The Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees have battled all year. Now the two division rivals will settle the score in the post-season — for the first time.
Toronto opens its American League Division Series against New York on Saturday afternoon at Rogers Centre.
Here’s a tale of the tape heading into the best-of-five series.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
The Blue Jays and Yankees tied atop the AL East with identical 94-68 records, but Toronto won the season series 8-5 — outscoring New York 70-59 — to earn a bye to the ALDS.
A four-game sweep of the Yankees in July propelled the Blue Jays to first in the division, marking an impressive turnaround after Toronto trailed New York by eight games in late May. The Blue Jays never gave up the top spot in the AL East despite the Yankees’ late-season surge.
THEY’RE STREAKING
The Yankees enter the series on a roll. Not only did they rally from one game down against Boston in the wild-card round, but the Yankees also finished the regular season on an eight-game winning streak and a 14-3 stretch. Toronto ended on a four-game run, but lost six of seven before that.
STAR FACTOR
Two-time AL MVP Aaron Judge — one of four players in MLB history with four 50-homer seasons — leads the Yankees into Toronto.
Judge smacked 53 home runs with 114 RBIs, a major league-best .331 batting average and a 1.145 OPS this season. But those stellar numbers haven’t always carried over to the post-season, where his career averages dip across the board. The towering right-fielder had three homers and nine RBIs with a .184 average during New York’s run to the World Series last year.
For Toronto, star first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will look to make his mark in October. It’s a small sample, but Guerrero has just three hits with two walks and five strikeouts in 22 playoff at-bats. The 26-year-old slugger hit 23 homers this season, with a career best of 48 in 2022.
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POWER VS. CONTACT
The Yankees lived up to their Bronx Bombers nickname this season. They led the majors with 274 home runs — 30 more than the second-ranked Los Angeles Dodgers and 83 more than the Blue Jays.
Seven batters topped 20 home runs, including Judge, Trent Grisham (34), Jazz Chisholm (31) and Cody Bellinger (29). Giancarlo Stanton added 24 in just 76 games.
The Blue Jays took a different path to quality offence. Despite ranking tied for 11th in home runs, they led the majors in batting average (.265) and on-base percentage (.333), and posted the lowest strikeout rate. The Jays have also manufactured runs with 35 sacrifice bunts.
And there’s still power in the lineup: Guerrero, George Springer (32), Addison Barger (21) and Daulton Varsho (20) all reached the 20-homer mark. The 36-year-old Springer, a World Series MVP with Houston in 2017, is enjoying a resurgent season, batting .309.
NO BICHETTE?
Toronto may be without its top contact hitter, however. Shortstop Bo Bichette is day-to-day with a left knee sprain after missing the last three weeks of the season and is questionable for the series. Bichette batted a club-best .311 — second only to Judge in the majors — with 18 homers and 94 RBIs in 139 games.
ARMS RACE
The Blue Jays face question marks in their rotation beyond Game 1 starter Kevin Gausman and right-hander Shane Bieber. Chris Bassitt is questionable with a back injury, veteran Max Scherzer has struggled in his past two starts and Jose Berrios — who was demoted to the bullpen late in the season — is out with an elbow issue. Rookie Trey Yesavage is off to a torrid start to his big-league career, but he has only three games of experience.
The Yankees, meanwhile, got strong outings from Max Fried, Carlos Rodon and rookie Cam Schlittler in the wild-card round. Fried (19-5, 2.86 ERA) and Rodon (18-9, 3.03 ERA) flirted with 20 wins this season. Luis Gil and Will Warren are also options for the ALDS rotation.
Toronto has depth in the bullpen, with Jeff Hoffman, Braydon Fisher and Yariel Rodriguez having strong showings in September. Hoffman had 33 saves, third in the AL, out of 40 opportunities. New York, by contrast, has had bullpen troubles much of the season.
YOUNG GUNS
Yesavage and Schlittler will be two to watch.
The 22-year-old Yesavage (1-0, 3.21 ERA) struck out nine batters in his major league debut, setting a Toronto record, after going 5-1 with a 3.12 ERA across four minor-league levels this season. He began the year in single-A and now looks poised to play a role in the Blue Jays’ playoff rotation.
Schlittler, 24, set a Yankees record with 12 strikeouts in his post-season debut in the decisive Game 3 against Boston on Thursday. He debuted for the Yankees on July 9 after beginning the year in Double-A.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 3, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press