Making the case for this pitcher to be the Blue Jays' starter in Game One of the ALDS

The Toronto Blue Jays will enter the 2025 MLB Postseason with the best record in the American League after a 94 win season. They have home field advantage throughout the AL side of the bracket, something many experts didn't see coming. The Blue Jays were a team that won just 74 games a year ago and went from worst to first in the AL East, winning their first division title in 10 years.

The Blue Jays, like most of the baseball world, were likely watching Game 3 of the Wild Card series to between the Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees, with the winner advancing to the ALDS to face Toronto. Regardless of the outcome, the Blue Jays have to focus on themselves and it would be in their best interest to go with this veteran as their Game 1 starter on Saturday. (Written on Thursday afternoon ahead of Game 3 of the Wild Card game)

Game 1 starter should be Gausman

In 2025, Kevin Gausman showed why he was the ace of the Blue Jays with a 3.59 ERA in 193 innings pitched. That included 16 quality starts and 189 strikeouts which led the Blue Jays. Sending Gausman out to the mound for Game 1 would give the Blue Jays a high level of confidence that they can take the early lead in the series. Leading 1-0 in a best-of-five series is crucial as the team that wins Game 1 at home goes on to advance around 70% of the time.

While Gausman did struggle in the last game of the season against the Tampa Bay Rays on Sept. 28 (lasting only four innings) he has been solid against both the Yankees and the Red Sox this season including in two head-to-head matchups in September, when the Blue Jays needed him most in a tight AL East race.

Gausman delivered against the Yankees on Sept. 5 at Yankee Stadium. Gausman pitched eight innings, allowed just one run on four hits, and struck out five on 105 pitches in a 7-1 Blue Jays win, which was their lone win of that series.

In his last start against Boston, Gausman did earn a loss on Sept. 23. However, Gausman pitched 5.2 innings and recorded seven strikeouts and received just one run of support in a 4-1 loss. Gausman finished September with an ERA of 2.78 and he also had a complete game, two hit shutout of the Houston Astros on Sept. 11 at home with nine strikeouts on exactly 100 pitches, which was not only the best pitched game by a Blue Jay this year, but one of the best pitched games of Gausman's career.

Gausman would have five days of rest if he was to start Game 1 of the ALDS on Saturday. With being the ace and having the year he had, pitching the opening game of the ALDS with a solid amount of rest would make sense for the Blue Jays to take an early lead into the series against New York or Boston.