12:30PM: Manager John Schneider provided Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling (multiple links) and other media with some context on the roster decisions. Beyond the lack of running, Bichette has yet to face higher-velocity or pitches with movement in his cage work. Bassitt wasn’t quite stretched out enough to be ready, whereas Scherzer was omitted because Schneider didn’t 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.
9:20AM: The Blue Jays announced their official 26-man roster for their AL Division Series matchup with the Yankees that begins today. Toronto will take 13 pitchers and 13 position players into action against New York, with the following breakdown…
Catchers: Alejandro Kirk, Tyler Heineman
Infielders: Addison Barger, Ernie Clement, Andres Gimenez, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Isiah Kiner-Falefa
Outfielders: Nathan Lukes, Anthony Santander, Davis Schneider, George Springer, Myles Straw, Daulton Varsho
Left-handed pitchers: Justin Bruihl, Mason Fluharty, Eric Lauer, Brendon Little
Right-handed pitchers: Shane Bieber, Seranthony Dominguez, Braydon Fisher, Kevin Gausman, Jeff Hoffman, Tommy Nance, Yariel Rodriguez, Louis Varland, Trey Yesavage
The roster notably doesn’t include three players battling injuries (Bo Bichette, Chris Bassitt, Ty France) and one prominent name in Max Scherzer. 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.
It wasn’t long ago that the Jays seemed to have almost a surplus of postseason rotation candidates, between Gausman, Bieber, Scherzer, Bassitt, Lauer, Jose Berrios, and Yesavage waiting in the wings at Triple-A. 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.
Bassitt also hit the 15-day injured list on September 19 due to lower back tightness, but seemed to be on pace to be part of the ALDS roster. It isn’t yet known if Bassitt might’ve 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’t want to take the risk of issuing Bassitt a roster spot. 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’t want to take the chance of losing Bassitt for the ALCS if the Jays defeat New York.
For Scherzer, his two World Series and 143 career playoff innings didn’t carry as much weight to the Jays as the veteran’s recent form. 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. 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.
Scherzer ended up with a 5.19 ERA over 85 innings in 2025, as he missed most of the first half dealing with injuries. 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. 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. 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’ postseason run.
It isn’t surprising that Bichette isn’t participating, since as of Wednesday, Bichette had yet to start running drills as part of his rehab from a left PCL sprain. 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. 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.
Ty France 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. France’s 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’t expected to leave the lineup at any point in the series.
I feel like their an sp short!
They only need 3 for the sweep
Or to be swept.
That’s a number one seed playoff roster? Obviously,the games are played for a reason but on paper, I like the Yankees’ chances even starting on the road.
Luis Gil has a 6k/9 and starting game 1 for your pick.
Yankees defense outside of 3b is weak as hell.
Both teams have strengths and weaknesses.
Yes, the Yankee defense (like their Boston cousins) is one bouncy castle fun house of crazies. Imagine the squad playing in one of those 80s artificial turf domes. Veritable snow globe – follow the bouncing ball as it careens around the OF. That Jazz stop in game 3 was pretty choice considering
Apologies so far to the Jays and their fans…Boy did that kid look great in game 2.
They only need 1 sp per start. The first pitcher to throw a pitch when the game start is their sp.
Lauer started most of the year and was outstanding. He went 3 1/3 in his second to last outing. If they can use Lauer for 3 or 4 innings as the bulk guy in game 4, who needs another starter?
It was a poor decision to take their most effective starting pitcher out of their rotation down the stretch. A decision made at a time when they had 6 apparently-good starting pitchers and they felt Lauer was most able to adapt to relief easily. But it backfired after the injuries and Scherzer’s collapse. Hopefully Lauer got stretched out a bit during the off week.
Lauer began to show fatigue as his innings increased, not sure how poor of a decision it was.
They gave him some time between innings and he’s been good in small stretches since.
Game 4 the can use him, varland and a few others to piece together the game, hardly a big deal not to have a starter to 6 innings in this day and age. How many times did the dodgers do it last playoffs?
