will remain with the Blue Jays next season.
“We feel that every year we try to get better, and as we improve, we hope to become more attractive,” General Manager Ross Atkins said Thursday.
“We do feel good about the free agent market and our starting pitching area.”
Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who signed a 14-year, US$500 million extension with the Blue Jays on April 9, has said he and his teammates will come back stronger when spring training begins in five months’ time.
“Not just the season, this game will make us stronger. It’s not the way we wanted to end it but like I always say, we lost one battle, but we haven’t lost the war,” he said through team translator Hector Lebron after the Game 7 loss in the early morning hours of Nov. 2.
“But, I mean, it’s the way it is. It’s God’s plans, and we’ve got to move forward. I’m very proud of myself, my teammates, and we’ll be back.”
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
