Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman will get things going on the mound on Friday, opening up his team's 2026 season at Rogers Centre against the visiting Athletics.Chris O'Meara/The Associated Press
After four commendable seasons for the Blue Jays, Kevin Gausman will make his first opening day start on Friday against the Athletics at Rogers Centre.
It will be the third of the 35-year-old right-hander’s 13-year big league career, having also received opening day nods with the Baltimore Orioles in 2017 and San Francisco Giants four years later.
“It’s an honour to get the ball back,” Gausman said Thursday during a media availability. “It has happened two other times but this is a lot more special after I’ve been here for for four seasons.
“I think I have earned the right, but I definitely don’t take it for granted. I’ll try to bask in it the best that I can.”
The Toronto Blue Jays will kick off their regular season Friday night as the reigning American League champions. Canada's lone big-league team is looking to get over the hump this year after dropping Game 7 of the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers last fall.
The Canadian Press
Gausman won 10 times for Toronto during the 2025 regular season, and made five starts during the playoffs, including two during the seven-game World Series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
In the four years since he joined the Blue Jays he has thrown 174.2, 185, 181 and 193 innings during regular season games.
“For me [to choose him] was a no-brainer,” manager John Schneider said. “He’s been so damn durable and so damn consistent since he got here.”
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Toronto begins its 50th anniversary season after it won the the American League Championship for the first time in more than three decades. It had last reached the World Series in 1993, when it won its second of back-to-back titles.
There will be much to celebrate in the run-up before the opening pitch. The right-handed Luis Severino will start for the former Oakland A’s, who will play out of Sacramento for the second straight year as they await to take the field in 2028 in a new ballpark in Las Vegas.
“Emotions are going to be there [Friday night], especially when we see the American League banner being raised,” Toronto slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. said.
Toronto Blue Jays' first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. gave fans some of the most exciting moments they've experienced in over 30 years, leading the team back to the World Series in 2025.Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press
New faces on the Blue Jays’ roster since the end of last year include starting pitchers Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce, third baseman Kazuma Okamoto, outfielder Jesús Sánchez, submarine-baller Tyler Rogers and reliever Spencer Miles.
Starting pitchers José Berríos, Shane Bieber and Trey Yesavage are all on the 15-day injured list retroactive to March 22. Berríos has a right elbow stress fracture, Bieber is sidelined with elbow inflammation and Yesavage is suffering from a right shoulder impingement.
Gausman will enter the final season of a five-year contract and while not tilting his hand, said he and his wife Taylor North believe the best decision they ever made was to come to Toronto. The couple has two young daughters.
It has been almost fie months since the Blue Jays were eliminated by Los Angeles in an extra-inning contest.
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“It feels like we never left,” Gausman said. “I had a nostalgic feeling when I went up the stairs in the bullpen and thought about the last time I did it last year.
“I am definitely confident in myself. I’ve learned more the longer I have been in the game.”
After last season’s exciting run, there are regrets. John Schneider said he occasionally still wakes up when he dreams about the way 2025 ended.
“Baseball guys are weird,” the manager said. “My wife hates it. She yells at me to go to sleep.
“What happened last year will not define us,” he continued. “My expectation is for guys to show up every day and try to get better than they were.
“It’s back to work. This game doesn’t wait for anybody.”