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The Toronto Blue Jays have replaced designated hitter Anthony Santander on their ALCS roster, which ends his season, the team announced Thursday. By rule, if a player suffers an injury and his team wishes to replace him, MLB must approve the transaction and the player can't be re-activated in either the current round of the playoffs or the next round. Given that the World Series comes next, this is it for Santander in 2025. 

Outfielder Joey Loperfido has replaced Santander on the Jays' ALCS roster.

Santander was a late scratch from the Blue Jays' Game 2 lineup due to his back issues. He returned to the lineup in Game 3, but was replaced in the lineup after three plate appearances.

"Yeah, I think just the game in general did," Blue Jays manager John Schneider said Thursday when asked if Santander had aggravated something in his back during Game 3. "He was pretty stiff, sore after. Checked in with him this morning and still felt it, so wanted to hold off as long as we could. But just in talking to him and after getting some treatment, it still felt like it wasn't the right thing to do to put him out there."

Loperfido in the regular season hit .333/.379/.500 in just 104 plate appearances. 

Santander, 30, signed a five-year, $92.5 million deal with the Blue Jays last offseason after a 44-homer, 102-RBI season with the Orioles in 2024. His first season in Toronto was marred by injury and poor play. He hit .175/.271/.294 (57 OPS+, after a 131 OPS+ in 2024) with six home runs and 18 RBI in 54 games. He posted a -1.0 WAR. In five playoff games, he was 3 for 15 (.200) with two RBI.

The Blue Jays are down 2-1 in the ALCS to the Seattle Mariners with Game 4 scheduled for Thursday night.