Blue Jays’ Gausman excited to make World Series debut after 13 MLB seasons

By Canadian Press on October 24, 2025.

TORONTO — Kevin Gausman’s years of waiting are finally over: he will pitch in a World Series.

Gausman was named the Toronto Blue Jays starter for Game 2 of the best-of-seven championship series, facing the formidable Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday. The 13-year veteran who has played for five Major League Baseball teams was excited to finally play on the game’s biggest stage.

“Every year you go into the season with the hope that you’re one of the last two teams playing. That just hasn’t been the reality for me,” said Gausman in a news conference before Game 1 at Rogers Centre. “I’m just really excited for this group and for myself.

“It’s been a crazy ride and now we are here and we’re excited to kind of show the world what the Blue Jays are all about.”

Gausman (10-11) had a 3.59 earned-run average with 189 strikeouts over 193 innings pitched as Toronto’s most reliable starter in the regular season. He’s been excellent in the post-season with a 2-1 record over four appearances with a 2.00 ERA and 12 strikeouts over 18 innings.

The 34-year-old Gausman started his career with the Baltimore Orioles, then moved on to the Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, and San Francisco Giants before signing with the Blue Jays as a free agent in 2022. He’s a two-time all-star with a 112-113 record, 3.81 ERA and 1,954 strikeouts over his 13 MLB seasons.

Gausman credited the Giants with reinventing his career when he joined them in 2020.

“They told me, ‘We want you to be a two-pitch guy with your secondary pitch (a splitter),’ that at the time being a pitch that 90 per cent of the league didn’t even throw,” said Gausman. “I kind of thought they were crazy, to be honest.”

He pitched an inning of relief on Monday in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, earning the win as the pitcher of record when George Springer hit his climactic three-run home run to lift Toronto over the Seattle Mariners 4-3.

Gausman said it wasn’t a guarantee that he would get an extra day’s rest after that brief appearance, but ultimately the Blue Jays decided to start rookie Trey Yesavage in Friday’s Game 1.

“I’m better the more days you give me, so I think that had something to do with it,” said Gausman. “But I think also it’s about kind of keeping (Yesavage) locked in, not trying to mess with his routine too much.

“I think if I would have thrown maybe less pitches, and maybe not such a high-leverage position Game 7, then maybe it would have been a different conversation.”

Blue Jays manager John Schneider said before Game 1 that he liked the combination of Yesavage and Gausman to start the series because they both throw splitters for strikeouts.

“This is a really, really good lineup we’re going against, especially at the top of the order, obviously. It’s stuff that can hopefully combat that and suppress some damage,” said Schneider. “You’re looking at matchups and you’re looking at how often a team has seen Trey — which in this case is not — and the rest and the recovery factor for everyone else.

“But it’s a similar arsenal, but their pitches do very, very different things from different angles.”

Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start for the Dodgers on Saturday.

Yamamoto (12-8) had a 2.49 ERA in the regular season with 201 strikeouts over 173 2/3 innings pitched for L.A. He’s been even better this post-season with a 2-1 record, 1.83 ERA and 18 strikeouts over 19 2/3 innings.

“(They) keep the lineup moving, and then they can hit home runs when it’s needed,” said Yamamoto through a translator. “I’m thinking the key for me is just to keep the fundamental pitching and not to care that much about runners.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2025.

John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press