Why this Blue Jay will be the right choice as Toronto’s 2026 Opening Day starter

After an eventful 2025-26 offseason, the Toronto Blue Jays have suddenly found themselves with a luxury of riches for their starting rotation. With three ace-like starters in Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber and Dylan Cease, along with the rapid rise of Trey Yesavage last season, together will the addition of KBO 2025 MVP Cody Ponce and the return of José Berríos, let’s just say the Blue Jays are fielding one of the best rotations in the entire league heading into the 2026 season.

But among them all, who will get the call to be Toronto’s Opening Day starter this year? With so many elite options, the Blue Jays likely can’t go wrong with any of them. However, the right choice for the Blue Jays should be none other than Kevin Gausman.

Why this Blue Jays player will be the right choice as Toronto’s 2026 Opening Day starter

Without question, Gausman has been one of their most trusted and reliable starters this decade. Ever since signing with the Blue Jays during the 2021-22 offseason, the 35-year-old right-hander has delivered as their No. 1 starter in the rotation. Gausman has registered four consecutive seasons of double digits in wins, an ERA below 4.00, a WHIP below 1.24, producing at least 31 starts and 174 innings each year.

He even led the American League in strikeouts with 237 while finishing third in AL Cy Young voting during his stellar 2023 campaign. Gausman has always given it all that he could to give the team the best chance at winning.

As for the others, Berríos was actually the Blue Jays Opening Day starter during the past couple of years. But with his struggles towards the end of last season, he should focus more on getting his game back on track to be an effective starter in 2026 rather than trying to do too much to get the Opening Day nod. For Yesavage, he may have had one of the best performances by a rookie in the MLB Playoffs in 2025, but he will still need to prove that he can carry that over the course of an entire season to show that he is worthy of the honour.

Both Cease and Ponce just joined the team this offseason, so it would make more sense for them to eventually earn the role through their future performances with the club. Finally, Bieber is dealing with forearm fatigue and may or may not be ready by the start of the regular season.

There are valid arguments to warrant any of the above candidates to start on Opening Day over Gausman. But the fact that this could even potentially be his last ever season of his illustrious MLB career, just that in itself along with all that he has done for the organization makes Gausman the unanimous choice to take the mound for the Blue Jays on March 27 to kickstart the year.