It may be a few more weeks before the Toronto Blue Jays officially name their 2026 Opening Day starter. But they certainly have multiple strong options to choose from.
For now, manager John Schneider intends to keep those plans close to the vest and wait a bit longer before revealing the club’s Opening Day starter, as The Athletic’s Mitch Bannon relayed on Wednesday from the player development complex in Dunedin, Fla.
In reality, though, there are probably only two justifiable options — Kevin Gausman and Dylan Cease, both of whom have previously been tabbed Opening Day starters in their respective careers.
John Schneider said the #BlueJays will wait a bit before naming an Opening Day starter and that the team has some good options.
If Kevin Gausman gets through spring smoothly, though, I gotta think he gets the ball. Somehow he hasn’t gotten an OD start in his 4 years in Toronto
Cease, another deserving candidate to open the 2026 campaign at Rogers Centre against the Athletics on Mar. 27, made his only career Opening Day start for the Chicago White Sox in 2023. That followed his second-place finish in AL Cy Young voting — placing ahead of former Blue Jays starter Alek Manoah — from the previous season.
Toronto’s last two season openers have been started by José Berríos, who also pitched on Opening Day to kick off the 2022 campaign. In fact, only three pitchers have made Opening Day starts for this franchise over the last six years — Hyun Jin Ryu (2020-21), Berríos (2022, 2024-25) and Manoah (’23).
That number will almost certainly grow to four once the Blue Jays head north after spring training concludes, though.