3 lessons the Angels need to learn from the Toronto Blue Jays

With the Toronto Blue Jays surprising many in their epic World Series clash against the LA Dodgers, fans can only hope that the Angels front office is paying attention to the games. They would be seeing in real time how an oft-maligned franchise, that has endured years of disappointment, can finally put things together. Sure, the Jays haven’t been nearly as chaotic, or as bad, as the Angels in recent years, but there are still clear lessons to be learned from their journey to the top.   

3 lessons the Angels need to learn from the Toronto Blue Jays

Payroll and Planning

Let’s be clear, this world series is not a David vs Goliath battle between the financial might of the Dodgers and a ragtag bunch of Canadian misfits. The Blue Jays have the 5th highest payroll in Baseball, and if they’d had their way it would have been even higher, with either Shohei Ohtani and/or Juan Soto heading North in recent years. Like the Angels, they will shed a lot of that payroll after 2026, with only three players set to earn more than $20million after that, including Vladimir Guerrero Jnr.

But the Jays have been building this team, for this moment, for a while. When they signed George Springer to a 6 year, $150million deal in 2021, and then missed the playoffs despite a 91-71 record, they didn’t throw up their hands and quit. That yea, they were building around a young core which included Guerrero, Bo Bichette, Cavan Biggio, Danny Jansen and Alex Manoah. But they remained active on both the trade and free markets, adding pitching in 2022 with Jose Berrios and Kevin Gausman, bolstering their run prevention with Chris Bassitt and Andres Gimenez in ’23, losing Biggio, Manoah and Yusei Kikuchi along the way but making sure that Bichette, Alejandro Kirk and Vlad Jnr didn’t go anywhere. Through two Wild Card series sweeps and a 5th place division finish in 2024, they kept spotting their roster holes, and patching them. Not every move has been a winner; Anthony Santander’s contract already feels like a very Angels-like panic move that won’t pay off, but they’ve built a roster to fit their competitive window.

The Angels have an opportunity to do something similar around Zach Neto and co. It might mean they lose some of their young players, in order to build a contender, but the Blue Jays have shown what can happen if you build a roster piece by necessary piece.

Using your veterans right

It’s the kind of image that front office executives dream of. Three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer sitting next to rookie phenom Trey Yesavage in the dugout of a World Series game. That is precisely the reason the Blue Jays signed Scherzer to a one-year deal at age 40; the fact that Scherzer has turned back the clock and pitched well in this series is a bonus, albeit a huge one.

It's undoubtably what the Angels were shooting for when they signed Kyle Hendricks. Bring in the veteran experience, pair it up with their young pitching prospects, and cross your fingers that something rubs off. The vital difference is the Angels also needed Hendricks to be a frontline starter.

Scherzer wasn’t anywhere near his vintage self during the regular season. He pitched to a 5.19 ERA, by far the highest of his career, over only 85 innings, the fewest he’s thrown in a full, uninjured season. Hendricks, by contrast, threw 164.2 innings over 31 starts, admirably rising to a position he realistically should never have been put into.

It’s a long-running theme of the Angels. They sign veteran, or bounce-back, players, and then rely on them to play every day. Occasionally it works, like with Kenley Jansen this year. More often it does not. Looking at you, Tim Anderson, Miguel Sano, Aaron Hicks, Noah Syndergaard, and many, many more.   

Yes, you could argue that the Blue Jays have gotten lucky. Adding Shane Bieber at the deadline was a gamble – but just like Scherzer, they didn’t take him with any expectation that he would lead their rotation. There’s nothing wrong with the concept of bringing in comeback candidates or highly decorated veterans in the twilight of their careers, unless, like the Angels, you’re constantly banking on them to be your frontline guys.

Contact is King

If you’ve only been tuning into this World Series in glances, you might be forgiven for thinking that the Blue Jays are getting a ghost runner every inning. Every time you look, they seem to have someone on base, and that constant traffic has been the crucial difference against the Dodgers.

In the first five games, the Blue Jays out-hit the Dodgers 53-38. They had 5 guys in their lineup hitting over .300, and three with an OPS of over 1000. Eleven different batters have driven in runs, including 3 from Bo Bichette, playing on one leg. Notably the two losses came when they were outhit 4-6 and 15-16, while they’ve won in games where they’ve put at least 5 more hits on the board than LA. They have outscored the Dodgers 28-17, even though LA has hit more home runs in the series, 8-7.

In other words, they’re doing something that has been notably lacking in Angels baseball - making contact.

The Angels lived on the longball in 2025. They ranked 4th in the majors in Home Runs, but also led the league in strikeouts, and finished with a run differential of -164. It’s all very well to complain about their record with runners in scoring position, but the fact is they never seemed to have runners on base anyway.

The Angels have plenty of power, what they’re missing is the kind of contact hitters who can keep the line moving make that power count.

In terms of where to start, well, Bichette will be a free agent by Monday. Just sayin’.