Toronto – From April through September, the Toronto Blue Jays got the best of the New York Yankees, winning the AL East in a tiebreaker based on 8-5 head-to-head record that included a 6-1 advantage north of the border.
Starting Saturday, in the first October postseason meeting between these longtime division rivals, they’ll battle for a spot in the AL Championship Series against Seattle or Detroit.
Kevin Gausman will start Game 1 for the Blue Jays, opposed by the Yankees’ Luis Gil. Manager John Schneider said Gausman’s steadiness made him an easy choice.
“He’s the same guy every single day,” Schneider said. “You don’t worry about him getting caught up in the noise.”
After using his top three starters in this week’s Wild Card Series win over Boston, Yankees manager Aaron Boone picked Gil over Will Warren to open the ALDS.
“I feel like he’s ready for this and he’s in line,” Boone said. “I trust him to handle the situation.”
Gausman, a 34-year-old right-hander, went 10-11 with a 3.59 ERA and 189 strikeouts over 32 regular season starts.
“I’m ready to go,” Gausman said. “I’m fired up.”
Gausman went 2-1 in four outings against the Yankees. He allowed two home runs, both Giancarlo Stanton solo drives, in 22 2/3 innings.
Gil missed most of the season because of a right lat strain. The 2024 AL Rookie of the Year went 4-1 with a 3.32 ERA in 11 starts after returning in early August.
“I feel really good,” Gil said through a translator. “I finally feel that I’m 100%.”
By playing Toronto, New York has just three opponents it won’t have faced in the postseason: the Chicago White Sox, Colorado, and Washington/Montreal.
Bad timing
New York’s seven games in Toronto all came between June 30 and July 23, during an 8-13 slide by the Yankees. The Yankees were much improved after trade deadline acquisitions.
“The times we were here in the summer a couple of times wasn’t at our best, certainly, and still working through some things,” Boone said. “I feel like obviously the last couple of months we really started to play really well.”
New York went 34-19 in August and September, winning eight straight to finish the season at 94-68, the same record as the Blue Jays.
Who’s next?
Boone said left-hander Max Fried will start Sunday’s Game 2, with Carlos Rodón and rookie sensation Cam Schlittler expected to follow.
Toronto’s Schneider didn’t reveal who’d start Game 2. The leading candidates are 2020 AL Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber and rookie right-hander Trey Yesavage, who rose from low-A to the majors this season, going 1-0 in three September starts.
Yesavage struck out 160 batters in 98 innings across four minor league stops and fanned 16 more in 14 big league innings.
Bo back?
The Blue Jays head into the ALDS still uncertain, at least publicly, about the status of injured shortstop Bo Bichette. The two-time AL hits leader and two-time All-Star hasn’t played since Sept. 6 when he sprained his left knee in a collision with Yankees catcher Austin Wells.
Schneider said Friday that Bichette hasn’t been able to test himself by running or hitting against regular pitching speeds.
“For him to be on (the roster), he’d have to play pretty regularly,” Schneider said. “It’s not saving him for a Kirk Gibson at bat once a game that may not come.”
Toronto bolstered its lineup by welcoming back switch hitting slugger Anthony Santander in September after almost four months out because of a left shoulder injury, but Bichette’s absence still leaves a big hole.
“It’s hard to play without Bo,” slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. said through a translator. “Obviously we didn’t want that to happen, but it’s just part of baseball.”
Walk this way
No opposing team issued Aaron Judge more intentional walks (seven) than the Blue Jays. In all, Judge walked 15 times in 56 plate appearances in 13 games against Toronto.
“If there’s a way to limit the times he does swing and potentially impact the ball, that’s a benefit for us,” Schneider said. “But there’s no set of rules to say when and when not to.”
Judge hit .325 with three homers, six RBIs and 24 total bases against Toronto.
Umpires to make postseason debuts
New York – Umpires Nate Tomlinson and Dan Merzel will make their postseason debuts in the Division Series, with Tomlinson working Seattle’s matchup against Detroit and Merzel assigned to Philadelphia’s meeting with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Tomlinson, 35, worked his first big league game in 2020 and was hired as a fulltime member of the major league staff in June 2024. Merzel, 38, also made his big league debut in 2020 and was hired to the fulltime staff this year.
Both will work right field for Game 1s on Saturday, meaning they won’t have a home plate assignment in the best-of-five series.