I’m just glad all those star players are off of their roster!!
Otherwise they’d beaten the Yankees by 20 runs in their first 2 games ……
They are not a starting pitcher short this season!!!
Hopefully Gaus can go for game 5 – he only threw 75 pitches
And look more closely, yanks have smoked our pen so far
Well to be fair jays 3 best starters are playing. They have Nance, Lauer and Varland who can all go multi innings and if you need them to do that multiple times there not winning the series so makes sense to not take Bassit or Max Berrios was always a question mark with that wonky elbow
big – They can also use YRod as an opener, he’s pitched multiple innings several times this season.
Don’t see it he’s had steady velocity drop on his fastball for a while and he’s been moved from late inning set up to middle innings and mop up role for a while now
Yariel can get more than 3 outs if he’s efficient and is able to sit down and get back up again to bridge innings. But I think if you are looking at who would open a bullpen game, the Varland-Lauer combo they used in the last game against Boston is the blueprint. I’m not sure they’d go to Yariel against the top of the order right now. His stuff has been down later in the season.
Wow Bassitt is a surprise!
Birth – Why? You don’t mess with back injuries. Lauer for Game 3 and YRod for Game 4 is fine.
I don’t think Yrod who’s had fastball velo issues last 2 months is gonna start even in a pen game. Think it’s gonna be Gausman-Biebs-Yesavage-Lauer-Gausman. Think carrying 3 other Lefties and the Yankees having a lefty heavy lineup point to them doing that
Eric Lauer is not going to start. Not sure why you think he would. He hasn’t started in quite some time and isn’t stretched out anymore.
Gausmen
Bieber
And they’ll decide from there based on how things have went.
That – Starting is not what it used to mean decades ago.
Lauer is on the roster, therefore he’s gonna be used. What difference does it make whether it’s the 7th inning or the 1st inning?
I’m just telling you he’s not going to start that was decided a month ago.
Scherzer still present in the cheerleader role, which seems to apply buffs to the rest of the team.
Mack does seem to be the H-O-T-T- Hot to Go Chappell Roan of the collective it would seem
I’d pay money to watch Max Scherzer lead the dance.
🎶 T-O-R-O-N-T-O
Beat the Yankees: Jays, let’s go! 🎶
Can he be moved to the bulpen?
I like it! I personally would have left Hoffman off the roster too, but i know that was always wishful thinking
Looking for a silver lining, if/when he blows a save in the playoffs (assuming he gets the chance) it may spur management to go out in the offseason and get a better option for the ninth for next year.
Contrarian thinking in the ALCS and beyond. Great time to send an off-season message. Gotten love it. Why didn’t Yimi get more runway par exemple
I guess this makes the series a toss up.
Will the Yankees win in a sweep, or will it take them 4?
they got smoked
They’d better win game 2 or 3. If not, they’re toast
The way the game went, they might need to win in 8
“If only the series went to 11” – Nigel
I don’t see the jays winning more than 1 game.
More than 0 games going against an angry Yankees team that’s still pissed off about the World Series last year and the Juan Soto situation
Well, they’re looking pretty good right now. That’s baseball.
Good thing it’s baseball and not football. If this were the Super Bowl they’d be eliminated
Because getting pissed wins you games. “They just want it more…”
I don’t see either team winning more than 3
Jays will win at least 1
Is predictions like this that remind me what the word fan means.
A fan blows hot or cold unless unplugged by the cat
I have added this knowledge to my Book of Mysterious Things.
Oprah’s list of Books of Mysterious Things
Sometimes you’re right and sometimes you’re dead wrong. The Yankees are looking just awful.
Sometimes you feel like a nut. Sometimes you don’t.
You’re missing Davis Schneider
This comes off as managing to avoid losing instead of managing to win. I might have to switch my thoughts on who wins this series. Yankees might have more of an advantage. Really depends how their pen does.
