Two New Faces Provide Positive Highlights to Blue Jays Starting Rotation
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Opening Day for the 2026 season is no longer a spot on the calendar on the back of everyone's minds. Opening Day is here.
The Toronto Blue Jays will kick off their redemption run on their home field on Friday, March 27, with starting pitcher Kevin Gausman ready to lead the team to a 1-0 start against the Athletics. He earned the honor of throwing the first pitch of their season after finishing with the most strikeouts on the team in 2025 (189) while posting a 3.59 ERA to complement a 1.06 WHIP.
This could be a monstrous year for Gausman, and while John Schneider and that Jays are excited to watch that unfold, there is a heavy weight on their shoulders right now with a pair of new injuries to both Jose Berrios, and Trey Yesavage, as well as Shane Bieber who is expected to start the year on the injured list with fatigue in his throwing arm.
Berrios was last year's workhorse and Opening Day starter. Bieber is a former Cy Young winner. Yesavage lit the World on fire during their postseason run in 2025. All three are unavailable to start the year.
HOWEVER, there is good news moving forward, and that is with a pair of unfamiliar faces that joined the squad this offseason- strikeout machine Dylan Cease, and KBO MVP/ record setter Cody Ponce. These two are both having a phenomenal Spring and clearly showing that they are ready to show up and show out for their team.
Cease and Ponce 2026 Spring Training Performances
There has been a glaring question surrounding Ponce going into 2026: How is he going to do against big league hitters? Ponce hasn't thrown a ball in the majors since his disastrous start in 2021. But, he is proving the three-year deal he signed was a steal for the Jays.
The now 31-year-old made five starts, going 2-0 while allowing only one run, putting his ERA well below 1.00 (0.66). He averaged nearly a strikeout per inning while posting a 0.80 WHIP and holding batters to a .152 batting average.
Here's a great look at Cody Ponce's diabolical kick-change. 36 inches of vertical drop. #lmao pic.twitter.com/EHqhEE2qLp
— Damon (@Damon98_) March 19, 2026
Cease has already established himself well, and it is a near guarantee that he will be quite the asset for the team, as he has now posted five consecutive seasons with at least 210 strikeouts and is keeping that rolling for Toronto.
After finishing three starts, he averaged 1.5 strikeouts per inning and posted the only other sub-1.00 ERA and WHIP (amongst starters).
The late announced return of Max Scherzer and moving Eric Lauer back into the rotation should keep them afloat for the time being, but in the meantime, both Ponce and Cease are ready to carry the top of the rotation.
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.