TORONTO \u2014 Great pitchers are defined by their ability to make adjustments and now it\u2019s on rookie Trey Yesavage to prove that he can do it.<\/p>\n
The 22-year-old Yesavage will start for the Blue Jays on Sunday in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series as Toronto fights to stay alive in the post-season. Logan Gilbert gets the ball for the Seattle Mariners, who hold a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the work all season has led up to this moment, not only for me, but for the team that has been doing it since March,\u201d said Yesavage in a news conference during optional workouts on Saturday. \u201cEverything has led us to this point, and we\u2019re able to show the world who we are, so it\u2019s special.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yesavage started his season with the single-A Dunedin Blue Jays of the Florida Complex League and moved his way through every level of Toronto\u2019s full-season minor-league system, arriving in the big leagues as a September call-up.<\/p>\n
He earned a win in his three regular-season starts for the Blue Jays, with 16 strikeouts over 14 innings and a 3.21 earned-run average. He was brilliant in his post-season debut on Oct. 5, striking out 11 Yankees over 5 1\/3 innings of no-hit baseball as Toronto went on to beat New York 13-7.<\/p>\n
But Seattle has given him a harder time in the ALCS.<\/p>\n
Yesavage gave up five runs over four innings as Toronto fell to the Mariners 10-3 in Game 2 of the ALCS on Monday. The Blue Jays took two of three games in Seattle to force Game 6.<\/p>\n
The rookie said he took full advantage of those three games to observe how Toronto\u2019s other starters prepared and figure out how to make adjustments when facing the same team twice in a week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI learned that it\u2019s not just one game because I have to come back out here and pitch Game 6,\u201d said Yesavage. \u201cSo being able to move on from a start, whether good or bad, and go out there and treat it like a new day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blue Jays manager John Schneider said that although Yesavage is young, he\u2019s learned a lot over his first season as a professional baseball player, even if it was spread across five levels of the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think just what he\u2019s done this whole year, not just here with us in the big leagues, but over the course of his season,\u201d said Schneider. \u201cHe\u2019s pitched in a lot of big games. He\u2019s pitched in big regular-season games, he\u2019s pitched in big post-season games, and he\u2019s handled himself well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to put all of the pressure on Trey. He\u2019s the starting pitcher. We\u2019re going to have nine guys in the lineup that have got to do their job and guys that have got to do their job on defence, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gilbert said he was honoured to be in a position to start for the Mariners and possibly lift them to the World Series for the first time in the franchise\u2019s 48-year history.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been such a long year that just to get to this point is amazing,\u201d said Gilbert. \u201cBut to be the one to have the ball, you grow up dreaming of moments like this, and you don\u2019t know how many you\u2019ll get over the course of your career.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome guys never get this so it\u2019s a really big deal and hopefully I just contribute to the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yesavage agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis opportunity does not come up very often,\u201d he said. \u201cI was talking to (13-year MLB veteran Kevin) Gausman the other day, and I said, \u2018What\u2019s the furthest you\u2019ve made it in the playoffs?\u2019 And he said, \u2018This is the furthest I\u2019ve done,\u2019 and he\u2019s been playing this game for a long time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very blessed to be in this situation, and I not only want to win and keep playing for myself, but for the guys that have not seen this part of baseball before.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2025.<\/p>\n
John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n
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