Kevin Gausman gives John Schneider the steady Game 1 arm Toronto needs as the Blue Jays head into Milwaukee.
Toronto's probables for the 3-game set are lined up as Kevin Gausman on Tuesday, Dylan Cease on Wednesday, and Patrick Corbin on Thursday, with Milwaukee set for Jacob Misiorowski in the opener and TBA for the final 2 games.
That order says plenty about where the Blue Jays are right now. After Sunday's 8-2 loss to Minnesota, Toronto heads into this road trip at 6-9 and badly needs cleaner starts to stop the slide.
Gausman getting the ball first makes sense. He is still the tone-setter in this group, and Schneider needs the opener to feel stable after the club spent too much of Sunday chasing a game that got away early.
Then it gets more interesting. Cease in Game 2 gives Toronto another bat-missing arm in the middle of the series, while Corbin in the finale hints that the Blue Jays are trying to give themselves a path to win each game in a different way.
Milwaukee brings its own pressure into this matchup. The Brewers have dropped 5 straight and sit at 8-7 after Sunday's 8-6 loss to Washington, so this is not a soft landing spot for a Blue Jays club trying to reset.
-
Why Toronto's order matters in Milwaukee
The headliner is Tuesday. Gausman against Misiorowski gives the series an edge right away because Toronto is countering Milwaukee's electric young arm with its most trusted starter.
That puts a lot on the first night. If Gausman can work deep, Schneider gets a chance to settle the bullpen and hand the rest of the series to Cease and Corbin without chasing innings from the jump.
Cease also stands out here for another reason. If Toronto splits the first 2, Game 3 can turn into a swing game with Corbin facing a Brewers starter who still has not been named.
Milwaukee's 2 TBA spots leave room for movement, and that matters. Toronto can plan its side of the series now, but Schneider still does not know exactly what shape the final 2 matchups will take.
There is also no hiding the stakes for the Blue Jays. At 6-9, they are already trying to keep an early skid from becoming the story of April.
So this is more than a probable-pitchers note. Toronto is going into Milwaukee with Gausman, Cease, and Corbin lined up in that order because Schneider needs this series to look steadier than the last one did.
Should Kevin Gausman set the tone with a win in Game 1 against Milwaukee?
Also read on Blue Jays Insider :
Blue Jays finally get the injury update they needed
