DUNEDIN, Fla. – The Toronto Blue Jays’ first full-squad workout began with an address from manager John Schneider and ended with live-batting practice that featured homers by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and George Springer, along with skip-a-beat moments when a comebacker clipped Tyler Rogers’ foot and Daulton Varsho took a fastball in the back.
Both are OK, exhales all around.
“I always say a successful day is a healthy day,” Schneider said with a wry grin.
In that way, the initial groundwork for the Blue Jays’ pursuit of a title so tantalizingly close a mere 3½ months ago got underway Monday, when “the main message was we’re not defending anything.”
“We’re not defending the AL East. We’re not defending the American League,” Schneider continued. “We’re attacking 2026 like we did ‘25, or any year, really, where you’re trying to win the division, you’re trying to win the World Series.”
Makes sense, as building back up to the peak level of play that carried them through October is the season-long challenge before them now.
Regaining that form is especially vital for Guerrero, who reached a $500-million calibre of play in the post-season – hitting .397/.494/.795 with eight homers and 15 RBIs in 18 games against three of baseball’s best pitching staffs – but now no longer has Bo Bichette with whom to share the weight.
The two had been teammates every year since 2017, progressively climbing the ladder and establishing themselves as franchise cornerstones. One extension and one free-agent departure later, any debate about whose team this is, and who’s the guy, is over.
“In my opinion, Vladdy’s always been the guy in his whole time here,” Schneider said when asked about how Guerrero would handle being the guy with Bichette now with the New York Mets. “When he came up, it was him, Bo, Cavan (Biggio), the sons of big-leaguers. When each guy departs, I think it’s cool that Vlad has been the one that’s here, the one that we’re building around. … When those surroundings change, you probably see a little bit of a different version of the people that are still here. And I think, if anything, probably it allows Vlad to have a little bit of a louder voice, allows him to be a little bit more free, because when you get so locked in with somebody day-to-day for eight, nine, 10 years, you have that as a norm. So it’s an opportunity for Vlad to have a louder voice and really understand that this has been his team and it’s going to continue to be his team.”
That’s a substantial shift, as there have been periods when Bichette drove the Blue Jays the way Guerrero needs to drive them now.
Making up for Bichette’s lost production won’t be easy, of course, and will likely require contributions across the lineup. Even more difficult to replace is his presence in the batting order, a support beam alongside Guerrero that’s no longer in place.
Guerrero needs to keep the offence steady so the one-through-nine depth can do its work, even if he’s not trying to change the way he approaches his many roles on the team.
“I’ll always be the same person here,” he said through interpreter Hector Lebron. “With that said, of course it’s difficult not having him around. We played 10 years together. But, at the same time, I understand it’s business and he needs to take care of his family, as well. We’ve just got to move on and continue.”
Continuing will be a lot easier for the offence if Guerrero, a month away from his 27th birthday, maintains the airship-carrier mode of his playoffs, a tall task, although clearly one he’s capable of.
While Schneider sensed “a little bit of a different edge about” the five-time all-star during the post-season when “senses go up a little bit” because “when you’re solely focused on winning, you get into that zone of being locked into every single pitch and every single play,” Guerrero insisted he did the same things he did during the regular season.
He quipped that he couldn’t remember the feeling he took into the batter’s box because “that was a few months ago,” but conceded that “mentally, I was very relaxed and it felt good to feel that way.”
Helping him to stay that relaxed through the most stressful games of his career was advice from his Hall of Fame father, who told him to “enjoy the game regardless of the magnitude of the situation, of the game. Everybody’s different at handling the pressure. In my case, the more pressure you throw on me, the better I feel.”
Asked how that differed from his previous playoff experiences, when he was 3-for-22 with one RBI in six games, all losses, he countered: “Which playoffs? That was just the wildcard.”
“It was playoffs before, but the more you advance, the more confidence you get through the playoffs,” he continued. “So obviously last year I was a lot more confident and feeling better than in the years past.”
Schneider said the Blue Jays coaching staff spent time over the winter thinking about ways to help not just Guerrero, but the entire roster, hit the ground running.
Part of the answer was having discussions with players about what they were doing to perform the way they did, and asking what they want to take from that time and what needs to be left behind?
“Any rep in a high-stress environment is good, is beneficial for something that may not be stressful,” said Schneider. “And the more you can do it in the regular season, it just gets easier to do it again in the post-season.”
That’s the clear goal, for those back for another go at it, and those jumping in trying to push this team that final inch across the finish line. That’s why Schneider highlighted the elements that led to their success during his initial address, along with ways they can build upon them collectively.
“Every year is a little bit different, but the main focuses are being yourself,” said Schneider. “We all know what you can do. The whole baseball world knows what you can do and how well you can do it. How can you get better at certain things you need to get better at? And what are you going to do to win? If we take care of that, with this group, and it’s easy just being around these guys, it’s kind of like you picked up right where you left off. That was it. It’s a little bit different. Expectations may be a little bit different. But we want to attack this year like any other year and not rest on what we achieved last year.”
The chase is on.
