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Blue Jays: How the bats fared against the Yankees starters this season
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Photo credit: © Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
Nick Prasad
Oct 4, 2025, 08:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 4, 2025, 06:31 EDT
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The American League Division Series is set! The Toronto Blue Jays will dance with the New York Yankees at the Rogers Centre for a best-of-five series.
When analyzing the rosters of this series, the potential pitching match-ups are quite intriguing. Both teams have depth and talent in the rotation, despite various absences due to injury. 
The Blue Jays will face some top performers in the Yankees’ starting rotation. A majority of the Bronx Bombers’ starters have faced the Blue Jays lineup this season already. How did those pitchers fare this year?

A look at the potential New York Yankees starting rotation versus the Blue Jays

LHP Max Fried 
Fried was the Yankees’ top arm this season. He was a huge addition in the offseason and provided strong support to the team in the postseason. The Yankees ace finished the season with a 19-5 win-loss record.
He compiled a 2.86 ERA in 195 and 1 / 3 innings, and 189 strikeouts with only 51 walks, impressing in his debut year with New York. Fried worked one game in the Wild Card series, going 6 and 1 / 3 innings of work in a no-decision. 
This season, Fried faced the Blue Jays four times, allowing 11 earned runs across 24 1/3 innings. He struggled to strike out Toronto bats (4.4 K/9) and produced a 1.151 WHIP across those four outings. The Jays’ lineup found contact-ability against the lefty; however, his dominant repertoire made the at-bats challenging. 
Fried is expected to pitch in Game Two of the ALDS.
LHP Carlos Rodon 
Rodon also put in his work in the regular season, right behind Fried. He finished with a stellar 18-9 record, 3.09 ERA, 203 strikeouts, and 73 walks through 195 and 1/3 innings of work.
The left-hander also helped New York win their Wild Card series against the Red Sox, going six strong innings, striking out six.
The left-hander is hit or miss against Toronto, with the Blue Jays having more of an advantage. The club barrels him up, with more resistance against the punch outs (similar to Rodon). This season, he started two games against the Blue Jays with 10 innings of work, allowing four runs on 11 hits, with eight walks, and eight strikeouts. His WHIP across both games locked in at 1.900, and the left-hander struggled to find the strike zone.
He’s thrown nine total games against the Blue Jays with a 2-3 record and a 4.72 ERA. Vladimir Guerrero Jr hits .588 against the left-hander, with a 1.608 OPS; George Springer hit two home runs off Rodon.
RHP Cam Schlittler 
This 24-year-old Yankee starter is one of New York’s freshest arms and has shown extreme dominance. His minor league experience was dominant, and his major league experience showed sharp competitiveness. 
Schlittler finished 2025 in the major leagues with a 4-3 record and 2.96 ERA across 14 games and 73 innings of work. 
While the right-hander impressed in the do-or-die game against the Red Sox earlier this week, the Blue Jays have not struggled against the Yankees’ rookie this season. Schlitter faced the Jays twice this year, and he produced an 8.10 ERA with 12 hits, six earned runs, and five walks across 6 2/3 innings, with the bats producing a .400/.486/.433 slash line across 30 at-bats. His shortest start of the regular season came back at the Rogers Centre on September 5th (just 1 2/3 of an inning). 
RHP Luis Gil 
Gil was injured to begin the season, limiting his innings and workload. The right-hander put up a stellar season in 2024, winning the AL Rookie of the Year award. This season, he went 4-1 with a 3.32 ERA in 11 games and 52 innings of work, missing a good portion of the year on the IL. He faced the Jays once this year, and threw against Toronto, going six innings and allowing just three hits and one earned run despite walking four. 
The Yankees right-hander will start Game 1 of the ALDS.

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