Key Blue Jays players show glimpse of 2025 form as this season enters home stretch

TORONTO — If the Toronto Blue Jays are going to return to the post-season they’ll need veteran players such as Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer and Shane Bieber to return to the form that carried them to the 2025 World Series.

For two hours six minutes on Saturday, the Blue Jays got exactly that.

Springer’s RBI single drove in Guerrero in the fourth inning, giving Bieber all the offence he needed as Toronto edged the Chicago White Sox 1-0. The victory ended the Blue Jays’ three-game skid and snapped Chicago’s four-game win streak.

“We all know it’s been a rough year for us,” said Guerrero through translator Hector Lebron after the game. “A lot of injuries. A lot of guys that have been up and down.

“We talk in the clubhouse: one game at a time. One game at a time. I think we’re going to be fine.”

Despite the win, Toronto (46-52) was still last in the American League East, 1 1/2 games back of the fourth-place Baltimore Orioles. The victory kept the Blue Jays 3 1/2 games out of the final wild-card spot, with 64 games remaining in their regular season.

Guerrero was 2-for-3 at the plate in the win, improving his batting average to .265 in a frustrating season for the cornerstone of Toronto’s offence. He still hasn’t hit a home run at Rogers Centre this year, although he came close in the fourth inning with a double that travelled a game-high 402 feet and had an exit velocity of 106.7 m.p.h, second most of any hits in the game.

According to BaseballSavant.com, the line drive would have been a homer in five of Major League Baseball’s 30 stadiums.

“I’m trusting my routine, going out there and competing,” said Guerrero, who has only six home runs this season after he had 23 last year with a .292 average. “Try to trust my plan, don’t try to force it, don’t chase it a lot.

“I’m trying to stay in my strike zone and I think I’ll be OK for that.”

Springer has also struggled this season, but his batting average has inched up to .219 after a home run in Friday’s 12-4 loss to Chicago and then his game-winning single on Saturday. The 36-year-old had a .309 average with 32 homers last season.

“I think that he’s been consistent over the last couple weeks, really,” said manager John Schneider, noting that Springer and his wife recently welcomed their third child and that the veteran player battled through a toe injury earlier in the season.

“We need him. We need him and Vlad. You know what I mean? It’s not a coincidence that they’re part of why we won today.”

Bieber (1-1) was superb, striking out six over six scoreless innings. He allowed only three hits and two walks in his best start of the season. Relievers Jeff Hoffman, Tyler Rogers and Louis Varland combined for three scoreless innings to clinch the win.

It was only Bieber’s fifth start of the year, and the first game where he had gone more than 5 1/3 innings and also the first time this season he had not allowed any runs. Bieber missed the start of the season due to right elbow inflammation.

Bieber’s earned-run average dropped from 7.64 to 5.70 over the course of the game.

“I think it’s a good step forward,” said Bieber, who had a 3.57 ERA in seven starts last season, striking out 37 over 40 1/3 innings pitched. “So I’ll just treat it as that and continue to try and improve and try and build off of it.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 19, 2026.

John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press