Two of their starters got hurt at the end of the year, Scherzer was getting hit hard and bichette is out. What are they supposed to do lol
@Naylor01
Yeah, I get that injuries happen. But when you’re the top seed, you’ve got to find ways to stay aggressive. Scherzer didn’t have to start — he could’ve been used for a few innings or as a change-of-pace arm. It just feels like they’re managing not to lose instead of trying to win, and that’s not the mindset you want heading into October. For the Jays case, let’s hope I’m wrong and they do well.
I have to disagree with you on this one (respectfully).
I’d much rather see a team go with their known healthy players rather than attempt to put guys out there that may only be capable of performing at 60-80% (or less) of their regular capabilities.
If you have a superstar — like Trout in his prime, or Aaron Judge presently — than having them go at 60-80% is likely worthwhile (assuming they don’t run a high risk of damaging themselves further).
But it’s not like the Jays are sitting players of that level. And Scherzer simply isn’t capable of what he once was.
Old York
There is not enough detail in the article.
Scherzer’s last six 1st innings? He’s given up 21 runs for a 1st-inning ERA of 31.5 over that stretch! How bad is that? In those six games, he’s pitched 25 innings and given up a total of 25 runs, all earned for an ERA of 9.
To be fair, allowing 4 runs over the other 19 innings (ERA of 1.89) is fine. Getting there is the trick.
The ONLY reason to “roster” Scherzer is attitude. Max has been ineffective and borderline unusable, especially lately, and particularly with how grotesquely bad he has been in his 1st inning. At the moment, you can’t start him ahead of other options and he would be a HUGE relief risk, too.
Scherzer in relief? That would be a complete waste of a roster spot. You can’t trust him in leverage with how his first innings have gone and all the home runs and the fact that he’s never done it before, and with the off days in the postseason there’s no use for another middle relief mop up arm.
I would’ve been okay with putting Scherzer on the roster to start a game on a really short leash, because his stuff is still good and he could turn it around at any moment. But he makes no sense in relief, may as well leave that roster spot to a real reliever if he’s not starting.
How would you have built it to try to win? I’m not sure there was much of a choice with the omissions. The players left off are injured except for Scherzer who just has nothing left.
Really, the only choices I see were carrying an extra position player or going with the 13 and 13 even split. Without Bassitt, it seems like they are going to lean on their bullpen so the extra arm makes sense.
@KamKid
That’s fair. The setup itself isn’t terrible, it’s more the approach behind it. When you’re the #1 team, you can’t play scared. Leaving Scherzer off basically says they’re more worried about what could go wrong than what might go right. I just think you have to take a few calculated risks to win a short series, especially with two games in New York mixed in.
I wouldn’t say that they’re
playing it too safe. They’re going to use Yesavage, who only has 3 big league starts, rather than the old playoff-tested veteran Scherzer. They’re using the guys who currently have the best combination of talent, health, and gas left in the tank.
Worried more about what could go wrong than what might go right sounds more like choosing floor over ceiling. By going with a young high upside starter like Yesavage and a bunch of specialist bullpen arms, that feels like going with ceiling over floor to me. Taking the old veteran who is experienced but doesn’t have much left in the tank feels like the floor play. Your comment suggests you see ceiling in Scherzer and I just don’t think there’s much evidence of that.
There’s less than a month of the season to go, I’m hoping you stumble in to a good take at some point
@Dustyslambchops23
Don’t worry, I’ll be wrong as usual.
4 lefty relievers was the right move.
4 lefty relievers was the right move, especially in a 5 game series
Lauer should never have lost his rotation spot. Such a joke
His performance started to dip near the end of his time as a starter. In the month of August, he had an ERA of 5.30 and a FIP of 6.89.
He was well past his innings pitched over the last few seasons. The Jays were trying to keep him fresh and effective and he’s been pretty much excellent since the move to the bullpen. (3.00 ERA and a 2.64 FIP)
It was the right thing to do.
It could’ve been a reasonable thing to do to give him a break, if they’d built him back up to 5 IP again at the end of the season. Never go into the postseason just assuming none of your starting pitchers will get hurt, always have options ready.
