St. Louis Cardinals at Toronto Blue Jays

In November 2021, Kevin Gausman and his wife, Taylor, were on vacation at a wellness resort, but he kept breaking the rules. Guests were not supposed to have their cell phones on them throughout the day, but Gausman was one of the hottest free agents in baseball. He had to keep checking in with his agent, sneaking peeks at his phone to see what teams were offering. It was down to the Mets and the Blue Jays, and the Gausmans had done deep dives on what their lives would look like in either city, picking out which neighborhoods they would raise their young family in. By the end of that trip, they’d decided. Gausman even called his family to tell them. He was going to sign in New York to pitch for the Mets. Then, they boarded their flight. “When I got off the first flight, I turned on my phone and I had six missed calls from my agent. I was like … 'What’s going on here?'” Gausman said in a 2024 interview for The Franchise. “He called again and told me that Toronto was where we wanted to be. Done deal. He asked me if I wanted to be a Blue Jay and I said, 'Let’s do it … and I’ve got to call my family back.' That’s how close we were.” We were so close to never witnessing these past five years. That wouldn’t have been right. Gausman belonged in Toronto, even if he didn’t know it then. Walking off the field Saturday, a standing ovation around him, Gausman’s eyes scanned another sold-out crowd and he patted his right hand over his heart. He loves this city. This city loves him. By the time he’d walked down the dugout steps, Gausman had to walk down the tunnel for a moment, just to collect himself. Gausman was careful not to speak in the past tense after the Blue Jays’ 5-1 win over the Cardinals, but these are difficult days. The Blue Jays, still on the outside edge of the AL Wild Card race, feel like sellers ahead of Monday’s 6 p.m. ET Trade Deadline. Gausman has met with the Blue Jays front office, and while he appreciated those talks, he wouldn’t say much more. What he did want to talk about, though, is what this city has meant to him, just in case it’s the last time we hear from him. “This has been the best decision I ever made,” Gausman said, “to come here.”