With less than two weeks to go until Opening Day, the Toronto Blue Jays have officially named right-hander Kevin Gausman as the team's Opening Day starter.

The information was relayed by Keegan Matheson of MLB.com, who noted that Gausman deserves this for his on-field production and because he's a "model teammate."

The Blue Jays, coming off an American League championship in 2025, will open up the 2026 campaign on March 27 at home against the Athletics. This will be one of the most anticipated seasons in team history, with the Jays expected to contend for the AL title once again. The Blue Jays are also the defending American League East champions.

Now 35 years old, Gausman is a 13-year veteran of the Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants and Blue Jays. He signed a five-year deal before the 2022 season with Toronto and has gone 48-41 with a 3.48 ERA in that time. He's been remarkably durable, making 31 starts or more in each of the previous four years.

Lifetime, he's 112-113 with a 3.81 ERA. He's a two-time All-Star who led the American League in strikeouts (237) in 2023.

It's unclear if he plans to continue pitching after this contract concludes.

The Blue Jays entered spring training with excellent depth in the rotation, with most pundits figuring they had too much pitching. However, the injury bug has struck hard this spring. Bowden Francis is out for the season with Tommy John surgery and Shane Bieber is set to start the season on the injured list because of "forearm fatigue."

Jose Berrios has right elbow inflammation, had an MRI and is off to see Dr. Keith Meister for an evaluation. That is worrisome. The team is also slow-playing rookie right-hander Trey Yesavage, meaning that Gausman, Cody Ponce, Dylan Cease and Max Scherzer will have to carry the rotation.

Eric Lauer figures to play a strong role as well, potentially in piggybacking Yesavage, at least until Bieber is back.

--A group of Blue Jays will square off against each other in the World Baseball Classic semifinals on Sunday night: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Dominican Republic will take on Ernie Clement and Tyler Rogers of the United States. The DR is a perfect 5-0 in the tournament while the United States is 4-1. The Americans haven't won the WBC since 2017 while the Dominicans haven't won since 2013.

--Andres Gimenez and Venezuela will take on Kazuma Okamoto and Japan in the quarterfinals on Saturday. 

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