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Unsung heroes of the Blue Jays’ pitching staff in the postseason
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Photo credit: © Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Oct 24, 2025, 14:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 24, 2025, 02:20 EDT
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The Toronto Blue Jays’ pitching staff has been hit or miss this postseason.
A few days ago, we looked at the unsung heroes of the Blue Jays’ offence, namely Ernie Clement, Nathan Lukes, Andrés Giménez, and Addison Barger. There are a few unsung heroes on the pitching side of things.
In this article, we’ll look at Blue Jays pitchers who overcame adversity, have sacrificed their normalcy for the team, or have been there whenever called upon. Let’s dig in.

Louis Varland

For the first time in the Mark Shapiro/Ross Atkins era, the Blue Jays truly went for it before the trade deadline. A few days before the trade deadline, they acquired Seranthony Domínguez from the Baltimore Orioles. On trade deadline day, they acquired Shane Bieber from the Cleveland Guardians, and just minutes before the deadline slammed shut, they acquired Ty France and Louis Varland from the Minnesota Twins.
Acquiring Varland came out of nowhere. He didn’t expect it, Twins fans didn’t expect it, nor did Blue Jays fans. He showed some positive signs in the regular season, but his ERA blew up when he joined the Blue Jays, authoring a 4.94 ERA and 3.56 FIP in 23.2 innings pitched. Varland had a strong end to the season, giving up just one earned run in his final nine innings, putting him back in the circle of trust.
Well, the Blue Jays’ usage of Varland this postseason goes beyond just a “circle of trust”. The 27-year-old appeared in every single game of the American League Divisional Series and all but one of the Blue Jays’ seven American League Championship Series games.
In Game 3 of the ALDS, Aaron Judge hit a game-tying home run off Varland, giving him two of the four earned runs he’s given up. The thing is, the pitch wasn’t even bad; it was an upper-90s fastball that was so far inside that no other home run has been hit like it since the stat was tracked. Judge is just that good.
Varland appeared in the Blue Jays’ first two games of the American League Championship series, giving up an earned run in two innings of work. Game 3 was the only game so far this postseason where Varland didn’t make an appearance, but he pitched in the final four games of the ALCS, usually with inherited runners.
As a whole, Varland has a 3.27 ERA in 11 innings pitched this postseason. There is a strong argument that he’s the reliever Blue Jays manager John Schneider trusts the most.

Jeff Hoffman

The other player in that argument is Jeff Hoffman. Being realistic, Hoffman shouldn’t be considered an unsung hero, as he signed a three-year deal worth $33 million last off-season. However, he faced a lot of adversity during the season, blowing seven saves in 40 opportunities. At numerous points during the season, it was discussed whether he should even be closing.
He’s been a whole different beast in the postseason. Appearing in six games, Hoffman has given up one earned run through seven and one-third innings, striking out 12 and allowing two free passes.
Hoffman’s performance in Games 6 and 7 of the ALCS proved he was worth the money. Entering in the eighth inning of Game 6 with a four-run lead, Varland struck out Cal Raleigh and Jorge Polanco before getting Josh Naylor to fly out. He came out for the top of the ninth, striking out Randy Arozarena and Eugenio Suárez, walking J.P. Crawford, before getting Dominic Canzone to pop out to get the Jays to Game 7.
George Springer’s three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh made the game 4-3. After Chris Bassitt (more on him later) pitched a scoreless top of the eighth, it was Hoffman who got the final three outs. Despite throwing 35 pitches the night before, he got Leo Rivas, Canzone, and Julio Rodríguez to all strike out swinging, sending the Blue Jays to their first World Series in 32 years.
That’s exactly why the Blue Jays paid him the big bucks.

Max Scherzer

Another pitcher who faced adversity during the season was Max Scherzer. The future Hall of Famer signed a one-year deal worth $16 million in the off-season, but was injured after his first start. After five “meh” starts, Scherzer began a great run from July 27 until August 25, where he pitched six or more innings in six consecutive games. The first five of which were quality starts.
In that final game, he gave up four earned runs in six innings, beginning a tough stretch to end the season. Scherzer allowed 25 earned runs over his final 25 innings, including seven in just two-thirds of an inning in his penultimate start.
Scherzer didn’t make the Blue Jays’ ALDS roster, but was added to their ALCS roster due to needing another starter. After the Jays went down 2-0 in the series to the Mariners, Scherzer was announced as the Game 4 starter, which wasn’t popular at the time.
He quickly silenced those who doubted, going five and two-thirds innings, giving up two earned runs, four walks, and five strikeouts en route to a Blue Jays’ victory. The Jays needed a good start from the 41-year-old, and he gave them just that.

Chris Bassitt

Chris Bassitt is a starter who does weird well, as the saying goes. Like Scherzer, he was left off the ALDS roster against the Yankees, although he missed the end of the regular season.
Asking a veteran starter to become a postseason reliever always runs a risk of upsetting the pitcher, but Bassitt took it in stride. His first appearance out of the bullpen was in the latter stages of a Game 2 blowout. However, his next outing was as high-leverage as a situation can get.
Immediately after Springer hit that three-run home run, the Blue Jays needed just six more outs to move to the World Series for the first time since 1993. Enter Chris Bassitt. Facing Arozarena, Bassitt got the Mariner to ground out with a 92.6 mph fastball. The second batter he faced, Suárez, went down on strikes, with strike three being a 72.3 mph curveball.
On the second pitch against the third batter Gausman faced, he got Crawford to ground out sharply, bringing the Jays to within three outs of the World Series, and setting up Hoffman to do his thing.
Since 2020, Bassitt has appeared out of the bullpen once, in a random July game shortly before the 2025 All-Star Game. In Game 7, he was able to get three massive outs en route to a World Series appearance.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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