Blue Jays Rookie Trey Yesavage Makes MLB History in World Series Opener
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The Toronto Blue Jays fought their way into their first World Series since 1993 and must face the reigning world champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers. As Toronto looked to set the tone, manager John Schneider gave the Jays' future ace the nod as the starter for Game 1, Trey Yesavage.
Yesavage wasn't the pitcher of record, but he helped manage the game enough to help the Blue Jays win Game 1, 11-4.
This is the first year that Yesavage had taken a start on a professional field in any capacity. He made his debut to the minor leagues back in April with a crowd of around 300 people. Six months later he is the youngest starting pitcher in a World Series opener in more than 75 years at 22 years and 88 days old.
The last time someone under 22 years old made a start in Game 1 of the Fall Classic was, ironically, with the Dodgers (Brooklyn) back in 1947. At 21 years and 267 days old, Ralph Branca took the mound. Now, 78 years later, it was Yesavage's turn.
Yesavage's First World Series Start
The game started the best possible way. Shohei Ohtani was the lead off man for the Dodgers and Yesavage struck him out. The Dodgers went three up, three down.
The second inning went differently. He issued a five-pitch walk to Dodgers catcher Will Smith and the allowed back-to-back-to-back singles, which scored a run. It also loaded the bases with one out. Yesavage bounced back by striking out Andy Pages and then induced an Ohtani groundout to Blue Jays first baseman to limit the damage to one run.
Yesavage had to fight through the third inning. He allowed the first two batters to walk, followed by single by Smith, which scored Los Angeles' second run. But, defense helped get him out of the jam. Dodgers baserunner Freddie Freeman was thrown out at third base on Smith's hit. Teoscar Hernandez grounded out and Max Muncy struck out to end the inning. But, by then Yesavage had thrown 71 pitches.
Trey Yesavage’s 2025 timeline:
— Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) October 23, 2025
4/8: 1st career start in Single-A
5/20: 1st High-A start
6/12: 1st Double-A start
8/14: 1st Triple-A start
9/15: 1st MLB start
10/5: 1st playoff start
10/13: 1st ALCS start
10/24: 1st World Series start
Unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/OXqlBA8Hav
He showed Schneider that he deserved a fourth inning. Yesavage found his fastball again and he struck out the first two hitters, followed by inducing a fly out to wrap up the frame and his game.
Yesavage started the game strong and he ended the game in the same way. The Dodgers are the second-best offense in the Majors and despite some struggles he had a respectable outing for his seventh career MLB start. He finished the day with:
- An Ohtani strikeout to start the game
- A Max Muncy strikeout
- Five total strikeouts
- Four hits
- Two earned runs
- No homers
- Four full innings
Game 2 of the World Series takes place Saturday at Rogers Centre where the Jays look to take a 2-0 lead in the series before heading to Los Angeles.
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Maddy Dickens resides in Loveland, Colorado. She grew up with two older brothers, where their lives revolved around sports. She earned a master's degree in business management from Tarleton State University while simultaneously playing basketball and competing in rodeo at the collegiate level. She successfully parlayed a reserve national championship into a professional rodeo career and now stays involved in upper-level athletics by writing for On SI on several different MLB teams' pages, along with some NCAA sites.