TORONTO — Six months of baseball hasn’t solved a thing. It all comes down to Game 162.
The Blue Jays, now one win away from their first American League East title since 2015, have both hands on the wheel entering the final day of the season.
Saturday’s 5-1 win over the Rays was matched yet again by a Yankees win, keeping them tied atop the division, but the Blue Jays hold the almighty tiebreaker. With a win Sunday, the Blue Jays clinch not only the division, but a bye to the ALDS. If the Blue Jays lose, though, control of the division quickly shifts to the Yankees. This season is teetering atop a mountain, ready to tumble in any direction.
All the Blue Jays can do at this point is handle their own business, though, and that’s exactly what they did. With one of the most important home debuts in Blue Jays history, Trey Yesavage introduced himself to Canada with a brilliant performance, throwing five scoreless innings with five strikeouts on a career-high 94 pitches.
What a season this has been for Yesavage, the 22-year-old who began the year in Single-A Dunedin, pitching against teenagers with a handful of fans scattered through the bleachers. He dominated at all four levels of the Minor Leagues, but what we’re witnessing here is rare. Yesavage, in his first year of pro ball, has climbed every rung of the ladder and is already one of the three most important starting pitchers on this roster, behind Kevin Gausman and Shane Bieber.
In Yesavage’s second career start in Kansas City, the Blue Jays clinched their postseason spot and popped champagne. Saturday, in his third, Yesavage kept the Blue Jays alive and put his team on the doorstep of a dream ending to a dream season. Welcome to the big leagues.
The Blue Jays will now turn to Kevin Gausman to clinch the division Sunday. Doing so would not only buy the Blue Jays some valuable time to potentially get Bo Bichette back from his left knee sprain, but also allow manager John Schneider and the Blue Jays to carefully craft their rotation plans. Yesavage, stunning as this is given where his season began, now belongs in those plans. Whether it’s a Wild Card Series or an ALDS, Yesavage has done enough to pitch Game 3 behind Gausman and Bieber.
Pitching prospects will break your heart. We’ve watched that happen with Alek Manoah, who went from a potential future ace in 2022 to being designated for assignment earlier this week. Before Manoah was Nate Pearson, the big flamethrower who never touched his towering potential. Over and over comes the temptation to believe in the next big thing. It’s Yesavage’s turn now, and while it’s easy to remember all of the times these stories have gone wrong, we’re already getting an incredible glimpse of what this could look like if it goes right.
