Who else remembers Opening Day 2025? The O’s launched six home runs, Zach Eflin threw six strong innings and Baltimore clobbered the Blue Jays 12-2. Fast forward nearly six months, and the Blue Jays are getting the last laugh; they just swept the Orioles out of Toronto and further cemented their place atop the AL East and the O’s status as cellar dwellers.

The Blue Jays are now not only the team to beat in the AL East, but the team the Orioles will try to emulate as they try to rebound from the massive disappointment that is the 2025 season. A year ago, Toronto was in the same situation that Baltimore currently faces: sitting in 5th place while wasting another year of their promising young core. Just one season later, the Blue Jays have already improved their win total by 13 and are currently on pace to improve their win total by more than 20.

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If the Orioles want to wash away the stains of this season, they’ll need to pull off a similar bounce-back as this year’s Blue Jays. With that in mind, we look at what the O’s AL East rivals can teach Baltimore about rebounding from disappointment and going from worst to first.

Veterans can rebound from disappointing seasons

In some ways, the difference between the 2024 and 2025 Blue Jays can be summed up in two words: Bo Bichette. Last season, the All-Star SS seemingly fell off a cliff, with his average dropping to .225, his OPS dipping more than 200 points below his career average and his power seemingly evaporating. All of that happened while he also missed half of the season due to a combination of calf and hand injuries. This year, Bichette is back to his best self, as he currently leads MLB in hits, doubles and is third in average behind All-Stars Jacob Wilson and Aaron Judge. And just as Bichette has gone from a negative WAR player back to one of the best SS in baseball, so too have the Blue Jays gone from irrelevant to contender.

Bichette isn’t the only Blue Jays veteran who has bounced back in 2025. George Springer has had a career rival this year. The former World Series MVP has benefited from a move to full-time DH, with has average rising from .220 to .303, his OPS jumping from .674 to .949 and his home run output at a six-year high.

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The Orioles will need similar bounce-backs from players like Adley Rutschman and Jordan Westburg if we’re going to see the best version of the O’s in 2026. The pair of former All-Stars have been limited to 158 games combined this year due to a litany of nagging injuries. Some in the media have suggested the O’s should be ready to move off of their oft-injured stars—especially Rutschman. The Blue Jays’ turnaround shows that sticking by your slumping stars can make the difference in executing a quick reversal of fortune.

Defense matters

The Blue Jays have placed a premium on defense under manager John Schneider, having finished atop the Defensive Runs Saved charts in both 2023 and 2024. Toronto doubled down on their defensive mindset this past offseason, acquiring three-time Gold Glove winner Andrés Giménez from the Guardians to man second base and promoting Tyler Heineman to primary backup catcher. The combo of Alejandro Kirk and Heineman behind the dish has given the Blue Jays the best pair of defensive catchers in the AL. Their overall DRS rank has slipped down to 4th, which can be attributed to defensive aces Giménez and Daulton Varsho missing a combined 150 games due to injuries. Since both returned to the lineup in mid-August, the Jays are 17-12 and playing some of their best baseball.

We’ve discussed on this site before how the Orioles need to improve their defense to get back in the playoff picture. It didn’t help that they traded away some of their best defenders (Ramón Urías, Ramón Laureano, Ryan O’Hearn), though the loss of Cedric Mullins was certainly seen as a defensive win by most advanced stats. The Orioles’ defense will likely take a step forward just through patience and getting healthy. Rutschman and Colton Cowser have been the O’s two best defenders this year; both have missed significant time due to injury, while Cowser has also had to deal with transitioning to CF since the Mullins trade. This season has also been uncharacteristically poor defensively for Gunnar Henderson, who went from posting 18 DRS over his last two seasons to -4 DRS this year. All three players should be bigger defensive contributors in 2026.

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And yet, with Jackson Holliday putting up below-average defensive numbers at 2B and Dylan Beavers and Jeremiah Jackson being defensive question marks in the outfield, the O’s will need quality defensive depth for the 2026 season. Baltimore will also need to decide if Samuel Basallo has shown enough defensive chops to be Rutschman’s primary backup, or if they should keep Alex Jackson or a similar caliber defensive catcher on the roster.

Extend your star

It could be entirely coincidental that the same year the Blue Jays signed superstar 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to a 14-year extension is the year they’re on pace for their most wins since winning the World Series in 1993. Or, perhaps there’s a certain sense of confidence that comes when your franchise commits to building around a transcendent talent now and for years to come. And that confidence has propelled the Jays to their best baseball in decades.

The Orioles could send the same message by signing Henderson to a similarly massive extension. Admittedly, Gunnar and Vladdy’s situations are hardly the same. Before inking his new deal, the Blue Jay’s star was a pending free agent with six years of service time. Henderson, on the other hand, is only just about to enter his arbitration years. There’s also the small problem of Scott Boras and the barrier he poses in any extension talks with Henderson. And yet, the Orioles need a spark after failing mightily on the field this season. What better way to ignite that spark than making the franchise’s best player since Cal Ripken Jr. an Oriole for life?