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Kevin Gausman soaks in potential final Blue Jays start before 2026 trade deadline
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Photo credit: Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images
Thomas Hall
Aug 1, 2026, 20:30 EDTUpdated: Aug 1, 2026, 20:43 EDT
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TORONTO — If this is truly the end for Kevin Gausman as a Blue Jay, Saturday’s start — his 23rd of the season and 148th with the organization — served as a well-deserved farewell.
“It was kind of an old-fashioned Kev game,” manager John Schneider said in his assessment of Gausman’s performance in a 5-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.
Amid Monday’s looming trade deadline, Gausman toed the rubber for, potentially, his final time in this uniform, donning the team’s powder blue jersey. As a pending free agent, in the final season of his five-year, $110 million contract, the next few days, weeks and months remain incredibly uncertain for the 35-year-old starter.
Around the league, fellow rental hurlers — Detroit’s Casey Mize and New York’s Freddy Peralta on Friday, as well as Los Angeles’ José Soriano on Saturday — have been scratched from their respective starts, as those teams have opted to eliminate any risk of damaging their asset, either via injury or performance.
But it doesn’t sound like that option was ever on the table with Gausman, as Schneider revealed pre-game that the topic was “never really brought up.” That’s likely because the veteran right-hander’s preference was to make this start, which he did in front of a sell-out crowd of over 41,000 fans at Rogers Centre.
Internally, with the club’s bleak post-season odds still sitting above zero per cent, they also wanted to give themselves the best opportunity to capture a third consecutive victory — and starting Gausman, who held the Cardinals’ offence to one run over 5.2 innings on 94 pitches (65 strikes), helped them accomplish exactly that.
Before first pitch, Gausman popped out of the Blue Jays dugout for his pre-game stretches and warm-ups, and, as soon as he did, fans began to cheer. You could hear the applause growing louder as he walked down the third-base foul line towards the bullpen. They wanted to make sure he felt their appreciation for all that he’s meant to them, this city and all of Canada since arriving in 2022.
“As much as you can try to not think about it, it’s going to creep into your mind throughout the day,” Gausman said of his preparation before what might have been his final Blue Jays start.
“Once I started throwing, playing catch before the game, it was a lot easier to just kind of focus on trying to get guys out.”
But that was just the appetizer.
When Schneider took the ball from Gausman with two outs in the top of the sixth inning, the building stood up to salute the former ace with a heartfelt standing ovation as he walked off the field. As he approached the dugout, the righty embraced the home faithful, tapping his heart multiple times to say ‘thank you.’
“What a cool moment,” he described. “The fans have done a lot of cool moments for me since I’ve been here. But that was definitely up there, and I appreciate it.”
When 6:01 p.m. ET hits on Monday, we’ll learn if that ends up being Gausman’s final moments as a member of the Blue Jays. Or if he’ll have more opportunities to pitch for this team the rest of the way.
Overcome with emotion, feeling every ounce of it from the home crowd, Gausman said he had to compose himself down in the tunnel after departing. Should it be the last time he takes the field here as a home player, he didn’t want to let the moment pass him by.
“I’ve played this game long enough to know those things don’t happen all the time,” Gausman said.
Gausman has already solidified himself as, in Schneider’s words, “one of the best free-agent signings” the organization has ever made, especially as a pitcher. He’s given so much in his time here, both on and off the field. From the way he and his family have entrenched themselves in the community to becoming a leader for young pitchers — such as Alek Manoah, Trey Yesavage and Spencer Miles over the years — in the clubhouse.
“He cares for everybody in that locker room,” said George Springer, who drove in his club’s first and third runs in support of Gausman’s first win since May 22. “He cares for everybody here, [including] the fans.”
Everything and everyone he’s touched has been done with purpose, which makes this potential goodbye all the more bittersweet.
“I hope they realize that I’ve embraced not just the team, but the country and I really love this city and everything that it stands for,” Gausman said. “This has been the best decision I’ve ever made [to come here].”
Numbers-wise, Gausman has cemented himself as a pillar of this franchise. He entered Saturday second in FIP (3.20) and strikeout-minus-walk rate (19.6 per cent) among qualified Blue Jays starters (min. 450 innings pitched), as well as sixth in ERA (3.63) and fWAR (20.4). Should his tenure continue, he’ll have more time to climb further up the organization’s all-time leaderboard in both innings pitched and games started.
Just as important as his on-field performance is his acceptance of this city and country as his second home. Back in free agency, before signing with the Blue Jays, one of the boxes he needed to check was choosing a destination where he could fit in and truly immerse himself. Safe to say he’s done that and more in the last five seasons.
“The summers here are amazing. So, you don’t want to stay at home,” Gausman said when asked about how much he’s embraced the city’s surroundings and social life with his family. “Having kids pushes me to get out more and take them for bike rides or scooter rides.
“I’ve been really interested in Toronto ever since I signed here. It’s a very unique city, and my first couple months here, I knew I was going to love it right away. It’s a great place to raise a family.”
Gausman’s two daughters have grown here, and so has he. This is the place where he bloomed into a front-line starter, an American League Cy Young finalist in 2023, and completed the transition into the most complete version of himself.
The idea of leaving a place with countless memories, including his first-ever World Series appearance, hasn’t come easy. While he holds some control over his fate, with his contract allowing him to block a trade to eight teams, much of this is controlled by the business of baseball — which is rarely kind to the emotional side of the game.
“I don’t think it’s my business to share that, to be honest,” Gausman said, admitting that he’s had conversations with general manager Ross Atkins about his future. “We’ve had some discussions, and, I honestly really appreciate the discussion that we had. I’ll leave it at that.”
In an ideal world, where the Blue Jays are closer to the .500 mark and have fewer AL competitors to jump over in the wild-card race, the conversation around this team right now would be adding pieces to a rotation around Gausman, Dylan Cease, Trey Yesavage, Shane Bieber and Max Scherzer, not subtracting from this bunch.
Now that Gausman has made it through this start, the anxious waiting period has begun, with everyone dreading the notification that reads, Kevin Gausman has been traded. 

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