Blue Jays World Series roster surprise lays bare Toronto's one glaring weakness

The Toronto Blue Jays long ago proved that they're anything but a fluke. As if winning an AL-best 94 games during the regular season wasn't enough, they also slugged their way through two other genuine contenders in the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners in order to reach their first World Series in over 30 years. This is maybe the most complete offensive team in baseball, which also just so happens to be the best defense in baseball as well. They're damn good, and they should not be taken lightly against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

But for all that Toronto does very, very well, they're also not without weaknesses. Well, one weakness in particular: a bullpen that was mediocre during the regular season and has posted a 5.52 ERA so far in October. And that weakness might be on the verge of getting exposed, if the Jays' World Series roster is any indication.

Toronto will carry 14 position players and 12 pitchers for the Fall Classic, not the most unusual ratio. But you might also notice that of those 12 pitchers, a full five of them — Kevin Gausman, Trey Yesavage, Shane Bieber, Chris Bassitt and Kevin Gausman — are full-time starters. Heck, you could bump that up to six if you want to include swing man Eric Lauer, who's been bumped into a relief role in recent weeks.

That leaves the Jays with just seven real relievers, one less than they had in the ALDS and ALCS as Yariel Rodriguez has been left off the roster. And being short-handed on the sport's biggest stage, against this Dodgers offense, is not a position you want to be in.

For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop during the MLB season.

Blue Jays leave their bullpen shorthanded with World Series roster

Granted, you can understand why Toronto chose to leave Rodriguez off the roster. After posting a 3.08 ERA during the regular season, he's struggled mightily in October, allowing three runs over just one inning of work across his two ALCS appearances. He did not look like someone John Schneider could trust against Los Angeles, and so he's been dropped in favor of somebody else.

But whether Rodriguez deserved a roster spot or not, it speaks volumes about the Blue Jays bullpen that they don't have somebody more trustworthy to replace him with. There are still some very good pitchers here, and Schneider's late-game formula is more or less set in stone: Jeff Hoffman as the closer, with Seranthony Dominguez and Louis Varland setting him up. Plus, guys like Mason Fluharty and Braydon Fisher have flashed big-time potential at points this season.

Now is not the time to be relying on potential, though, and Fluharty and Fisher carry ugly postseason ERAs into the biggest series of their lives to date. There just aren't enough reliable options here, especially not with no off days between Games 3 and 5 in Los Angeles. Unless Toronto's rotation suddenly morphs into a unit capable of chewing up seven innings on a regular basis, there are going to be moments where Schneider has to get out of his comfort zone to try and piece things together.

And that will undoubtedly mean trying to convert at least one of Toronto's starters into a reliever on the fly. Maybe that's Scherzer, who's done it in October before. Maybe it's calling on guys like Gausman and Yesavage on short rest later in the series after they've already made one start, although that would throw the rotation plan into chaos. Whatever the case may be, it's simply not realistic to expect the Jays to be able to navigate this series against one of the most star-studded lineups in the sport using the same three to five guys over and over again. (And besides, the numbers are ugly when it comes to relievers facing the same lineup for the second, third or fourth time in a series.)

If there's a silver lining here, it's that the bullpen has been a sore spot for Toronto just about all year long, and it hasn't sunk them yet. But this will be their biggest challenge to date, and it's unclear where they're going to find the pitching to survive it.