Kevin Gausman's Opening Day comments will hit every Blue Jays fan in the heart

After four seasons of wearing a Toronto Blue Jays uniform, Kevin Gausman will finally get to start on Opening Day. When he takes the mound at Rogers Centre on Friday night (Mar. 27) to face the West Sacramento Athletics, it will be the 36-year-olds first time toeing the rubber to open the season for the Blue Jays, a team he signed with ahead of the 2022 campaign.

Over the previous four season's Toronto has given the ball to José Berrios three times (2022, 2024, 2025) and Alek Manoah once (2023), while Gausman has usually been slotted in the number two spot. But it's fitting on what could end up being his last Opening Day with the team that he is given the chance to get the team off on the right foot. A team, and a city, that he and his family have fully embraced.

Kevin Gausman and his family love Toronto and the Blue Jays, making this Opening Day start even more special

Over the last several season's you've no doubt heard the front office and the president of the team, talk about the off-field intangibles that go a long way toward making a franchise successful. Those intangibles include how they treat the player's families. With Gausman and his family having spent the last four years in Toronto, it's a place that have really come to care for.

Gausman spoke to Toronto media on Thursday, before Friday's opener, and he said, "It’s the greatest decision we ever made - was coming to Toronto.” He said that he and his wife had many conversations about what that would mean for their family, and as one of a handful of top starting pitching free agents ahead of the 2022 season, Gausman signing with the Blue Jays has certainly become a major moment in this franchises history.

Based off his on-field statistic's alone, there's a good argument to be made that Gausman is not only the best free agent signing of Ross Atkins' tenure, but maybe the best free agent signing in the club's history. For fans to hear those words coming from Gausman just reinvigorates how much appreciation he has for the fans and vice versa.

This was a deal that could have gone sideways. Fans may remember that after 2021, Robbie Ray won the Cy Young award after a phenomenal season with Toronto. But the Blue Jays didn't bring Ray back and instead signed Gausman. But it proved to be the right move as Gausman has been worth 11.4 bWAR compared to Ray's 4.7. While it may be unfair to judge them head-to-head considering Ray did run into some injury trouble while with Seattle - it's still a measurable marker to show that Toronto made the right investment.

He's started 125 games over that span, pitched to a 3.48 ERA, with a 119 ERA+, racked up 793 strikeouts and led the league in ERA and SO/BB in 2023, then led the league in strikeouts and SO/9 in 2024.

There's been rumors that Gausman has been hinting at retirement following this season, but there's also been conversations of potential contract extension talks. Regardless of what happens this year, Gausman will be looking to provide that same, consistent, bulldog-like effort every five days for the Blue Jays in 2026.