Kevin Gausman dominates the Yankees in a Game 1 the Blue Jays needed to win

Kevin Gausman had made two previous playoff starts for the Toronto Blue Jays. Neither game resulted in a win, despite Gausman doing holding up his end of the bargain. But that wasn't the narrative on Saturday in Toronto as the Blue Jays opened their ALDS against division rivals, the New York Yankees.

Gausman was as good as anyone could have expected him to be, maybe even better. He carved up the Yankees lineup for almost six full innings and kept their bats mostly silent when the game was still close and could have gone either way. It was the perfect outcome for a team that perhaps needed a Game 1 win more than anything.

Kevin Gausman dominates the Yankees in a Game 1 the Blue Jays needed to win

In those previous two playoff outings for Gausman, both games ended in frustration for the Blue Jays and their fans. The first of those came on October 8, 2022 against the Seattle Mariners. It was a must win game for Toronto who were down 1-0 in the series already.

The bats exploded and Toronto built up an 8-1 lead. In the sixth, Gausman got into trouble, allowing the first three batters to single, but he struck out Mitch Haniger and got Adam Frazier to pop out. It was still 8-1 but Gausman's day was done after seven strikeouts on 95 pitches. He wasn't asked to get the final out of the inning as Carlos Santana came to the plate and Tim Mayza was brought in.

Most Blue Jays fans know the rest of the story; the Mariners rallied for one of the biggest playoff comebacks in MLB history and went on to win 10-9 and eliminate the Blue Jays.

In Gausman's second playoff start for Toronto he got through six innings, allowing three earned runs on three hits to the Twins in Minnesota in Game 1 of the 2023 ALDS. Two of the three hits left the yard and while Gausman wasn't his sharpest, he managed to contain the Twins - unfortunately the bats didn't show up and Toronto lost that Game 1 by a score of 3-1, and were eliminated the very next day.

With history not on their side, the Blue Jays were hoping to have a much better outcome to begin the series this time around, and they did just that thanks in large part to Gausman's outing. His final line reads 5.1 innings pitched, four hits, one earned run and three strikeouts. He had multiple three up, three down innings including the top of the third where he needed just four pitches to complete.

While the Blue Jays bats came out in a big way in a 10-1 win, the Yankees had multiple opportunities to completely change the outcome of the game, but while they got Gausman to bend he never did break. The biggest sequence came in the top of the sixth when the Yankees had the bases loaded and nobody out and Aaron Judge at the plate.

The Blue Jays were ahead 2-0 at the time and Judge was 1-2 so far in the game. Judge had also been very successful against Gausman in his career with a .354 batting average, .492 OBP, and 1.283 OPS with six home runs. However, nobody in the league right now has struck out Judge more times then Gausman and on a 3-2 pitch, Gausman sat down Judge on a filthy splitter that was low and away and Judge took the bait.

Gausman couldn't get out of the inning as he walked Cody Bellinger to bring in a run, but Louis Varland bailed them out as he got Ben Rice to pop up and struck out Giancarlo Stanton to end the inning, throwing the second fastest pitch of his career at 100.7 mph.

It felt like it was a game the Blue Jays just had to have, not just because it was their first playoff win in the Vladdy-Bo-Gausman era, but the Yankees pitching is only going to get better from here on out.

Max Fried, who led the league with 19 wins and compiled a 2.86 ERA in 195.1 innings pitched with 189 strikeouts, is getting the ball in Game 2. Fried is coming off a fantastic start last Tuesday, where he held the Red Sox scoreless through 6.1 innings pitched, with six strikeouts.

But that was a game the Red Sox ended up winning 3-1, scoring all three of the Yankees bullpen. It's sort of reminiscent of how the Blue Jays have won a lot of their games this season. Grind out at bats against the starter, make them work, and then attack the bullpen. It may the only way to beat Fried as he has held the Blue Jays to a .196/.264/.304 slash line in seven career starts, allowing just two home runs and racking up 27 strikeouts.

Carlos Rodon and Cam Schlittler are slated for Games 3 and 4 in New York and if the Blue Jays hadn't managed to pull out that Game 1 victory, the way the Yankees have set up their rotation could look even more daunting.