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This season has been a historically bad one for the Toronto Blue Jays, which has been made worse by the fact the team is coming off an American League pennant and seven-game series in the World Series last year.
The Blue Jays are 47-56, last place in the American League East and 12.5 games out of first place in the division.
Despite Toronto's struggles, a large part of it due to injuries and under-performing of the offense, there has been several high-end performers on the team this season.
One of them is closer Louis Varland, who recently etched his name into team history.
According to a post on "X" from StatsCentre, Varland has the lowest ERA (1.04) in a single season by a Blue Jays pitcher who threw a minimum of 25 innings. That's ahead of other hurlers, including: Aaron Sanchez (1.09; 2014), B.J. Ryan (1.37; 2006); Taijuan Walker (1.37; 2020); Tim Mayza (1.52; 2023) and Matt Shoemaker (1.57; 2019).
Varland etched his name into franchise history after a scoreless ninth inning in a 3-1 win against the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday, which helped Toronto avoid being swept in the four-game series.
Varland opened the season as the team's set-up man for then-closer Jeff Hoffman. After Hoffman struggled, Varland was moved firmly into the closer role and has excelled in it.
In addition to his 1.04 ERA, the 2026 All-Star has struck out 70 batters in 52 innings pitched across 47 appearances. He's a perfect 21-for-21 in save opportunities and has allowed an opposing batting average of .195.
Varland's career-best season comes a half-year after he was acquired by the Blue Jays in a trade.
Toronto sent left fielder Alan Roden and left-handed pitcher Kendry Rojas to the Minnesota Twins on July 31, 2025, in return for Varland and Ty France. At the time of the trade, Varland had a 2.02 ERA and fanned 47 batters in 51 outings.
Varland was unable to replicate the same success he had with the Twins with the Blue Jays last year. In 23 regular season appearances (one start) with Toronto in '25, Varland had a 4.94 ERA and struck out 28 batters in 23.2 innings pitched.
The Blue Jays are almost completely out of time to turn the season around and might currently be leaning toward being "sellers" at the trade deadline compared to "buyers."
Toronto will begin a three-game series against AL East rivals, the Boston Red Sox, at 7:15 p.m. ET at Fenway Park in Boston.
Remember to join our BLUE JAYS on ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form, and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other Blue Jays fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that's free too!
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The Blue Jays are 47-56, last place in the American League East and 12.5 games out of first place in the division.
Despite Toronto's struggles, a large part of it due to injuries and under-performing of the offense, there has been several high-end performers on the team this season.
One of them is closer Louis Varland, who recently etched his name into team history.
According to a post on "X" from StatsCentre, Varland has the lowest ERA (1.04) in a single season by a Blue Jays pitcher who threw a minimum of 25 innings. That's ahead of other hurlers, including: Aaron Sanchez (1.09; 2014), B.J. Ryan (1.37; 2006); Taijuan Walker (1.37; 2020); Tim Mayza (1.52; 2023) and Matt Shoemaker (1.57; 2019).
Varland etched his name into franchise history after a scoreless ninth inning in a 3-1 win against the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday, which helped Toronto avoid being swept in the four-game series.
Varland opened the season as the team's set-up man for then-closer Jeff Hoffman. After Hoffman struggled, Varland was moved firmly into the closer role and has excelled in it.
In addition to his 1.04 ERA, the 2026 All-Star has struck out 70 batters in 52 innings pitched across 47 appearances. He's a perfect 21-for-21 in save opportunities and has allowed an opposing batting average of .195.
Varland's career-best season comes a half-year after he was acquired by the Blue Jays in a trade.
Toronto sent left fielder Alan Roden and left-handed pitcher Kendry Rojas to the Minnesota Twins on July 31, 2025, in return for Varland and Ty France. At the time of the trade, Varland had a 2.02 ERA and fanned 47 batters in 51 outings.
Varland was unable to replicate the same success he had with the Twins with the Blue Jays last year. In 23 regular season appearances (one start) with Toronto in '25, Varland had a 4.94 ERA and struck out 28 batters in 23.2 innings pitched.
The Blue Jays are almost completely out of time to turn the season around and might currently be leaning toward being "sellers" at the trade deadline compared to "buyers."
Toronto will begin a three-game series against AL East rivals, the Boston Red Sox, at 7:15 p.m. ET at Fenway Park in Boston.
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Remember to join our BLUE JAYS on ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form, and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other Blue Jays fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that's free too!
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