DUNEDIN, Fla. -- The Blue Jays have signed general manager Ross Atkins to a five-year contract extension, the club announced Monday morning, retaining one of the architects of the 2025 World Series team.
There’s a rare sense of stability in Toronto now, something most organizations strive for but rarely reach. Manager John Schneider was also extended Monday, and over the offseason, president and CEO Mark Shapiro inked a five-year extension of his own.
Combine all of this with Vladimir Guerrero’s 14-year, $500 million deal and a clear commitment from ownership to spending near the top of the league? We know exactly who the Blue Jays are right now. All that’s left is to win.
“From the day before I got here, even before I was here, I always felt as though this opportunity was one of the best in baseball, representing a country in such an incredible city with incredible support,” Atkins said Monday in Dunedin. “It has far exceeded my expectations.”
Atkins and Shapiro go back well beyond their time with the Blue Jays to the Guardians’ organization, each preaching the value of the stability they’ve now fostered in Toronto.
“Ross has done an outstanding job in building a deep foundation with an accomplished baseball operations team, best-in-class resources, and a collaborative culture. I am a strong supporter of stability and continuity, and Ross continues to make us better,” Shapiro said in a statement. “It’s easy for me to believe in Ross, as I’ve seen him transition from player to young front office executive to established MLB executive, and I am extremely confident his leadership will help us achieve our collective goal of bringing World Series championships back to Canada.”
This extension will carry Atkins well into his second decade with the organization after he originally was named general manager in December, 2015. Back then, the Blue Jays had just broken through with their first postseason appearance in 22 years, powered by stars like José Bautista, Josh Donaldson, Edwin Encarnacion and Russell Martin. This past season, which blew past those ‘15 and ‘16 teams’ trips to the ALCS and led to the World Series, finally represented Atkins’ true vision for the team.
It took longer than anyone would have liked, Atkins included, to see that vision play out. There were postseason disappointments in 2022 and ‘23, made even tougher to swallow by the fact that the ‘21 team might have been the best of the bunch, but fell painfully short on the final day of the season despite winning 91 wins and playing over half their season away from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then came the ‘24 season, a 74-win disappointment in every way, but Atkins, like Schneider and many of the players, vehemently insisted this team was capable of more.
They were right.
The 2025 Blue Jays will be remembered forever in Toronto, not only for their run to Game 7 of the World Series against the mighty Dodgers, but for how they played the game. Within that roster alone, you could see all of the different things this front office had done right.
From free agency, you had George Springer, in the fifth year of his six-year, $150 million contract, hitting one of the biggest home runs in franchise history to send the Blue Jays to the World Series. Kevin Gausman, one of the best signings in franchise history, led the rotation. All over the roster, there was money well spent.
You had the homegrown star in Guerrero, who the Blue Jays had just handed a half-billion dollars, and Bo Bichette, his longtime running mate, a duo the organization had developed into stars. There were trade additions in Shane Bieber and Louis Varland. There was even a pitcher, Trey Yesavage, who started the year in Single-A and shot through every level of the Minor Leagues, this organization’s biggest success story in years after they retooled their pitching development program.
The 2025 season was what it looks like when everything goes right. From the players to the team staff, coaching staff and front office, it simply felt like everyone was on the same page, no one group rushing ahead or lagging behind.
Now, the only part harder than getting there? Getting back.
The Blue Jays were aggressive this offseason and opened the winter with a bang, handing Dylan Cease a $210 million deal over seven years, their largest ever for a free agency. They’ve acted like a top-end team, stockpiling pitching depth in Max Scherzer long before we saw how necessary it was.
It all has to work again, but now that Atkins has shown us what it looks like when it does, he’ll be the man leading the front office forward with World Series expectations every year.