Unsung heroes of the Blue Jays’ pitching staff in the postseason

In this article, we look at Blue Jays pitchers who overcame adversity, sacrificed their normalcy for the team, or were there when called upon. Let’s dig in.

Louis Varland

The Varland acquisition came out of nowhere. He didn’t expect it, Twins fans didn’t expect it, and neither did Blue Jays fans. He showed some positive signs in the regular season, but his ERA exploded when he joined the Blue Jays, posting a 4.94 ERA and 3.56 FIP in 23.2 innings pitched. Varland had a strong finish to the season, giving up just one earned run in his final nine innings, putting him back in the circle of confidence.

Well, the Blue Jays’ use of Varland this postseason goes beyond just a “circle of trust.” The 27-year-old appeared in every game of the American League Divisional Series and all but one of the Blue Jays’ seven games in the American League Championship Series.

In Game 3 of the ALDS, Aaron Judge hit a game-tying home run off Varland, giving him two of the four earned runs he had given up. The thing is, the pitch wasn’t even bad; it was a mid-90s fastball that was so far inside that no other home run has been hit like that since the statistic was kept. Judge is just that good.

Varland appeared in the Blue Jays’ first two games of the American League Championship series, giving up an earned run in two innings of work. Game 3 was the only game so far this postseason in which Varland did not play, but he did pitch in the final four games of the ALCS, mostly with hereditary runners.

Overall, Varland has a 3.27 ERA in 11 innings this postseason. There’s a strong argument that he’s the reliever Blue Jays manager John Schneider relies on most.

Jeff Hoffman

He was a completely different animal in the postseason. Hoffman played in six games and gave up one earned run in seven and a third innings, striking out twelve and allowing two free passes.

Hoffman’s performance in Games 6 and 7 of the ALCS proved he was worth the money. Varland entered the eighth inning of Game 6 with a four-run lead and retired Cal Raleigh and Jorge Polanco before fouling out Josh Naylor. He came out for the top of the ninth, striking out Randy Arozarena and Eugenio Suárez and walking JP Crawford before popping out Dominic Canzone to get the Jays to Game 7.

George Springer’s three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning made the game 4-3. After Chris Bassitt (more on him later) pitched a scoreless top of the eighth inning, it was Hoffman who got the final three outs. Despite throwing 35 pitches the night before, he made Leo Rivas, Canzone and Julio Rodríguez all come out swinging, sending the Blue Jays to their first World Series in 32 years.

That’s exactly why the Blue Jays paid him the big money.

Max Scherzer

In that final game, he gave up four earned runs in six innings, starting a tough stretch to end the season. Scherzer allowed 25 earned runs in his last 25 innings, including seven in just two-thirds of an inning in his penultimate start.

He quickly silenced those who had doubts, going five and two-thirds innings, giving up two earned runs, four walks and five strikeouts en route to the Blue Jays victory. The Jays needed a good start from the 41-year-old, and he gave them one.

Chris Bassitt

Chris Bassitt is a starter who is doing crazy well, as the saying goes. Like Scherzer, he remained off the ALDS roster against the Yankees, although he missed the end of the regular season.

Asking a veteran starter to be a postseason reliever always runs the risk of upsetting the pitcher, but Bassitt countered that. His first appearance out of the bullpen came in the final stages of a Game 2 blowout. However, his next action had as much of an impact as a situation can have.

Immediately after Springer hit that three-run home run, the Blue Jays needed just six outs to advance to the World Series for the first time since 1993. Chris Bassitt came in. Facing Arozarena, Bassitt got the Mariner to ground out with a 90.6 mph fastball. The second batter he faced, Suárez, went down on a strike, with the third strike being a 75.5 mph curveball.

On the second pitch to the third batter Gausman faced, he got Crawford to hit a sharp grounder, bringing the Jays within three outs of the World Series and giving Hoffman a chance to do his thing.

Since 2020, Bassitt has made one appearance out of the bullpen, in a random July game shortly before the 2025 All-Star Game. In Game 7, he managed three huge outs en route to a World Series appearance.