Miles proving a savvy add to Blue Jays' banged-up staff

NEW YORK -- When you play all the right notes, bullpen games can be beautiful things.

Spencer Miles is the engine of these bullpen games lately, and with a 2-0 win on Thursday night, the Blue Jays earned a series split with the Yankees. Call it “surviving,” but given how the series started, the Blue Jays are boarding their flight back to Canada a happy group tonight.

This is what mattered most from the win:

1. THE SAVIOR: Spencer Miles

It was here, in Game 4 of the 2025 ALDS, where the Blue Jays pulled off a near-perfect bullpen game. Thursday’s was a gem, too.

After Braydon Fisher (1 1/3 IP, 4 K) and Adam Macko (1 1/3 IP, 2 K) set it up, Miles took the bulk role and ran with it once again. Miles has been the unexpected hero of this pitching staff, helping to stabilize this rotation that’s without a true “fifth starter” while Max Scherzer and Shane Bieber rehab on top of the season-ending injuries to both José Berrios and Cody Ponce.

Miles gave the Blue Jays 4 1/3 innings of shutout ball, allowing just two hits and a walk while striking out six. It’s starting to look like the Blue Jays have hit the Rule 5 jackpot. Now, you’re watching a young pitcher’s confidence grow in real time.

"It definitely helps. Just getting back out there, especially inning after inning, knowing I can go multiple ups for 4 1/3,” Miles said. “Throwing strikes, and right now, I’m focusing on strike one and using my sinker. That’s kind of my ‘get out of jail free’ card right now and I’m using my curveball, as well. All of my pitches.”

2. RULE 5 GEM: First impressions

When the Blue Jays selected Miles in the Rule 5 Draft last December, most people had the same reaction … “Who?”

A 25-year-old with 14 2/3 pro innings who had never pitched above Single-A, that’s who.

“I did the same thing. When you’re coming off the year that you just had and you’re taking a guy in the Rule 5, my initial thought was, ‘This guy must be pretty [freaking] good,’” manager John Schneider said.

Somewhere in the Blue Jays’ front office, there’s someone who was “first” on Miles as the Blue Jays worked through their options ahead of the Rule 5 Draft, and that person shouldn’t have to pay for a dinner for the rest of 2026. You can already tell that the Blue Jays are tempted by the idea of converting Miles to a full-time starter, too. That won’t happen immediately, and Miles won’t be touching 100 pitches this season. But next spring? That could be a different story.

“It looks the part, right?” Schneider said. “It’s a repeatable delivery and he holds his stuff. He’s got some pretty good weapons. He’s got a good idea how to pitch. That all goes into it, but you’ve got to do a lot of homework on a guy like that with that kind of background.”

3. SUMMER OF GEORGE? Springer heating up

So much of the focus has been on Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s early power outage, but George Springer’s turnaround is just as important to this organization. The 36-year-old launched his second home run of this series and is showing signs of his 2025 form again after a slow start and rehabbing from a broken toe.

"We were talking in the dugout. It’s nice to have guys touch the pillows, but it would be really nice if one guy touched four at one time,” Schneider said. “That was a big homer from Georgie.”

Having both Springer and Guerrero playing well below expectations in the top three spots of this lineup has made it awfully difficult for the Blue Jays to put much together offensively. They’re still not there as a group -- even their two wins on Wednesday and Thursday weren’t strong offensive efforts -- but some individual moments like this are a fine start.

"I do it for the boys,” Springer said in his postgame interview on the Sportsnet broadcast with Hazel Mae. “I do it for the fans. I owe it to everybody to be better and to play better, and I will.”

Springer was this team’s MVP in 2025. If the ‘26 Blue Jays are going to find that magic again, he has to be leading the charge again.