Blue Jays just exposed Yankees after weathering World Series-altering injury

The New York Yankees should be taking note of what the Toronto Blue Jays have been doing this postseason. After the Blue Jays' contact barrage downed the Yankees, they've kept rolling even when confronted with the buzzsaw that's been the Los Angeles Dodgers.

With George Springer's devastating injury, it'd be easy to think the Jays would be toast. Entering the World Series, the Dodgers' starting rotation was on an all-time heater, and despite the Jays giving them a run for their money in Game 1, things were looking a whole lot bleaker without Springer in the lineup for Games 4 and 5.

Springer is clearly Toronto's best hitter after Vlad Guerrero Jr. and, as the grizzled vet with many years of postseason experience (thanks to his time with the Houston Astros), a crucial leader for a roster that didn't have much experience playing at these heights.

It's not hard to imagine the Yankees unraveling in a similar situation. If Aaron Judge had lost his running mate, the likely scenario would be the Yankees folding like a house of cards.

The Yankees need to add grit this offseason after seeing what the Blue Jays have done

Losing your second-best hitter and a key leader while taking an 18-inning punch in the mouth only to come back and win the next two games and be inches away from a World Series title requires a lot of grit and guile.

We obviously haven't seen the Yankees in a situation like this in quite some time, but with the repeated failures over the past several seasons, it's not hard to imagine what would come to pass if the club suffered quite a blow with everything on the line.

The truth of the matter is, this is a team without the heart of a champion. Aaron Boone can gaslight fans all he wants into thinking that the 2025 collection of players is the best he's ever managed, but at the heart of it all, everyone knows this wasn't a group that could take a punch and get up off the mat.

As the Yankees go about retooling their roster for 2026, a key ingredient they need to be looking for is tenacity. Talent matters, but blowing it out of the water in the regular season only to fold as soon as adversity hits will only serve to extend the title drought.

If you were to look at the last great Yankee dynasty, you'd see teams that would rise to the occasion no matter what the circumstances. Even 2009 had that feel as CC Sabathia, an aging Andy Pettitte, and a sometimes erratic AJ Burnett helped carry them through when most would have thought the rotation would be its undoing.

When Brian Cashman is surveying the market this winter, the stats will matter, but he'll also need to pay close attention to the intangibles of the players he brings in if the club truly wants to snap their dry spell.