The Toronto Blue Jays are in the middle of a dream season, with a hot streak in the middle of the season propelling them to the top of the AL East; they have been on top of the division since early July and have not relinquished this lead. However, there can never be any resting on one's laurels when it comes to protecting a division lead, especially in the AL East. This is why the Blue Jays' 7-5 defeat against the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday couldn't be any more frustrating.
Heading into the top of the ninth inning, the Blue Jays appeared to be well on their way to another hard-fought victory. They were leading by one run, 4-3, with closing pitcher Jeff Hoffman coming in to shut the door. Hoffman hasn't been elite this year, sporting a 4.17 ERA entering the night, but he does have 28 saves on the year and is clearly trusted by manager John Schneider.
Alas, Hoffman couldn't get the job done. He proceeded to allow two home runs in the ninth inning — the game-tying long ball to Mickey Gasper and the game-winning three-run shot to Matt Wallner — and the Blue Jays, for the first time in 115 days, lost a game while leading after eight innings.
when jeff hoffman blows a save,
he really blows the save
ugly.#bluejays pic.twitter.com/PChEQ5urae— Kevin Thang (@Skip2MyJays) August 27, 2025
Hoffman got pulled after allowing four total runs while getting just two outs, and the Blue Jays fanbase in attendance at Rogers Centre was ruthless, even booing him as Schneider got the ball from his closer.
But it wasn't just from the Blue Jays fans in the stadium where Hoffman got plenty of criticisms, as fans on social media were also very unforgiving towards the 32-year-old closer.
Blue Jays fans direct their ire towards Jeff Hoffman for late-game collapse
Hoffman has appeared in 57 games for the Blue Jays this year; of those games, he's allowed at least a run in just 14 of them, with seven of them being multi-run games (including tonight). Thus, in 43 other games, Hoffman has been solid, which is why Schneider still entrusts him with ninth-inning duties.
But Blue Jays fans cannot help but express their frustrations after such a bad loss.
“Jeff Hoffman with meltdown of the year what the f**k am I seeing,” X user @KevinGohD wrote.
“Jeff Hoffman always wants to talk all that s**t when he’s on the mound and act like a f**king bad a** well guess what idiot you just gave up four runs in the top of the ninth inning and blew the f**king game dumba**. You gave up a tying home run to the one and only MICKEY F**KIN GASPER. THEN ANOTHER ONE THATS A 3 run shot. F** YOU JEFF HOFFMAN,” @patsnation0815 added.
