TORONTO – Once the initial shock of the Toronto Blue Jays leaving both Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt off their American League Division Series roster wore off, their pitching strategy for the best-of-five versus the New York Yankees became apparent. Play it straight in Games 1 and 3 with Kevin Gausman and Shane Bieber. Take all rookie Trey Yesavage has to offer in Game 2 and then lean on the bullpen, as needed.
If the series gets there, wing it during a Game 4 in which last week’s Louis Varland/Eric Lauer-led bullpen day may well be the model, with Gausman ready for a potential Game 5. Finally, use the four lefties in a 10-man bullpen to try and neutralize the left-handed hitters around Aaron Judge, in particular, and Giancarlo Stanton, with a variety of different looks while retaining the option to take the bat from the hands of the MVP right-fielder and his slugging counterpart.
Based on their options, the approach makes sense, although even manager John Schneider acknowledged a need for flexibility heading into Saturday’s opener when he said, “you’ve got to let the game kind of talk to you a little bit.” A couple hours later, there the game was just yelling at him, as Gausman, dominant through five on a mere 50 pitches and nursing a 2-0 lead, suddenly hit a wall in the sixth, loading the bases with none out for Judge, who was coming up for the third time with strong career numbers against the right-hander.
Forced into his first in-game stress test, Schneider stuck with Gausman, who struck out Judge for the first out before a bases-loaded walk to Cody Bellinger cut the Blue Jays lead in half. Up came Ben Rice, and again Schneider stuck with Gausman, who induced a pop-up for the second out. Only then did Schneider finally go to the bullpen for Louis Varland, who blew away Stanton to end the inning.
That sequence set the stage for a four-run seventh that sealed a 10-1 win over the Yankees — the Blue Jays’ first playoff win since 2016 — and also may be indicative of how the Blue Jays intend to operate in this series.
In between a hot start, with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the first inning and Alejandro Kirk on the first pitch of the second each hitting their first ever post-season homers, and the decisive outburst in the seventh, when Andres Gimenez’s RBI single, Nathan Lukes’ two-run double and Guerrero’s sacrifice fly opened up a 6-1 edge, Schneider crucially allowed his ace to bend, trusting that he would not break. At the same time, he didn’t hesitate when there was a chance to definitively snuff out a potential game-changing rally by opting for Varland versus Stanton in the fateful sixth.
All that early tension starkly contrasted the celebratory end, as the Blue Jays followed up that four-run seventh with four more runs in the eighth on Kirk’s second homer of the game, a Gimenez RBI double, an Ernie Clement sacrifice fly and a Lukes RBI single, further electrifying a fervent crowd of 44,655 that chanted “Yankees suck,” as the runs piled up.
Between erasing the post-season losing streak, Guerrero delivering his first major moments on the post-season stage, the quashing of any rest-versus-rust talk and forcing the Yankees to burn through five relievers behind starter Luis Gil, the Blue Jays pretty much checked every box on any reasonable wish list.
The production at the plate also helped stem concerns about the continued absence of Bo Bichette, who, as expected, wasn’t on the ALDS roster since he’s yet to begin running or hitting velocity. Until he starts either, there’s no real timeline for his return and at this point, all he can do is work toward the ALCS, should the Blue Jays get there.
Coping without him, “feeds into who we are as a team,” said George Springer, who walked and scored in the seventh. “It’s next man up. Unfortunately for us, he’s been such an integral part of this team this whole year. Without Bo, we probably wouldn’t be in this position. To know that he’s hurting on the inside, he wants to play just as bad as everybody here wants him to play, is tough. I hope in the next few weeks he’ll be able to contribute.”
Executing their plan to get the first of the three wins they need to advance, the Blue Jays took a step toward giving him that chance.
