The Toronto Blue Jays got away with including only three starting pitchers on their ALDS roster, but they’ll need to expand their rotation to four starters for the ALCS. That doesn’t mean we won’t see a potential bullpen game, but scratching a starter for a reliever in a seven-game series is a colossal risk.
That means either Max Scherzer or Chris Bassitt will come back into the fold when the Blue Jays announce their ALCS roster on Sunday morning. With Scherzer healthy, pitching some of the worst baseball of his career, and Bassitt not completely healthy but also running out of gas at the end of the season, who is the most viable option for the playoffs?
Which starters do the Blue Jays pick for their ALCS rotation, or do they go with both veteran arms? There are many roster machinations we could see for the Blue Jays’ next postseason series.
Max Scherzer
It was somewhat surprising that the Blue Jays forewent having the 18-year veteran on their ALDS roster. It was a calculated risk to roll out a bullpen day rather than turn to a traditional starter like Scherzer in Game 4, but that gamble paid off for Toronto.
Threading the needle around two potential bullpen games in a series is much trickier. A team like the Blue Jays — who might play upwards of seven games in 10 days — needs as many relievers in the bullpen as possible. Which is why I think Scherzer is a strong candidate to be reinserted back into the rotation for the ALCS.
On Tuesday, he threw a 95-pitch bullpen simulation game in Toronto, so it says something that the Blue Jays are trying to keep Scherzer sharp, despite not having pitched since September 25, which was 16 days ago. He could be working on 21 days’ rest by the time Game 4 rolls around.
My guess is that Bo Bichette & Chris Bassitt are added to the roster, while Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Justin Bruihl are taken off the roster.
If the Jays also wish to add Max Scherzer, he can take the place of Tommy Nance.https://t.co/MrXyBdrjAy
— Ryley Delaney🏳️⚧️ (@Ryley__Delaney) October 10, 2025
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Most pitchers are not being tasked with throwing deep into games, so at the very most, Scherzer might only make it through four or five innings before John Schneider turns things over to the bullpen. And that’s truly the best-case scenario for Scherzer, who was already on a short leash.
Surely, Scherzer’s astronomical 12.96 first-inning ERA scares the bejesus out of the Blue Jays coaching staff, so it wouldn’t hurt to set him up with an opener like Louis Varland, just to get those pesky top-third of the order out of the way to set Scherzer up for success. Most would agree that if Mad Max can escape the first inning unscathed, it’s a good sign for the Blue Jays.
Although he worked out of the bullpen in the postseason for the Nationals in 2019 and for the Dodgers in 2021, it’s more plausible that he comes into the game in a bulk role. If that’s the case, Scherzer would take the roster spot of someone like Tommy Nance or Justin Bruihl.
If Game 5 of the Mariners-Tigers ALDS series proved anything, it’s that marathon extra-inning games are a real possibility in the postseason. Teams that don’t carry four starters are handicapping themselves straight out of the gate.
Not every postseason team is going to be fortunate to be four deep on decent starters, so if Scherzer is, in fact, brought back into the fold, there’s the potential for a very short hook from the manager if things go sideways.
Likely role: Starting pitcher number four in the ALCS
Chris Bassitt
Unlike Scherzer, Bassitt is coming back after a stint on the injured list with a lower back injury, so the timetable for his return is uncertain. Bassitt threw a 35-pitch simulation game earlier on Tuesday, so it seems highly unlikely that if he’s activated for the ALCS, he would fit into a traditional starter role.
There’s a possibility he could be a piggyback option on the tail end of a Scherzer or Trey Yesavage start, or Bassitt might be a bulk guy out of the bullpen if another one of the starting pitchers, like Kevin Gausman or Shane Bieber, runs into trouble early. But at most, it looks like Bassitt would be a three or four-inning max pitcher.
I’m not sure how much stock the Blue Jays put into Bassitt’s home versus road splits, but his ERA was 2.76 runs higher on the road than at home at Rogers Centre. Maybe that’s a complete anomaly — just like how Braydon Fisher hasn’t given up an earned run on the road this season — but there’s a possibility that may weigh on how the Blue Jays deploy Bassitt.
The Blue Jays have recalled LHP Mason Fluharty from Triple-A Buffalo.
RHP Chris Bassit has been placed on 15-day IL (low back inflammation). pic.twitter.com/3nvuHomdYa
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) September 20, 2025
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On the whole, Bassitt was slightly better in the second half, but he’s been on the injured list since September 20. Were it not for his trip to the IL, he might be the better option over Scherzer in a starting role in the playoffs, but that injury has thrown a wrench into things and likely gives Scherzer the edge.
Since Bassitt is a finesse pitcher, he might be a better option out of the bullpen to attack the middle-third or bottom-third portion of the opposing lineup. Not that he can’t retire the best hitters at the top of the lineup, but ideally out of the bullpen, you want power arms going after power bats, not crafty right-handers with an arsenal of eight pitches.
Bassitt pitched exclusively as a starter in the postseason with the Oakland A’s in 2020 and the New York Mets in 2022, but he can surely adapt and potentially even cut down his pitch mix as a bulk guy out of the Blue Jays’ bullpen in the ALCS.
Likely role: Bulk guy out of the bullpen