Gausman has pitched himself into being the Blue Jays’ Game 1 starter

While there’s still work to be done to cement the Blue Jays‘ place in this year’s postseason, you can’t blame fans for thinking ahead to the next playoff opportunity for Canada’s only MLB team.

One of the popular topics of discussion on social media lately has been the pecking order of the starting rotation, and more specifically, who should be taking the mound if/once the Blue Jays are in the playoffs. With just 16 regular-season games remaining, I’m sure the performance of the veteran group down the stretch will be strongly monitored and considered. That said, if the season ended today, I would strongly advocate for Kevin Gausman to be on the bump for Game 1.

It’s been a fun debate among fans over the last month or so, and it feels like the answer has been a moving target. We’ve seen very strong performances from each of Shane Bieber, Max Scherzer, Jose Berrios, and Chris Bassitt, but we’ve also seen some battles for each of them as well. The same thing could be said for Gausman, who looked like he might even be entering a new phase of his career when he was struggling in June, but the 34-year-old proved that he’s still got some prime production left in that right arm of his with his performance since the calendar flipped to July.

The 2x All-Star was trending downward to the tune of a 5.46 ERA over five June starts, struggling to maintain the velocity that has helped him enter the elite tier of starting pitchers in baseball for the last number of years, and making a big difference in his overall production.

Lately, Gausman has been re-energized, and the version that pitched against the Astros on Thursday might be as good as we’ve ever seen him in a Blue Jays uniform. The Astros aren’t what they used to be on the offensive side of the ball, but they still have a lineup that features Yordan Alvarez, Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, Jeremy Pena, and more, and they’re still the leader in the AL West as of this writing, although the Mariners are nipping at their heels. Regardless, they’re one of the better teams in baseball this year, and they’ll be a potential opponent in the playoffs for the Jays, so this wasn’t exactly easy competition. Thursday’s game mattered very much to the Astros, and they couldn’t muster any more than two hits and a walk over nine shutout innings from Gausman.

Over his last seven starts in particular, the right-hander has posted a 2.02 ERA and a 0.73 WHIP, averaging 7.0 innings per outing. He’s also struck out 44 batters against just eight walks over those 49.0 innings pitched, and he hasn’t had it easy recently either, with his last three starts coming against the Astros, Yankees, and Brewers. Not only has he been effective, but he’s performed exactly as John Schneider has needed him to, going deep into games and giving the battered bullpen as much rest as he can. He’s covered 6.0 innings or more in nine of his last ten outings, and has been even better over his last three, averaging 8.0 frames per start. His ability to cover a ton of innings, and at an elite clip, is a key reason the Blue Jays still hold the lead in the AL East these days.