The Toronto Blue Jays’ rise to success got the rest of the league talking—what is their secret sauce? What’s their formula? Well, the answer is that there is no formula at all. So if duplicating was on anyone’s mind, it’s not going to be easy.

Mitch Bannon from the Athletic just made it clear—“Replicating Toronto’s complete mix—contact, coaching, and culture— won’t be easy for other teams. Teams may latch onto the high-contact narrative, but if it were that simple, the Jays would’ve reached the World Series long before 2025. Now the Jays—and 29 other teams—will search for the winning mix once more.”

And isn’t it true—putting together a lineup of people like Alejandro Kirk, Bo Bichette, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. isn’t simple.

But even then, the league seems obsessed with Toronto’s road to success. And when Detroit Tigers Scott Harris tipped his hat for the Jays, it put things into perspective. “We need to make more contact as an organization. We need to move the baseball more in the big leagues than we are.”

But who can blame him? Not just Toronto but Milwaukee too led baseball in batting average and contact rate, making their brand of offense look almost like a Midas touch—something everyone wanted.

One executive even confessed to the Athletic, “But the same executive who cited those fan desires also admitted that a lineup filled with high batting average players can, for some reason, appear scarier than an equally productive lineup of high-whiff power hitters. Never mind that the perception is more narrative than proven reality.”

However, when teams dig deeper, it becomes obvious that the copy-and-paste job simply won’t work, as Athletic mentioned. The high-contact hitters with real production are extremely rare. Only 24 players in the entire league last year managed to reach both an 80-percent contact rate and a 110 wRC+.

Toronto had many of them—and that’s not a blueprint; it’s a huge luxury to have. Many teams, after all, can find one contact guy, maybe two—but filling an entire lineup with players who can grind out at-bats and still go on to produce runs—this is where the dream falls apart. There is a reason teams like the Guardians and the Nationals have good contact numbers but bottom-tier offenses.

Toronto’s success wasn’t just about the bat-to-ball stills anyway.

It was a combination of power, of health, and an amped-up philosophy under David Popkins. So, that’s why 29 teams can surely study Toronto all winter long but may still fall short—there is no formula.

The one weak spot the Toronto Blue Jays can’t ignore this offseason

Even though the Toronto Blue Jays had everything amazing going on in 2025 and they reached really close to breaking their 32-year drought, there is one glaring issue that even a team this good cannot ignore—the bullpen.

Sure, it didn’t implode on them during the playoff run, but the thing is that Toronto’s relief corps wasn’t built for stress-free baseball. While John Schneider made some smart late-season tweaks like sliding Chris Bassitt and Eric Lauer into the relief roles, the fix won’t hold forever. Plus, Edwin Diaz’s leaving is making some fireworks, too.

Bassitt was a big part of the Blue Jays rotation during the summer, but it’s hard to imagine him staying in the bullpen full-time next year. But Jays’ rotation is already jam-packed, and whether Bassitt sticks around or not, Jays need at least one and maybe two new bullpen arms.

The good news is that there are some high-risk but high-reward options on the market. Now, of course, their major offseason move is surrounding Bichette and his massive contract, so the Jays need to tighten their spending.

But even then, some relievers could be affordable but be difference makers. One name that jumps out is Danny Coulombe, who ended the season in a Rangers uniform. His career numbers make him one of the most appealing options there—a 3.35 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, .227 opponent average, and 312 strikeouts in 316 innings.

Then there is also Caleb Thielbar, who has dominated with the Chicago Cubs, posting a 2.64 ERA. The only reason he is not a top target now among teams is his age—40!

Jays with a rotation featuring names like Trey Yesavage, Shane Bieber, Jose Berrios, and Kevin Gausman are stacked—they need to just ever so slightly fix the bullpen, and they can become close to being unbeatable next year.