Ex-Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Hoffman suffers another late-game choke with new team

Jeff Hoffman may not be with the Toronto Blue Jays anymore, but he was up to his old tricks with the Minnesota Twins this weekend. 

The 33-year-old relief pitcher had become notorious in Toronto for his tendency to blow games in the late innings. The most infamous of which came in Game 7 of the World Series last year, where he allowed a game-tying home run in the top of the ninth inning that ultimately led to the Blue Jays' demise. 

This past season was no different, as Hoffman lost his role as Toronto's closing pitcher and was subsequently shipped off to the Twins at last week's trade deadline.

Perhaps the thought was that a change of scenery could help Hoffman get back to his game, but that didn't appear to be the case on Saturday.

In his third game with the Twins, in a 3-3 eighth-inning deadlock against the Milwaukee Brewers, Hoffman allowed two hits and one earned run that stood up as the game-winner. 

KING VAUGHN PUTS US AHEAD IN THE 8TH pic.twitter.com/y45vnjwyB6

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) August 9, 2026

Hoffman has shown that he can be a very good MLB pitcher, and he has the stats to back that up. His 80 strikeouts on the season rank third in the league among relief pitchers, and he has had some very solid stretches without giving up runs in the late innings. 

His first two games with the Twins went exactly to plan, with the ex-Blue Jay pitching a pair of shutout innings. However, he seems to be susceptible to having that one big blow-up appearance that makes everyone forget about all the good things in his game. 

There is still a chance that Hoffman goes on to have a great tenure with the Twins, but he'll need to find the kind of consistency that eluded him in Toronto to do so.