{"id":189951,"date":"2025-10-04T18:35:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T18:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/189951\/"},"modified":"2025-10-04T18:35:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T18:35:09","slug":"max-scherzer-chris-bassitt-bo-bichette-left-off-blue-jays-alds-roster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/189951\/","title":{"rendered":"Max Scherzer, Chris Bassitt, Bo Bichette Left Off Blue Jays’ ALDS Roster"},"content":{"rendered":"

12:30PM: Manager John Schneider provided Sportsnet\u2019s Arden Zwelling (multiple<\/a> links<\/a>) and other media with some context on the roster decisions.\u00a0 Beyond the lack of running, Bichette has yet to face higher-velocity or pitches with movement in his cage work.\u00a0 Bassitt wasn\u2019t quite stretched out enough to be ready, whereas Scherzer was omitted because Schneider didn\u2019t like how he matched up with New York specifically; Scherzer would likely have been included had the Red Sox defeated the Yankees in the wild card series.<\/p>\n

9:20AM: The Blue Jays announced their official 26-man roster for their AL Division Series matchup with the Yankees that begins today.\u00a0 Toronto will take 13 pitchers and 13 position players into action against New York, with the following breakdown\u2026<\/p>\n

Catchers: Alejandro Kirk<\/a>, Tyler Heineman<\/a>
Infielders: Addison Barger<\/a>, Ernie Clement<\/a>, Andres Gimenez<\/a>, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.<\/a>, Isiah Kiner-Falefa<\/a>
Outfielders: Nathan Lukes<\/a>, Anthony Santander<\/a>, Davis Schneider<\/a>, George Springer<\/a>, Myles Straw<\/a>, Daulton Varsho<\/a>
Left-handed pitchers: Justin Bruihl<\/a>, Mason Fluharty<\/a>, Eric Lauer<\/a>, Brendon Little<\/a>
Right-handed pitchers: Shane Bieber<\/a>, Seranthony Dominguez<\/a>, Braydon Fisher<\/a>, Kevin Gausman<\/a>, Jeff Hoffman<\/a>, Tommy Nance<\/a>, Yariel Rodriguez<\/a>, Louis Varland<\/a>, Trey Yesavage<\/a><\/p>\n

The roster notably doesn\u2019t include three players battling injuries (Bo Bichette<\/a>, Chris Bassitt<\/a>, Ty France<\/a>) and one prominent name in Max Scherzer<\/a>.\u00a0 Omitting Scherzer and Bassitt from the roster means that the Blue Jays seem to be locking into rookie Yesavage to start one game of the series, and then perhaps turning to a bullpen game in Game Four.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t long ago that the Jays seemed to have almost a surplus of postseason rotation candidates, between Gausman, Bieber, Scherzer, Bassitt, Lauer, Jose Berrios<\/a>, and Yesavage waiting in the wings at Triple-A.\u00a0 Toronto moved Lauer into a relief role at the start of September and also tapped Berrios for bullpen work late in the month, though a case of elbow inflammation sidelined Berrios and left his postseason availability up in the air.<\/p>\n

Bassitt also hit the 15-day injured list on September 19 due to lower back tightness, but seemed to be<\/a> on pace to be part of the ALDS roster.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t yet known if Bassitt might\u2019ve had some sort of setback in his ramp-up work, or if perhaps he or the Jays had enough uncertainty over his health that the team didn\u2019t want to take the risk of issuing Bassitt a roster spot.\u00a0 If a player has to be removed from a postseason roster due to injury, the player is ineligible to play in the following series, so it could be that the Blue Jays didn\u2019t want to take the chance of losing Bassitt for the ALCS if the Jays defeat New York.<\/p>\n

For Scherzer, his two World Series and 143 career playoff innings didn\u2019t carry as much weight to the Jays as the veteran\u2019s recent form.\u00a0 The right-hander posted a 9.00 ERA over his final six starts and 25 innings in the regular season, and Scherzer only completed six innings in one of those outings.\u00a0 One of those tough starts came against the Yankees on September 7, when Scherzer allowed four runs on three hits and four walks over 4 1\/3 innings in a 4-3 New York victory.<\/p>\n

Scherzer ended up with a 5.19 ERA over 85 innings in 2025, as he missed most of the first half dealing with injuries.\u00a0 Just prior to his rough final six starts, it seemed like Scherzer was locking into form with a string of five consecutive quality starts and a 2.25 ERA over 32 innings.\u00a0 The Jays signed Scherzer to a one-year, $15.5MM contract last winter in the hopes that he could turn back the clock and provide veteran depth and experience to the rotation, particularly if Toronto happened to advance into the playoffs.\u00a0 While it is possible he could return for the ALCS, Scherzer will be limited to spectator duty for at least the first leg of the Blue Jays\u2019 postseason run.<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t surprising that Bichette isn\u2019t participating, since as of Wednesday, Bichette had yet to start running drills as part of his rehab from a left PCL sprain.\u00a0 Bichette hurt his knee almost exactly a month ago, on an awkward slide into home plate on September 6 in another game against the Yankees.\u00a0 Bichette has been able to take swings in the batting cage, but until he is able to run whatsoever, his status for the rest of the playoffs remains unclear if the Jays manage to advance deeper into October.<\/p>\n

Ty France<\/a> is another noteworthy player left off the roster, as France may still be bothered by the oblique inflammation that has kept him sidelined since September 21.\u00a0 France\u2019s absence will leave the Jays without some right-handed hitting bench depth, and Guerrero is now the only true first baseman on the roster, though naturally Guerrero isn\u2019t expected to leave the lineup at any point in the series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"12:30PM: Manager John Schneider provided Sportsnet\u2019s Arden Zwelling (multiple links) and other media with some context on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189952,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7203,7204,43,14575,44,41,39,42,40,27677],"class_list":{"0":"post-189951","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-bo-bichette","9":"tag-chris-bassitt","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-max-scherzer","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-top-news","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-topnews","16":"tag-topstories","17":"tag-ty-france"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}