Blue Jays waste a great start by Kevin Gausman in his World Series debut

He had been waiting his whole life for this moment. 34-year-old Kevin Gausman had dreams of pitching in a World Series game for as long as he can remember. The Toronto Blue Jays right hander finally got his chance to do that on Saturday night in Game 2 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Gausman was great through almost seven innings but unfortunately the rest of the Blue Jays weren't even mediocre and Toronto finds itself even with the Dodgers at 1-1 in the Fall Classic after a 5-1 loss in Game 2.

Blue Jays waste a great start by Kevin Gausman in his World Series debut

It felt like it was a matchup where all the stars were aligned for Gausman. The Colorado native was originally drafted by the Dodgers in the sixth round of the 2010 draft out of high school, but he decided not to sign. Two years later the Orioles snatched him up in the first round.

Gausman made his debut with the Orioles in 2013 and had some decent seasons with that club, but really became a difference maker at 29-years-old when he signed with the San Francisco Giants - a division rival of the Dodgers and their playoff opponents in the 2020 and 2021 NLDS.

The Dodgers won both those series 3-0 in '20 and 3-2 in '21. Gausman didn't pitch in the first matchup but he started game two of that series in '21. He went 5.1 innings, struck out seven batters and had allowed two earned runs.

He was removed in the top of the sixth with the Giants down 2-1 and had two runners on base. Dominic Leone came in and promptly allowed those runs to score, putting two more earned runs on Gausmans pitching line, in a game the Dodgers would win 9-2.

He also had a brief bullpen appearance, getting two outs in the ninth inning of game five with his team down 2-1. He then watched his current teammate Max Scherzer trot out of the bullpen and get a three-up-three-down ninth inning to win the series for LA.

To say redemption was on Gausmans mind in Game 2 of the 2025 World Series might be an understatement. Gausman made his feeling known about what this one meant to him, even before the first pitch as he stared daggers towards the Dodgers dugout after his warmup.

And through the first five innings, Gausman did what he was expected to do. He gave up a run in the first, but from the last out of the first inning until the first out of the seventh inning, Gausman retired 17 straight batters, five of them via the strikeout.

He was on cruise control until Will Smith's solo home run with one out in the seventh gave the Dodgers a 2-1 lead. Two batters later Max Muncy also hit a solo home run that just barely got over the wall in left and all of a sudden the Dodgers had what felt like a commanding 3-1 lead, as Gausmans counterpart,Yoshinobu Yamamoto, was also dealing.

Gausman's night was done after the Muncy homer and while he left with his team down, his work ethic was much appreciated. A quality start in a World Series game with 6.2 innings pitched, four hits, three earned runs and six strikeouts. The Blue Jays, who exploded for 11 runs in Game 1, just couldn't get Gausman any run support in Game 2.

It's not completely out of the ordinary for this season though as the run support behind Gausman fluctuated over the last two months of the season. In four straight starts in August, the Blue Jays scored a combined seven runs in Gausman's outings while Gausman himself only allowed nine runs during those games. The run support returned for most of September, but in back to back starts against Tampa Bay and Boston, Gausman allowed a combined five runs, while the Blue Jays scored two.

For Gausman, it was a start he had waited his whole career to make and when it was all said and done, it wasn't the outcome he was looking for as in his postgame comments he said he felt he "could have pitched better."

Now the Blue Jays will have to pick up their ace. Gausman is the longest tenured Blue Jays starter on their playoff pitching staff and after the performance he gave them, they owe him a chance to win a game later in the series. With Max Scherzer and Shane Bieber lined up for Games 3 and 4 respectively, Gausman could pitch on short rest in Game 5 or take his regular turn in Game 6, which would take place in Toronto at Rogers Centre.