Gausman opens up on Toronto Blue Jays' deteriorating clubhouse chemistry

Toronto Blue Jays fans have been left scratching their heads wondering what happened to their team this season.

After an incredible run in 2025, the Blue Jays have faceplanted in dramatic fashion in 2026. They currently sit dead last in the AL East with a 49-59 record, which has them 5.5 games back of a wild-card spot. As a result, they are expected to be sellers heading into Monday's trade deadline.

It's a spot nobody imagined this team would be in just a few months ago, but they've seemingly lacked chemistry on the field all season long and have shown zero signs of turning things around. Now, it sounds like that lack of chemistry has made its way into the clubhouse.

Speaking on the Deep Left Field podcast with Mike Wilner, Kevin Gausman had some concerning remarks regarding the Blue Jays' clubhouse. 

"We're just not nearly as close-knit of a group as we were last year," Gausman admitted. 

Maybe that's no surprise given the team is struggling. Still, these players seemed like such a close-knit group not long ago.

 "I think it's a mixture of a lot of things," Gausman elaborated. "I think it's a mixture of frustration, a mixture of feeling like we haven't been at full go from week one, to be honest. It's guys maybe trying to go a different way to kind of find themselves.

"I don't think we necessarily have a mixture of characters we've had in the past. Max [Scherzer] hasn't been around as much. Losing [Chris Bassitt] was maybe bigger than of a loss than we all thought it would be... I think it has more to do with everyone being frustrated, maybe even frustrated at each other."

Gausman, who is expected to be traded ahead of the deadline, went on to take some blame himself, saying that he hasn't been good enough this season. His 4.51 ERA is significantly higher than what he provided in each of his first four seasons with the Blue Jays.

In Gausman's defence, he's far from the only Blue Jay who has struggled this season in what has been a year to forget for the organization. Barring an unforeseen run, this team is going to miss the playoffs in 2026, which will result in a ton of questions and uncertainty surrounding many players and perhaps even staff going into the offseason.