Gausman calls joining Toronto 'best decision I ever made'

TORONTO -- In November 2021, Kevin Gausman and his wife, Taylor, were on vacation at a wellness resort, but he kept breaking the rules.

Guests were not supposed to have their cell phones on them throughout the day, but Gausman was one of the hottest free agents in baseball. He had to keep checking in with his agent, sneaking peeks at his phone to see what teams were offering. It was down to the Mets and the Blue Jays, and the Gausmans had done deep dives on what their lives would look like in either city, picking out which neighborhoods they would raise their young family in.

By the end of that trip, they’d decided. Gausman even called his family to tell them. He was going to sign in New York to pitch for the Mets. Then, they boarded their flight.

“When I got off the first flight, I turned on my phone and I had six missed calls from my agent. I was like … 'What’s going on here?'” Gausman said in a 2024 interview for The Franchise. “He called again and told me that Toronto was where we wanted to be. Done deal. He asked me if I wanted to be a Blue Jay and I said, 'Let’s do it … and I’ve got to call my family back.' That’s how close we were.”

We were so close to never witnessing these past five years. That wouldn’t have been right. Gausman belonged in Toronto, even if he didn’t know it then.

Walking off the field Saturday, a standing ovation around him, Gausman’s eyes scanned another sold-out crowd and he patted his right hand over his heart. He loves this city. This city loves him. By the time he’d walked down the dugout steps, Gausman had to walk down the tunnel for a moment, just to collect himself.

Gausman was careful not to speak in the past tense after the Blue Jays’ 5-1 win over the Cardinals, but these are difficult days. The Blue Jays, still on the outside edge of the AL Wild Card race, feel like sellers ahead of Monday’s 6 p.m. ET Trade Deadline. Gausman has met with the Blue Jays front office, and while he appreciated those talks, he wouldn’t say much more. What he did want to talk about, though, is what this city has meant to him, just in case it’s the last time we hear from him.

“This has been the best decision I ever made,” Gausman said, “to come here.”

He’s a package deal, too. Manager John Schneider called Gausman’s wife, Taylor, and their two young daughters, Sadie and Sutton, a “fixture in the community” around this team.

They’ve come to represent the best of the Blue Jays, and what this organization dreams of when they bring a big name north of the border. They haven’t just flown in for the home games, they’ve lived their lives here, embracing Toronto in a way we’ve rarely seen from a star American athlete. That’s what Gausman kept coming back to Saturday. One more time -- or maybe one last time -- he talked about the city he loved and why he’s come to love this life with the Blue Jays.

“It’s the people,” Gausman said. “Being able to watch ‘Skip’ grow as a manager, but also the guys as players, as people, as husbands, as fathers. It’s a long list. It’s the people more than anything. I think about the staff we have in there, from trainers to clubhouse personnel. It’s just a great group of people who make it easy to come to work every day.”

Schneider called Gausman “one of the best free-agent signings this organization has made,” and he’s right. He’s this generation’s pitcher in Toronto, a model of consistency who was capable, on the right days, of captivating and amazing us.

Gausman has done all of this, though, while feeling like a guy who might live a few doors down from you. His numbers speak for themselves, but numbers can be empty. Gausman’s accomplishments, from his peak seasons in 2022-23 to the World Series in ‘25, have so much weight behind them because of his relationship with this city.

“He’s a loyal dude. He wants to be part of what’s going on around him,” Schneider said.

Whether these are Gausman’s final days with the Blue Jays or just his final months, his legacy with the team is already cemented. If this is it, Gausman felt the love he deserves one last time, surrounded by all these people who hope he never leaves.