Blue Jays Pitcher Blames Team's Lost Season on Failed Shohei Ohtani Pursuit

There's no question the Blue Jays have been a disappointment. Chris Bassitt believes there's one key culprit.

Aug 6, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Chris Bassitt (40) throws a pitch against the Baltimore Orioles during the first inning at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports / Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

There's no question that the Toronto Blue Jays have been one of baseball's biggest disappointments.

The franchise was expected to compete for the American League East crown this season. Instead, the team has spent the season fighting to get to .500, and sits in last place in the division at 58-66 on the year.

Starting pitcher Chris Bassitt hasn't had his strongest season, accumulating a 9-12 record with a 4.34 ERA across 25 starts. He didn't shy away from the pitching struggles, but named one key culprit that he believes is responsible for the team's struggles in 2024.

"I'll say this. I think we do a lot of things right here, but I don't want to identify the problems, because some of the problems I don't think are fixable," Bassitt said on The Chris Rose Rotation. "The one thing I will say about the Blue Jays for this year...we put, I think, $700 million into Shohei Ohtani's basket and didn't get him. We really didn't have a pivot."

Chris Bassitt on what went wrong for the Blue Jays this year:

“We put I think $700 million into Shohei Ohtani’s basket and didn’t get him” pic.twitter.com/lA0Aksd03k

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) August 19, 2024

Bassitt said in order to compete for a World Series title, a team has to have three or four superstars.

"This is just the reality of the landscape, is that you need three or four superstars. We have to get more hitting to protect Vladdy [Guerrero] and then the pitching has to be a lot better. There's so many things you could talk about...but again, I just don't think saying those things publicly is what is best for this organization."

Bassitt and the Blue Jays still have a little bit of time left to try to fight into contention for one of the American League wild card spots, but Toronto is 11 games out the playoff race with six weeks to go in the regular season.