TORONTO -- John Schneider just sent a message, loud and clear.
Over the course of a season, Schneider meets with the media over 400 times. Pregame, postgame, Spring Training and a few special occasions add up quickly. When Schneider took the podium following Wednesday night’s 7-1 loss, though, which allowed the Yankees to tie the Blue Jays atop the American League East, Schneider was more direct and emphatic than we’ve seen since he took over in 2022.
Off the top, he wanted to make one thing clear. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had been ejected, which came on the heels of a controversial foul call on George Springer on Tuesday -- which Schneider said was clearly fair -- and a handful of calls that could have gone their way over their recent skid.
Schneider hears the noise. He wants nothing to do with it.
“First and foremost, we’re not losing because of umpires, all right? Let’s get that out there,” Schneider said. “We’re losing because we’re not scoring enough runs. It’s a borderline pitch. I think Vladdy is frustrated. I think a lot of guys are frustrated. Again, it’s not about a call here or a call there, it’s about stringing together good at-bats and productive innings. He didn’t say anything. I think the hand gestures were enough, and that’s what Gabe [Morales] told me. But again, I don’t want to feed into the narrative that the umpires are screwing us, because they’re not. We’re not scoring enough runs.”
After Guerrero was ejected, Schneider bolted from the dugout toward the umpire, but made sure to keep himself in the game. This was a choice he made in the moment.
“I’m going to have their back. It was probably, honestly, one of the hardest non-ejections of my career. It’s Vlad. He’s our guy, and I want to defend him, but I don’t want to feed into the narrative that the umpires are screwing us, because we’re not scoring enough runs.”
That’s the point Schneider kept coming back to, over and over. It was a message to his players, a message to the media sitting in the room and a message to the fans watching at home after another letdown. The Blue Jays aren’t scoring enough runs, and until that changes, nothing else will.
Woven in with Schneider’s refusal to play into any “woe is me” narrative was his belief in this team, which has spent 95% of 2025 building a dream season. The Blue Jays have a shot at their first AL East crown since 2016 and have been one of the best stories in baseball this season, blowing preseason expectations out of the water.
The Yankees suddenly have all of the momentum, though, even if the Blue Jays still have the tiebreaker advantage. Schneider made it clear that he’s betting on the team he’s led all season, not the team that’s allowed their five-game lead to evaporate over the past seven games.
“It feels like the sky is falling right now and it’s [freaking] not,” Schneider said. “We’ve got 90 wins, we’re in the playoffs and if the season ended today, we’re winning the AL East. I want them to come out and not press. I want them to come out and play confident, play fast, play loose. When we do that, we’re really good. I don’t want them to get caught up in the last six days being tough, because this season has been really, really good.”
For the most part, it has been. Now, it’s up to the Blue Jays to make sure that we all remember the first 150 games, not just the ending.
Schneider kept coming back to this idea, to the strengths he’s spent 350 of those 400 media sessions talking about. Those strengths -- from the “all hands on deck” offense to a sturdy rotation and elite defense -- are what have gotten the Blue Jays to this point, still in the driver’s seat with four days left in the season.
Schneider believed in this team before the rest of baseball did, he believed in this team at its peak and this nightmarish week hasn’t seen him waver.
“I don’t expect anything to be different when we wake up tomorrow,” Schneider said.