Blue Jays' unflappable ace faces pesky foe in Game 1

MINNEAPOLIS -- At his best, Kevin Gausman is the immovable object the Blue Jays orbit around.

Gausman is the kind of cool you wish you could be, dominating with a smirk and a shrug. Ask his teammates to describe him, and you’ll get back some worrying medical reports.

“It just looks like he doesn’t have a heartbeat,” George Springer said. “He’s just so calm. He’s always so collected.”

That isn’t the primary reason why the Blue Jays named Gausman their starter for Game 1 of the American League Wild Card Series against the Twins today. It has more to do with his AL-leading 237 strikeouts, his 3.16 ERA and his splitter that can turn All-Stars inside out. Gausman’s demeanor is the connective tissue between all of that, though, and it’s why Toronto believes he can bounce back against a Minnesota team that’s had his number, regardless of what the stethoscope says.

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“I definitely have a heartbeat out there. It’s bumpin’, that’s for sure,” Gausman said. “I think that comes from being around a little bit and understanding that you can have bad innings, then come back out and still put together a good outing. I don’t put too much weight into stretches of five or six pitches where I lose it, I just stay confident in myself and my ability.”

The Blue Jays are right to roll with their ace regardless of who their opponent is, but Gausman’s numbers against the Twins can’t be ignored. He’s posted a 6.35 ERA over 11 career starts vs. Minnesota, and while the 32-year-old reached as far back as a Joe Mauer reference when dissecting the issue, the 2023 Twins have handled him, too. In two starts against them this season, Gausman has allowed seven earned runs with nine walks over just 10 innings.

“The Twins, for whatever reason … yeah, [they] drive me crazy,” Gausman said in June. “For whatever reason, my whole career has been a grind against them. I’ve had some good starts, but yeah.”

It’s so rare for Gausman to be the one driven crazy. That’s his splitter’s job, convincing hitters they’re about to barrel up a fastball before plummeting off the face of the earth. It puts the right-hander in a position where he is often in control of the hitter he’s facing.

In those outings against Minnesota, the nine walks in 10 innings tell the story. If you absolutely had to find a dent in Gausman’s armor, it’s that every once in a while, an opposing lineup collectively decides to lay off his splitter on the exact day he’s not pounding the zone. Without getting swings on his splitter diving out of the strike zone, Gausman finds himself in the rare position of pivoting to Plan B.

“You catch pitchers at different times,” manager John Schneider said, “and it’s a little bit ironic that he’s had this track record against him. When his stuff is on, he’s as good as anybody. There’s been games where a lot of different teams have put together a good approach against Kevin, but when he’s executing, it’s a tough match for any lineup.”

The Blue Jays are betting it’s likelier that their ace bounces back than that the Twins get him for a third time in the same calendar year, which seems like smart money. Gausman has had every opportunity to adjust and unpack those outings, and if he does hit some early turbulence again, the team trusts it won’t derail him.

The Twins know exactly what they’re getting into. Chief baseball officer Derek Falvey, like so many others, reached back to memories of Gausman as a top prospect and young Orioles starter. Gausman was so different then, his hair and temper on the mound both shorter, but he’s taken the long road to being one of MLB’s best.

“You knew he had all the tools in the world and went through some ups and downs early in his career, but what he’s transformed into over the last few seasons is really incredible,” Falvey said. “When you watch the way his stuff comes out, hear hitters talk about his stuff and just the way he attacks? It’s going to be a tough task for our hitters. We know that.”

Gausman, like most of these Blue Jays, has some ghosts to chase away in the Wild Card Series. He started Game 2 against the Mariners last year, which derailed after he left the game and ended in one of the organization’s most heartbreaking losses. It’s hung over this team for 359 days.

Don’t expect that to bother Gausman, though. Nothing does.