Kevin Gausman Gives Emotional Response After Possible Last Blue Jays Start

The Toronto Blue Jays beat the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday afternoon to move to 52-59 on the season, and, as of this writing, just four games back in the battle for the third and final wild card spot.

The Blue Jays will have one more day to play better and try to state their case to the front office that the team should stay together through Monday's trade deadline, but it's unclear if anything can change the course of what will happen.

After last season's run to the World Series, the Blue Jays were expected to be serious contenders this season, but it just hasn't happened as a result of injuries and poor performance.

If the Blue Jays do sell, one of the pieces that could move is starting pitcher Kevin Gausman, who is in the final year of a five-year contract that he signed before the 2022 season.

After throwing 5.2 innings in Saturday's 5-1 win over the Cardinals, Gausman exited to a raucous ovation from the Rogers Centre faithful. He gave up just one run in those 5.2 innings, moving to 5-10. He struck out four.

After the game, Gausman said he has had dialogue with the front office about what could transpire, but he offered no details. He also said that coming to Toronto before the 2022 season was the beset decision he's ever made.

He helped the Blue Jays to the playoffs in 2022, 2023 and 2025, playing a huge role in last season's run.

He's being paid the pro-rated version of $22 million, meaning he has approximately $7 million remaining to him if the Blue Jays trade him. In addition to Gausman, Shane Bieber, Dalton Varsho and George Springer could also be on the way out.

A 14-year veteran of the Baltimore Orioles, Blue Jays, San Francisco Giants, Atlanta Braves, and Cincinnati Reds, Gausman has gone 117-123 for his career with a 3.85 ERA. However, he's been very good for Toronto over five seasons, going 53-51.

He led the American League in strikeouts in 2023 with 237, and he still has excellent swing-and-miss stuff, but he's had a much tougher year this season. He's 5-10 with a 4.38 ERA.

The Blue Jays and Cardinals will finish out their series on Sunday afternoon at 1:37 p.m. ET. Veteran right-hander Max Scherzer will pitch against young lefty Matthew Liberatore.

St. Louis is now 54-57 on the season and playoff hopes are fading.