The Blue Jays had their most active trade deadline in years, acquiring major league talent that has contributed to their AL pennant-winning squad.

At the time, most applauded the team for bolstering the team, despite it costing valuable prospect capital. Toronto will continue to rely on Shane Bieber, Seranthony Dominguez, and Louis Varland in the World Series, with their contributions having a chance to sway the series one way or another. Let’s take a look at how each has performed this postseason.

When the Jays traded for the injured Guardians ace, they clearly had the postseason in mind. It would be a few weeks until he made his first start in a Blue Jays uniform, but he quickly showed that he was getting back to the pitcher he was before his Tommy John surgery. The Blue Jays gave up one of their top pitching prospects in Khal Stephen, showing how much they believed in Bieber going forward.

After posting a 3.57 ERA and 1.01 WHIP in seven regular-season starts, the mustachioed righthander has toed the slab three times in the postseason. Giving up contact has been the biggest issue for him in October, allowing 16 hits across 12 1/3 innings pitched. He got the early hook in game three against New York (third inning) and again in game seven against Seattle (fourth), but was able to limit the opponent to two runs scored in each. His best performance was in game three against Seattle, a game that the Blue Jays needed to win while trailing in the series 2-0. He fired six innings of two-run ball, allowing four hits and a walk while striking out eight.

Pitching into the fifth or sixth inning will be the goal for Bieber in his first World Series start – likely in game three – and he will surely be ready to go for another turn should the series go to seven games. Despite giving up more baserunners than he would like to this point, the veteran has lived up to what the Blue Jays were hoping for when they acquired him.

Dominguez quickly emerged as a late-inning reliever that John Schneider could trust when he was acquired from the Baltimore Orioles in July for pitching prospect Juaron Watts-Brown.

He helped shore up the back of the bullpen in the second half of the season, posting a 3.00 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, and 10.7 K/9 in 24 appearances with Toronto. It’s been a little bit more of a mixed bag since the postseason began.

He was excellent against the Yankees, pitching in three games without allowing a run and striking out three over 3.0 innings pitched. Against the Mariners, he appeared in four games, with two of them ending in blow-up innings in eventual losses. The first was in game one, when he recorded just one out while allowing three runners to reach base, with one coming around to score. After a clean inning in game four, he came on in relief of Brendon Little in game five, hitting a batter and giving up a go-ahead grand slam. To his credit, he pitched a clean inning in game seven to keep the Blue Jays in striking distance before George Springer’s heroics.

Although he had a couple of tough innings against the Mariners, Schneider should feel comfortable trusting the 30-year-old to pitch in high-leverage innings against the Dodgers.

Unlike Dominguez, who’s set to become a free agent this winter, Varland was acquired by the Blue Jays at the trade deadline with team control through 2030. This explains why the Blue Jays had to give up both Alan Roden and Kendry Rojas to bring him to Toronto.

His regular season numbers after joining the Jays did not jump off the page – registering a 4.94 ERA and 1.39 WHIP across 23 games – but he has emerged as a weapon in the playoffs. Remarkably, the 27-year-old has been used in 10 of 11 postseason games for the Jays, with a 3.27 ERA and 0.86 WHIP. The biggest difference in October has been his command, walking just one batter in 11.0 innings (0.8 BB/9) compared to his 3.4 BB/9 mark with the Jays in the regular season.

Aside from closer Jeff Hoffman, Varland has been the most relied upon bullpen arm for Schneider, and is poised to be heavily used against the Dodgers as well. Considering the team control that Varland offers, this trade was a slam dunk for the Blue Jays.