TORONTO — After Trey Yesavage exited Sunday’s game to a thunderous standing ovation, the Toronto Blue Jays’ group of veteran starters descended the dugout steps. As the rest of the team forced the rookie back to the field for a triumphant curtain call, the pitchers waited for Yesavage in the home clubhouse.
“It’s time to have a beer,” they told the 22-year-old.
The rotation cracked cans, celebrating the biggest start of Yesavage’s life.
They cheered to his 5 1/3 hitless innings, Yesavage’s postseason franchise-record 11 strikeouts and the soon-to-be finalized victory over the New York Yankees, 13-7, to go up 2-0 and seize command of this best-of-five American League Division Series. It was the sort of outing the Jays drafted Yesavage to make. It arrived far earlier than expected, but Yesavage was ready. As he put it: “I’m built for this.”
“I was sitting in there,” Yesavage said. “Thinking about the comment I made the other day, where I said ‘I’m built for this.’ And I was like, well, I’d better back that up.”
Yesavage backed his words — and then some. It was a five-plus inning spectacle, the Rogers Centre crowd forced to its feet over and over as the righty’s splitter dove under flailing Yankees bats. It was an unforeseeable outing from someone who started the season in Low-A with zero professional appearances to his name. But some, allegedly, saw it coming.
His teammates and coaches spent the day before his Game 2 start highlighting his remarkable calm. He’s just different, Daulton Varsho said. He has the gripping handshake and growing beard of a much older man.
Tucked in Toronto’s clubhouse under the lower bowl, as the rotation shared a beer, the sold-out crowd still buzzed above. Some of the Jays’ starters claimed they predicted Yesavage’s dominance.
“I won’t say the number,” Chris Bassitt said. “But I called a lot of strikeouts today. I thought he was gonna have a really good day.”
Trey Yesavage after a strikeout in the fourth inning. (Mark Blinch / Getty Images)
Others saw outings like this coming long before Sunday — perhaps not as dominant as no-hitting the Yankees through five, but grand starts on the grandest stages. Because Yesavage had done it before. He had embraced it before.
Six weeks before the Blue Jays selected Yesavage with the 20th pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, he prepared for what was then the biggest start of his life. He didn’t know he’d surpass that significance many times over in the next two years. He didn’t know that he’d one day face Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. Yesavage just knew he had his college team’s destiny in his hands. The night before his final college start at East Carolina, Yesavage’s mother was blunt.
“Well,” she said. “You got what you wanted.”
Yesavage was 10 days removed from suffering a partially collapsed lung, most likely caused by an accident during a dry needling session. His East Carolina team had lost in the regional the day before, sliding to the brink of elimination. He was set to face off against Wake Forest and its ace, Chase Burns, who would soon become the second pick in his draft class. Yesavage wanted the ball. He wanted the battle. He was built for it.
“You lose Game 1 in a regional,” ECU coach Cliff Godwin said. “Everybody thinks the world is going to crash down. For him, 10 days out of a punctured lung, and he wants that moment. He wants it.”
By that point, Yesavage had long been on Toronto’s draft radar. The Blue Jays area scout who signed him, Coulson Barbiche, called Yesavage ready made. He was seen as one of the potential fastest risers in his class. Maybe he could rapidly climb the minors and help the next Blue Jays playoff team. The clutch start in the regional only reinforced it.
He threw 7 1/3 innings, striking out eight Wake Forest batters and allowed just one run. He outlasted Burns, stared his manager back into the dugout in his final inning, and led East Carolina’s win. It was the gutsiest start Godwin had ever seen. But on Sunday, in Game 2 of the Division Series, Godwin watched Yesavage pitch even better.
“That Wake outing was amazing and gutsy,” Godwin said. “This outing was legendary.”
Trey Yesavage exits after the pitching performance of a lifetime 👏#ALDS pic.twitter.com/pjctobKmYW
— MLB (@MLB) October 5, 2025
Yesavage tapped his hat three times against his chest as the final notes of “O Canada” lingered in the stands. He pushed the white panel cap onto his head as the anthem turned into Blue Jays cheers. He stuffed a ball in his glove and pressed into the bullpen mound for a final few throws. His face held emotionless focus.
The 6-foot-4 Yesavage slammed aggressive fists with the bullpen coaches as he walked into the latest most-significant start of his life. The building popped on Yesavage’s fourth pitch, fans rising and waving towels for his first strikeout. Yesavage’s father cupped two hands over his mouth and yelled from the crowd. His mother nervously held fingers to her teeth. Yesavage’s face remained calm and blank. He was built for it.
“I was in control all night,” Yesavage said.
The lone crack in Yesavage’s sturdy exterior came in the first inning. He walked Judge on four pitches, then started Cody Bellinger with back-to-back balls. Yesavage waved his hand, calling for a new ball. He backed off the mound and grabbed at the rosin bag. He slowed his breathing.
That was all New York got against Toronto’s starter. The only blip came and went. He threw four-straight strikes to battle back against Bellinger and strike him out. He blew past the next batter, Ben Rice, before his strikeout count climbed. As Jays fans, tucked in the last rows of the upper bowl, stood in anticipation, Yesavage reached up to them with his high release point and sent splitters, fastballs and sliders by the Yankees.
“It’s one thing on video,” Rice said. “But another when you’re in the box. Especially with him, it was definitely something you had to adjust to.”
Yesavage traded places with Toronto’s offence five times. His stretches on the mound were short. The wait in the dugout was long. The Jays piled on 12 early runs, providing Yesavage ample support to attack. Ernie Clement homered early, forced to duck into the clubhouse to calm his surging heart after the trip around the bases. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. launched the first postseason grand slam in franchise history. Varsho finished with four hits and four RBI in his five at-bats.
Each inning, the Jays’ bats went back to the box for more as Yesavage quickly mowed through the Yankees.
“He did a good job of feeding us some in the zone and feeding us some out of the zone,” Judge said.
When Schneider finally popped out of the dugout in the sixth, the crowd booed. The manager slowly walked out to remove Yesavage with his no-hitter intact — the longest ever by a Blue Jays starter in the playoffs.
The Jays sit a win away from the AL Championship Series because he delivered one of the most memorable starts in franchise history. In the coming days, a new biggest start of Yesavage’s life may arise. The Jays will, happily, hand him the ball. He has left little doubt. He’s built for it.
— The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner contributed to this report.
(Top photo of Trey Yesavage shutting down the Yankees in Game 2 of the ALDS: Mark Blinch / Getty Images)