This young group of Blue Jays didn’t get far; the eventual AL champion Tampa Bay Rays defeated them in two games. Still, this team showed promise and laid the foundation for the current run that culminated in a World Series appearance in 2025.
Alongside Vladimir Guerrero Jr. However, many of the Blue Jays’ key players from 2020 are no longer with the team. Let’s take a moment to look at them now.
Bo Bichette
Blue Jays baseball was colloquially known as the “Vladdy and Bo” era in the early 1920s for good reason. The duo were two of the best players the organization had ever produced and cemented themselves as major leaguers as faces of the team in 2020.
He signed as a free agent with the New York Mets in January 2026 after spending the first seven years of his career north of the border.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
Gurriel was arguably one of the Blue Jays’ best hitters in 2020, hitting 11 home runs with an .882 OPS (138 OPS+) in just 224 plate appearances. He led the team with 25 extra-base hits and was tied with Guerrero for the third-most RBIs (33).
Unfortunately for Gurriel, that level of energy production proved unsustainable, as his slugging percentage dropped to .466 in 2021 and then to .400 in 2022. The Blue Jays then traded him and brought prospect Gabriel Moreno to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Daulton Varsho in a controversial deal that has gotten better with age.
Gurriel tore his ACL in September but is expected to return in 2026.
Teoscar Hernández
Hernández truly became a star hitter in 2020 after hitting 26 home runs the year before. He led the Blue Jays with 16 longballs in just 50 games while posting a .919 OPS, which is still the highest mark of his career by quite a margin.
He joined the Los Angeles Dodgers as a free agent entering the 2024 season.
Robbie Ray
The Blue Jays acquired Ray in mid-2020 with little fanfare. He had a 7.84 ERA and 2.00 WHIP with the Diamondbacks up to that point. Ray made five unimpressive starts with the Blue Jays before re-signing as a free agent on a one-year deal.
Everything changed for Ray in 2021 as he led the AL in ERA (2.84), WHIP (1.045), strikeouts (248) and innings pitched (193 ⅓) en route to a Cy Young Award. It was one of the most shocking turnarounds by a pitcher in recent baseball history.
Ray cashed in on a five-year, $110 million contract with the Mariners this offseason. They traded him to the San Francisco Giants before 2024.
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