Trey Yesavage is targeting a return to the majors next week in Baltimore.

Asked directly about that possibility, Yesavage described where his rehab stands right now.

"I've done running drills and some agility, but it's not the same as what it would be like in a game," Yesavage said.

That's an honest acknowledgment that no amount of controlled workout activity fully replicates real game conditions.

He didn't hide his motivation for wanting back sooner rather than later, either.

"The bullpen has had a lot on their plate, and I'd love to be out there and take some stress off them," Yesavage said.

That's a real, specific reason tied directly to what Toronto's relief corps has dealt with all season.

Why the bullpen's workload makes his return matter so much

Toronto's relievers have absorbed one of the heaviest workloads in baseball this year, covering length behind bullpen games and a rotation that's dealt with injury after injury.

Yesavage himself has been part of that missing rotation depth since his own knee injury in early August.

His comments suggest a player who's aware of exactly what his absence has cost the pitching staff, not just personally frustrated about missing time.

Running and agility work represent real physical progress, even if game readiness is a different bar entirely.

Toronto sits right in the thick of the wild-card race, and every returning arm matters enormously with a limited number of games left.

Whether Yesavage actually gets activated in Baltimore next week depends on how these final rehab steps go, but his own outlook suggests genuine optimism about the timeline.

For a bullpen that's carried more than its share of the load all season, his return would be exactly the kind of relief this pitching staff has needed for weeks.