Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider announced right-hander Trey Yesavage as the Blue Jays’ starter for Game 1 of the World Series on Friday.
Yesavage made his MLB debut in September, and posted a 3.21 ERA through his three starts to end the season. He had a strong start to the postseason, throwing 5.1 no-hit innings against the Yankees with 11 strikeouts to give the Jays a 2-0 lead in the NLDS.
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He hasn’t been as dominant over his last two starts, allowing seven runs through 9.2 innings with 11 strikeouts, but Schneider still trusts the 22-year-old enough to give him the nod for the opening game of the World Series.
Yesavage is yet to face the Los Angeles Dodgers and reigning MVP Shohei Ohtani, amd commented on the superstar ahead of the upcoming series.
“He’s a special player,” Yesavage said. “He can do damage on both sides of the baseball. But it doesn’t take away the fact that we are in this situation too for a reason. So just going out there and being ourselves and if there’s adjustments that we need to make to try to neutralize him, we’ll make those adjustments.”
Ohtani is coming off of one of the best postseason performances of all time, where he went 3-for-3 with three solo homers. He also started the game on the mound, throwing six shutout innings with 10 strikeouts.
Outside of that performance, though, Ohtani is having a fairly underwhelming postseason by his standards. He had two home runs heading into his most recent game — both of which came in the first game of the postseason against the Cincinnati Reds — and was batting just .158 through nine games.
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Yesavage and the Blue Jays will look to become the first team to beat Ohtani’s Dodgers at home this postseason in Friday’s matchup, which begins at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET at the Rogers Centre.
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