I agree, but they may ask him for at least 3 innings if one of the right handed starters struggle early , so, he’s still gonna be a valuable piece.
Or innings earlier in the game with lefties coming up. I’d say Fluharty and Little are the later inning options in that order.
Basically there was this moment mid summer where the Jays over performed for a couple weeks and the Yankees under performed for a couple of weeks, which is why they ended in first and second place, but the Ysbks have out performed the Jays in the last few weeks if the season.
“Jays over performed for a couple weeks”
3 months is the time frame you’re looking for there, not a couple weeks.
A couple weeks? More like a couple months. The Jays went 38-15 from May 26 to July 26.
Basically there was this moment in the ALDS where the Jays over performed and the Yankees under performed…
Bo not in the lineup really hurts. Hopefully we beat the Yankees.
Ya sucks he wants to make sure he’s healthy for contract time.
Hopefully they can get Bichette back for the CS, if not he’s played his last game for Toronto.
I so hate that Bichette is not able to be on this roster. Think he is that ideal type of playoff hitter who hits for average and has enough pop/gap power to make a difference when the temperatures drop up North in October.
Also it just bothers me that Wells caused his injury so it does not feel like justice, him not being able to come back and get them back by playing well.
When I saw Wells just plant his knee in front of home plate I felt like that cant be legal. Felt with a Posey incident they changed it but no. If he has the ball, he cant make it like sliding into a brick wall. I guess the only option was to just come in high Pete Rose style. Maybe his teammates will do that in this series.
There’s always the option of going in Chris Coghlan style.
It’s pretty sad the Yanks have to use comments from a color analyst (a good one imo) from the other team as motivation for this series. Usually it’s someone from the other bench that you can yell at during the game like the Dodgers gave Cone back in 88. Go Jays!
I’m sure they’re plenty motivated to begin with.
No Bichette,no Woo. Sucks that the games top players aren’t available.
I wonder who else is out?
The Brewers just lost Chourio.
lifelong yankee fan who will be rooting hard as always but they needed an historic start by a rookie, shoddy defense by their opponent and a huge amount of babip luck in order to squeak by a depleted red sox team. imo the jury is still out whether they have what it takes to win a series longer than 3 games that includes road games.
So, if the Blue Jays get swept again making Schneider 0-7 in the playoffs, will they finally fire him and hire a real MLB caliber manager?
LOL this is hilarious
Blue jays should win at least one starting tonight
Ugh. That’s not a good enough SP line-up. They need at least one lights-out pitcher and another quality starter. Bassitt out just makes this look grim. So, it’s Gausman who has been just okay-ish his last bunch of starts, Bieber, who is kind of the real anchor, but I’m just waiting for him to push it just a little too far and get injured, and Yesavage, who’s a stud, but unproven in a high pressure role. Groan.
Where’d that Nathan Lukes hater go now.
Nice game. Make Canada stay great. Thanks.
Jays cooked the Yankees, tonight. Yankees pitiful offense was on display again.
Mad Max needs to hang up his spikes.
Half the teams I’m rooting for won, BlueJays and Brewers. Unfortunately the other half lost.
Yet somehow MLBTR wasn’t able to obtain the Yankees’ ALDS roster.
I like how Gausmann just looked at the runner on second the whole time he was pitching to Judge. No handwaving by the baserunner to clue in Error in Judgement. Per usual, he whiffs.
Yesavage? Really? Or Scherzer?
All I’ll say is: Boston/Early – how’d that turn out?
The #BlueJays starting Trey Yesavage is a mistake. These are the Bronx Bombers with two potential HOFers in the lineup. If he doesn’t get bombed downtown by the #Yankees by the 4th inning I’d be very surprised. This is a Max Scherzer start all the way. Another Berrios error.
Nice take!
Are you surprised???
I thought you already had Toronto in their baseball grave!!! Ha!
Now they are getting ready to sweep the defending champion Yankees in 3!!!
It never ceases to amaze me how little you get right
Cy Yesavage be dealing….