Blue Jays starting pitchers: Who’s hot and who’s not for September

Last week, we took a close look at the hottest and coldest hitters for the Toronto Blue Jays for the month of August. This week, we will turn our attention to the Blue Jays starting pitchers and their performances of late.

How has Toronto’s rotation fared in recent weeks? Have they actually been helping or hindering the team’s chances at winning and success? Here, we will take a look at the hottest and coldest Jays pitchers over the past few weeks and their outlook for September.

Blue Jays starting pitchers: Who’s hot and who’s not for September

Who’s hot

Kevin Gausman

If the Blue Jays are to accomplish anything this year, they will need their ace Kevin Gausman to be at his best once again following an up-and-down 2024 campaign. Gausman has been exactly what the Jays have envisioned him to be, especially for the second half of the season. Since the All-Star Break, the 34-year-old veteran has posted a stellar 2.82 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, along with 53 strikeouts in 51 innings pitched over eight starts.

More importantly, he has gone at least six innings in seven of those matches while registering six quality starts in the process. If vintage Gausman stays for the rest of the season, the Jays will have a good shot at locking down a playoff spot in the coming weeks with their ace leading the way.

Max Scherzer 

For those that were counting Max Scherzer out, especially when he went down to a thumb injury just one game into his Jays’ tenure, he certainly has proven everyone wrong in recent weeks. Since coming back from the injured list, the former three-time Cy Young winner has delivered the goods. Especially during a five-game stretch between the end of July to mid-August, you would have thought he was the Scherzer from a decade ago, compiling an impressive 2.28 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, along with 28 strikeouts in 32 innings of work.

With numbers like that, it certainly makes him a darkhorse to get the ball to begin the postseason if the Jays reach that point. Scherzer experienced some back tightness in his latest start against the Milwaukee Brewers that affected his game. But the fact he appears to be on track to make his next start this Saturday against the New York Yankees is good news all around for the Jays and their fans.

Who’s not

Eric Lauer

Even though Eric Lauer may be transitioning to the bullpen in the coming weeks, we will consider him a starter for the purpose of this article since he was part of the rotation last week. Since being promoted to the majors in late April, there was no question Lauer had been one of the Jays’ most consistent pitchers throughout the 2025 season. In particular when he took over a spot in the starting five permanently in June, he never gave up more than three runs in any outing other than his last start.

Lauer also sported a 6-1 record as a starter for the Jays. However, perhaps fatigue has started to set in for the 30-year-old left-hander as he began to show some warts in his game in recent weeks. After dominating hitters all season, the opposition has gotten to him during the month of August, pounding out 27 hits over just 18 2/3 innings pitched. More significantly, Lauer was rocked for a whopping eight runs in his last start against the Minnesota Twins on August 27 and those struggles continued into his relief appearance on September 2 against the Cincinnati Reds.

After not pitching more than 101 1/3 innings in each of his past two seasons, Lauer is already at a combined 119 innings between Triple-A Buffalo and Toronto. So perhaps some well-planned rest for the lefty could do him wonders down the stretch.

José Berríos 

As for one of the top Jays pitchers to start the 2025 season, José Berríos has basically fallen apart in recent weeks. In his last six starts, despite Toronto going a fortunate 5-1 in those games, Berríos posted a gaudy 4.88 ERA, 1.48 WHIP while being hit hard, giving up 34 hits including six home runs in just 27 2/3 innings pitched.

His last outing was his worst of the year, as he was gone after two innings having given up six runs already by that point against the Reds. The Jays will need Berríos to regain his dominant form seen from last season and earlier this year if they want to have any chance in capturing the American League East division title. Also, Toronto will need him to be at his best to become a significant part of the playoff rotation if they end up making the postseason.