Jeff Hoffman certainly faced a lot of heat during the offseason for giving up a home run in the 9th inning of the World Series to Miguel Rojas a year ago.
Unfortunately, Hoffman gave up a home run to a player that nobody expected him to.
It was a decent pitch, and Rojas was able to pull it to left field for a home run.
It’s unfortunately something that just happens in Major League Baseball, and there’s no going back now. However, what Hoffman can control is being better on the mound throughout the 2026 campaign.
The right-hander was expected to be one of the better closers in baseball for the Blue Jays after they signed him, as he was an All-Star-caliber arm with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Instead, Hoffman is actually statistically one of the worst closers the Blue Jays have ever had in a minimum of 35.0 innings. Hoffman owns a 4.52 ERA in the 9th inning, making it among the top five worst in Toronto history.
“Worst career 9th inning ERA by a #BlueJays pitcher (minimum of 35 such IP): 7.22- Cliff Politte, 5.74- Randy Myers, 5.63- Chad Green, 4.88- Kelvim Escobar, 4.52- Jeff Hoffman (Via 2 ER in 0.2 IP tonight vs MIL as he blew a 6-4 lead to force extras), 4.50- Darren Hall, 4.19- David Wells,” Stats Centre wrote.
In the 2026 campaign, Hoffman has continued to allow runs at a level that is just inexcusable. He’s striking out hitters at a very high level with 18 in 8.1 innings, but he’s also given up 10 hits and four runs in that span. That includes two earned runs against the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night, a game in which the Blue Jays had won but needed to win in extra innings due to him giving up those two runs.
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