Blue Jays perfectly align the rotation to throw their best at the Dodgers in April

The speculation is over, the Toronto Blue Jays have announced their starting five to open the season. With Shane Bieber, José Berrios and Trey Yesavage all starting the year on the IL, it only made sense fot the Blue Jays to go with these five guys; Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Eric Lauer, Cody Ponce and late offseason addition, Max Scherzer.

But with those five already being the likely group to head north, the Blue Jays would still have to sort out who goes where in the rotation. The way they have set up these five starters, it appears as though they have done it with one goal in mind: start the guys who give us the best chance at beating the Dodgers in April.

Blue Jays and Dodgers will have an early season World Series rematch and Toronto's rotation is set up to throw their best at the champs

The Dodgers come to Rogers Centre for their only meeting against the Blue Jays during the 2026 regular season, April 6-8. That will be the fourth series of the year and for the Blue Jays, as long as everyone stays healthy, they should line up with Scherzer opening that series, followed by Gausman and then Cease.

It will be the first really big test for Toronto in 2026, as they will host the Athletics to begin the year, then the Colorado Rockies come to town. They hit the road for a three game set against the Chicago White Sox before coming home to host the Dodgers. In 2025, none of those first three teams won more than 76 games none of them made a major overhaul to their roster. Although both the White Sox and Athletics should see some internal improvements with some talented younger players, the Blue Jays should be a heavy favorite, on paper, in all three of those series.

So when the Dodgers show up it will be a really good measuring stick for the Blue Jays of where they are, relative to the best of the best in MLB. And while it will be incredibly early in the season, and it will be incredibly hard to make heads or tails of anything that happens in that series, there will still be a sense of bragging rights on the line between the two teams that just played in one of the most thrilling World Series matchups in baseball history.

The Blue Jays would love to get a hold on those early season bragging rights and so they'll have Scherzer start that series. A former Dodger himself, Scherzer started Games 3 and 7 against LA in the World Series and in 8.2 innings pitched he allowed four earned runs on nine hits, while striking out six and walking two. He gave the Blue Jays a chance to win in both games, but unfortunately, Game 3 was the wild 18-inning affair that ended with a Freddy Freeman walk-off for the Dodgers, and Game 7 similarly did not go the Blue Jays way.

Gausman will be making his third start of the season by the time April 7 rolls around. He gets the Opening Day nod for Toronto for the first time in his career as a member of the Blue Jays and he'll be looking for some revenge against the Dodgers as well. Gausman started Games 2 and 6 and both times faced Yoshinobu Yamamoto and both times came up on the losing end. But that was hardly, Gausman's fault as he pitched just as effectively as Scherzer did, giving the Blue Jays a chance to win both games. He went 12.2 innings combined with six runs allowed, while striking out 14 and walking just two, holding the Dodgers to three runs in both of those games.

Lastly, the Blue Jays turn to one of their big offseason acquisitions in Cease, who will also be making his third start of the year when he gets the ball in the series finale on Wednesday, Mar. 8. Cease didn't face the Dodgers in the World Series, but there would be no better way to truly make a good impression on your new team than by stifling their nemesis. In seven career starts against the Dodgers, Cease has compiled a 3.75 ERA in 36 innings pitched with 50 strikeouts. And while he's given up 15 earned runs and 31 hits over that same time, he's never allowed a home run to the Dodgers.

The season won't be won or lost because of one series in early April, but as far as games in April go, this may be the biggest one the Blue Jays have circled on their calendar in a long time.