Trey Yesavage shines as the Toronto Blue Jays' go up 2-0

The Yankees entered Toronto on Oct. 4 for the 2025 American League Division Series with all the momentum in the world behind them. Just two days earlier, they had become the first team in Major League Baseball history to rally back after dropping game one in the modern Wild Card format.

Cam Schlittler had posted a stellar playoff debut for the Bronx Bombers, dominating the team he grew up rooting for, the Boston Red Sox. Schlittler went eight innings, only allowing five total baserunners and striking out 12.

He also set multiple records in that start, including a new Yankees franchise record for strikeouts in a postseason debut.

After such a performance, one would assume that the Yankees would fully utilize the momentum against another American League East rival in the Toronto Blue Jays. Unfortunately for the Pinstripes, the first two games would not go the way they wanted.

Game one led off with a tough pitching matchup for the Yankees. The Blue Jays were scheduled to start their ace and two-time All-Star, Kevin Gausman, as they had the first-round bye. The Yankees did not have that luxury and countered with Luis Gil, the 2024 American League Rookie of the Year.

Gausman threw 5.2 innings, allowing one run, and the bullpen took it the rest of the way, allowing zero runs for the rest of the game. The Yankees would hold the Blue Jays in check until the combination of Luke Weaver, Fernando Cruz and Paul Blackburn got crushed, letting up eight runs in only two innings of work.

The Yankees have struggled with bullpen management all year, and this cost them game one of the series, falling 10-1 to begin the series.

Game two was a hopeful bounce back for New York, as they sent out their ace and three-time All-Star Max Fried. Unfortunately for the Yankees, they weren’t the only one with a highly regarded rookie arm making his postseason debut. The Blue Jays opted to go with Trey Yesavage, who they had only called up three weeks earlier.

Yesavage is a physical monstrosity, standing 6'4” with a 7.11-foot point of release, the highest in MLB. This was his debut against the Yankees, so the New York bats were not ready for what was about to hit them.

According to Baseball Savant, Yesavage utilizes a three-pitch mix, featuring a four-seam fastball, a split-fingered fastball and a classic slider. Using stats from his three regular-season starts, the four-seam is his go-to pitch, thrown roughly 45% of the time.

His slider is an oddity in itself, as it has arm-side run, technically making it move more like a screwball. He threw it at a 28% rate, and it had the highest arm-side movement of any pitch in MLB last season.

Despite both of those pitches being elite, his true strikeout pitch is his splitter. This pitch has a sharp drop that makes it look like a normal fastball approaching the plate, before violently falling and making the hitter look foolish.

Yesavage dazzled in this game, throwing 5.1 no-hit innings against the highest-scoring offense in the league. Just like Schlittler three days prior, Yesavage also set his franchise’s postseason debut strikeout record, giving 11 Yankees hitters a K on the score sheet.

Max Fried, on the other hand, put together one of his worst starts of the season. He conceded seven runs in three innings of work. Will Warren would follow Fried in relief, but would meet the same fate, giving up six runs of his own.

Despite scoring a combined seven runs in the sixth and seventh innings, the Yankees could not mount a full comeback and fell to the Jays 13-7.

The Yankees must now win three consecutive games to advance, as the series shifts to New York for Game 3 on Oct. 7. If they win that game, Game 4 will also take place in New York. Should the Yankees force a Game 5, it will return to Toronto, where New York has struggled this season, winning only once in nine games.

Jack Dobbins is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jwd5889@psu.edu