TORONTO – The first standing ovation came before first pitch as Max Scherzer took the field and Floor Seats by A$AP Ferg began to blare, the next bottom one when George Springer walked to the plate to the familiar Butterfly Effect by Travis Scott.
More followed after Springer doubled to open the third, was run for, and made the long walk back to the dugout as 42,131 at Rogers Centre feted him; when Scherzer told manager John Schneider with two outs in the seventh that he wasn’t coming out of the game, again when he came out for the eighth and finally when, at 114 pitches, he exited after a leadoff walk, walked off the mound, hugged his way through the dugout, with Springer at the end, and hopped into the stands to share the moment with his family.
They were beautiful goodbyes to one of the best pitchers ever, a true legend of the sport, and to a franchise icon who spent six transformative years with the Toronto Blue Jays after signing a then-club-record $150 million in January 2021. And in a 5-1, Game 162 victory over the Cincinnati Reds that was otherwise devoid of consequence, there was a goodbye to a disappointing, difficult and draining 2026 season for the defending American League champions, sending them into a winter in which the offence, first and foremost, must be repaired, with a lockout of players by owners looming when the sport’s CBA expires Dec. 1.
The only certainty, whenever the game’s next collective bargaining agreement is set, is that the Blue Jays will be different the next time they take the field, testing the legacy built once Springer signed and spurred along by Scherzer among so many others.
“My goal was to come here and to help win and to help any way that I possibly could help with culture, with friendship, whatever the case,” Springer said during an 11-minute chat with media before the game when he repeatedly fought back tears. “I’m very proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish as a team over the last six years. Yeah, it hasn’t always been the way that we would have wanted to do it, at the end of the day, the whole goal was to hopefully leave the organization in a better place than I found it. (Whether it is or not) is other people’s opinion, but I hope I did.”
The Blue Jays are certainly on a much better platform than when he arrived, established as a legitimate option for top-tier free agents, one that enjoyed a national-level showcase during the 2025 World Series run and continued to open the eyes of opponents while drawing 3,338,878 fans, third in the majors, during this trying 2026 season.
That they didn’t capitalize more on a mediocre American League is the result of an offence that scored the fewest runs in the majors at 648 and a slate of pitching injuries that no group of five starters ever made more than two consecutive turns of the rotation.
The challenge for the Blue Jays is walking the fine line between identifying reasons and making excuses, ensuring they do the former without falling into the latter.
In that way, how the Blue Jays take accountability for the 79-83 finish, last in the American League East, despite a record franchise payroll estimated at $283 million for competitive-balance-tax purposes by Fangraphs, will be vital moving forward.
Much of the blame will fall at the feet of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – whose clumsy contract comments last week angered the fans and were potentially corrosive given his status as a franchise cornerstone – and getting him back to form is the most impactful thing the Blue Jays can do in the off-season.
But the season went wrong in so many ways that pinning it all at his feet ignores all the ways the Blue Jays could have found a different outcome.