Lance Barksdale, Dan Bellino, Alan Porter and Mark Wegner will be crew chiefs, Major League Baseball said Friday. Wegner will be working his 11th Division Series, Bellino his ninth, Barksdale his eighth and Porter his seventh.
Bellino will work the New York Yankees-Toronto series, while Porter is assigned to Mariners-Tigers, Barksdale to Cubs-Brewers and Wegner to Phillies-Dodgers. The AL crew chiefs would work the plate in Game 5s and the NL crew chiefs in Game 4s.
Umpires rotate from right field to left and then clockwise around the bases starting at third.
The Yankees-Blue Jays series will start with Chris Segal behind the plate, Adam Hamari at first, Jordan Baker at second, Tony Randazzo at third, Bellino in left and Roberto Ortiz in right.
Seattle’s series against Detroit will open with Alex Tosi behind the plate, Jeremie Rehak at first, John Tumpane at second, Chris Guccione at third, Porter in left and Tomlinson in right.
Milwaukee’s series against Chicago will start with Edwin Moscoso working the plate, Mike Estabrook at first, Will Little at second, Barksdale at third, Chris Conroy in left and Ryan Blakney in right.
The Dodgers-Phillies series will begin with Nestor Ceja behind the plate, Adrian Johnson at first, Nic Lentz at second, Wegner at third, Jim Wolf in left and Merzel in right.
Ramon De Jesus, Andy Fletcher, Emil Jiménez and Brennan Miller will be the video review umpires at MLB’s office in New York.
Kershaw to pitch out of bullpen
Philadelphia – Los Angeles Dodgers star Clayton Kershaw will pitch out of the bullpen in the NL Division Series against Philadelphia.
A three-time Cy Young Award winner, the 37-year-old left-hander is set to retire at the end of the postseason. He was left off the 26-man roster when the Dodgers swept Cincinnati in the Wild Card Series.
“He’ll be on the roster. He’s going to be out of the pen and used as such,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Friday.
Kershaw went 11-6 with a 3.32 ERA this season and has started 451 of 455 regular season games, all with Los Angeles. He has 32 starts and seven relief appearances in the postseason.
The 11-time All-Star and 2014 NL MVP is tied with Zack Wheat and Bill Russell for the most years with the Dodgers in franchise history. Kershaw won World Series championships in 2020 and 2024.
Though Kershaw missed the start of the year while recovering from offseason surgery, he was healthy the remainder of the 2025 campaign and quite effective.
Rangers hire Schumaker as manager
Arlington, Texas – The Texas Rangers hired Skip Schumaker as their manager, agreeing Friday night on a four-year contract with the former NL Manager of the Year.
Schumaker’s deal was announced after Chris Young, the team’s president of baseball operations, acknowledged earlier in the day that the team was focused on an internal candidate in its search to replace Bruce Bochy. Schumaker had been a special advisor with the Rangers since last November.
The 45-year-old Schumaker was the 2023 NL Manager of the Year when Miami went 84-78 and made the fourth postseason appearance in club history. That was the same year Texas, with Bochy in his debut there, won its first World Series championship.
The Rangers and the 70-year-old Bochy, a four-time World Series champion who was baseball’s winningest active manager, agreed Monday to end his managerial stint. That was the day after Texas finished 81-81 for its second non-winning record since its championship. Bochy was at the end of his three-year contract.
The Marlins slipped to 62-100 in 2024 after changes in the front office and with a roster decimated by trades and injuries. Schumaker and the team agreed that he wouldn’t return for this season.
Texas hired Schumaker last November, a move viewed by many as making him the heir apparent to Bochy.
Playoffs scheduleDivision series
(Best-of-5; x- if necessary)
American League
TORONTO VS. NEW YORK
Saturday: at Toronto, 4:08
Sunday: at Toronto, 4:08
Tuesday: at New York, TBA
x-Oct. 8: at New York, TBA
x-Oct. 9: at Toronto, TBA
National League
MILWAUKEE VS. SAN DIEGO
Saturday: at Milwaukee, 2:08
Monday: at Milwaukee, 9:08
Oct. 8: at San Diego, TBA
x-Oct. 9: at San Diego, TBA
x-Oct. 11: at Milwaukee, TBA
PHILADELPHIA VS. LOS ANGELES
Saturday: at Philadelphia, 6:38
Monday: at Philadelphia, 6:08
Oct. 8: at Los Angeles, TBA
x-Oct. 9: at Los Angeles, TBA
x-Oct. 11: at Philadelphia, TBA
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