Article: Toronto Blue Jays 2025 Starter of the Year

[Mike LeSage]

The Blue Jays starters as a group didn’t have the flashiest season. In fact, at times, they outright struggled. They ranked 20th in ERA (4.34), 24th in FIP (4.46) and 23rd in fWAR (8.5) over 162 games. Of the playoff-bound teams, only the Dodgers' starters earned fewer wins (LAD had 49 to TOR’s 50), while the Yankees, by comparison, finished with 16 more wins from their starters, leading the league with 66. Wins are an admittedly flawed stat to judge a pitcher with, but they help tell part of the story.

If the story is told in chapters, we can look at our very own Pitcher of the Month awards to gain some perspective. I went back through our previous rankings and assigned a points system to them: the #1 spot was worth 5 points, #2 got 4 points, and so on down to the honourable mentions that earned one point apiece. So, using Max Scherzer as an example, he received honourable mentions in June and July to go along with a #2 finish in August for a season total of 6, which (spoiler alert) is fewer than the pitchers I have ranked above him. It’s not a perfect system, but maybe in a few years we’ll see some other publications start to use the JCPOTMST (Jays Centre Pitcher of the Month Season Total) as an evaluation tool (though we’ll probably tweak the acronym before then).

The Honourable Mentions
Our eventual winner should come as no surprise, and we’ll get to him in a minute, but there were some other starters that had seasons worthy of note.

José Berríos didn’t have his best season as a Blue Jay. The Opening Day starter notched his 100th win in April, but accumulated only nine over the season - his lowest total in a full season here. Interestingly, Berríos has given up exactly 77 earned runs in each of the last three seasons. This year, however, he gave up those 77 in his fewest innings pitched (166), leaving him with an ERA of 4.17. His struggles led to a late-season move to the bullpen, marking the first time he has pitched out of the 'pen in his career. That was quickly followed by an IL stint (also a career first) that ended his season. While there were undoubtedly valleys to Berríos’ season, there were also peaks. His two best starts of the year came in back-to-back June appearances with wins over the Sox (both White and Red) in which he combined to throw 14.2 innings, striking out 13 batters while only surrendering six hits and zero earned runs. That propelled him to be our June PotM and gave him a season score of 7 (he also had a fourth-place finish in May).

Eric Lauer started 15 games for the Jays in addition to making 13 appearances in relief. Surely the surprise of the season, Lauer has done everything asked of him and more. From June 11 until the end of August, he was exclusively a starter and went 6-1. His eight-inning win over the Tigers in late July was likely the best showing of his season and helped him earn Pitcher of the Month honours that month. His season score of 8 puts him in the company of names we never would have expected to see him with, and his bWAR of 2.2 was second-best of all pitchers on the team. It’s incredible to think where the Jays might have landed without Lauer’s presence this year.

Chris Bassitt also turned in a bit of an unexpected season. Going into a contract year at age 36, there wasn’t a ton of external pressure on Bassitt. Especially with the Scherzer signing, Bassitt was expected to slot into the fourth or fifth spot in the rotation and just be a steady hand. Instead, he improved on his 2024 season by almost every metric. By fWAR, his 2.4 was second-best on the staff, and his 170.1 innings pitched were second-highest too. When the bullpen needed a rest, he was there. He even came out of the 'pen for one game against the Athletics when the relievers were especially taxed. That relief appearance came just days after Bassitt pitched a (rain-shortened) complete game against the White Sox in Chicago, earning the win. Like Berríos, Bassitt had his struggles, especially down the stretch. His last win came on July 23, and he went 0-5 across 10 starts after that, ending his season on the 15-day IL with lower back inflammation. He was the first-ever Jays Centre PotM and followed that up with an honourable mention and a third-place spot later in the year for a season score of 9 (tied for best on the team).

Jays Centre's Starter of the Year
Who could it be but Kevin Gausman? He was May’s PotM, a month that saw him run a streak of 119 batters without issuing a walk. When we were looking for an ace to lead the rotation, he was the first guy we always looked to. By Baseball Reference’s version of WAR, this was his best season as a Blue Jay with a 3.8 (FanGraphs has him at a 4.1, but that's one win less than his ‘22 and ‘23 seasons).

In September, Gausman made not only his best start of the season, but the best start of his career in a complete game shutout of the (at the time) playoff-hopeful Houston Astros. His 193 innings pitched were a career high and led the team. He also led the team in strikeouts (189), FIP (3.42), WPA (1.49) and a number of other stats. He’s unanimously expected to be the Game 1 starter of the ALDS, no matter who Toronto faces – I even included a Gausman section in our ALDS preview! He loves the city, and we love him back. He’s our Starter of the Year.

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