TORONTO -- Sunday in Toronto, a star was born.
Trey Yesavage had the Yankees seeing ghosts, the highest-scoring offense in baseball suddenly baffled by a 22-year-old with a pitch that plummets from the sky and disappears.
The Blue Jays’ 13-7 win in Game 2 to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the ALDS will forever be remembered for what Yesavage did on the Rogers Centre mound, striking out 11 Yankees over 5 1/3 innings of no-hit ball, a postseason franchise record in his debut. It was one of the greatest performances in this organization’s history, the type of moment we’ll still be talking about years from now, comparing everything that comes after it to what Yesavage just did.
Manager John Schneider struggled to explain what he’d just seen. By the time Yesavage waded through all of the media and teammates waiting for him after the win, he was still in a daze.
“This has got to be cloud nine,” Yesavage said. “I couldn't imagine a better feeling right now.”
When Schneider finally strolled out to lift Yesavage in the sixth, there were boos mixed in with the raucous ovation about to build. Everyone wanted to see more. Schneider’s never been happier to hear those boos rain down.
“It's happened a lot, but that was the best,” Schneider said. “I was kind of joking with [Kevin] Gausman, Max [Scherzer], Biebs [Shane Bieber] and [pitching coach] Pete Walker like, ‘Wish me luck, I'm going out there.’ That was special for him to kind of have that moment.”
Yesavage, by the numbers:
• Set a new record for strikeouts by a Blue Jays pitcher in the postseason (previous record, 8, shared by David Price twice, Juan Guzman and Dave Stieb).
• Yesavage (22 years, 69 days) is the 2nd-youngest pitcher with a double-digit strikeout game in postseason play (John Candelaria struck out 14 at 21 years, 335 days in the 1975 NLCS G3)
• His 10 strikeouts through four innings were tied for the most in postseason history (Patrick Corbin, 2019 NLCS G4)
Saturday, sitting cool and calm at the podium, Yesavage said, “I’m built for this.” He said it so matter-of-factly that it couldn’t even come off as cocky. We should have known it was a warning.
“I was sitting in there thinking about the comment I made the other day, where I said, 'I'm built for this,'” Yesavage said. “And I was like, ‘Well, I'd better back that up.’”
The moment that captured Yesavage best came in the very first inning. He’d walked in from the bullpen a few minutes prior, a close-up of his own face towering above him on the video board as the crowd roared for him. Soon, he had leadoff hitter Trent Grisham in a 1-2 count, set up perfectly for that splitter, which has turned hitters inside out all season. Grisham called time and stepped out of the box to take a couple of swings and a breath.
Yesavage? He just stood there.
Already set for the pitch with the ball high in his glove, Yesavage stood completely still on the mound, glaring in at Grisham as if to say, “Take your damn time, I’ll be here.” When Grisham finally stepped back in, there came the splitter and there went Grisham, back to the dugout as Yesavage’s first of 11 strikeouts.
“It’s kind of right over the top, releasing it right above his head,” said Aaron Judge. “So everything's kind of coming down into the zone, and you’ve got to pick it up -- it's either going to stay in the zone or kind of drop down around your knees.”
From then to the moment Yesavage strolled off the mound, nodding his head and sneaking a look at the crowd he’d just given the performance of a lifetime to, we saw a pitcher in complete control of the moment. He earned the second curtain call of the night, climbing those steps just an inning after Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and thrusting both hands straight up into the air to another eruption of sound from the crowd.
“He’s built for this," said Guerrero. "I feel very proud for him. He’s a young kid. He’s hungry to win, and I feel very proud for what he did today.”
All of this from the youngest postseason starter in Blue Jays history, a 2024 first-rounder who threw his first professional pitch six months ago in Single-A and has touched every level of the organization in a single season. It’s the type of development arc teams dream of, but can almost never pull off.
Now, everyone can begin to dream on the next start and the next. Yesavage, the biggest and brightest surprise of the season, has officially arrived.