Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Kevin Gausman will make his team debut Friday night against the Kansas City Royals, but before he’s even thrown his first pitch in a new uniform, he’s somehow managed to piss off his former fan base. Yup, a couple of comments made by Gausman since the trade deadline have drawn the ire of Toronto Blue Jays fans online, and well, it’s kind of ridiculous.
The Cubs acquired Gausman on Sunday night, and there was a chance that the right-handed pitcher would make Thursday’s start against his former club, but he’s taking the ball Friday night instead. The veteran joined the club in Chicago, and his family was in attendance for Monday night’s 10-5 Cubs win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
In his first media session with the Cubs, Gausman was asked about the atmosphere at Wrigley Field heading into Wednesday’s series finale, and part of his response has angered fans in Toronto.
“It’s really fun. Obviously, playing a team like the Dodgers brings the best out of everybody, which is good. It’s funny, my wife, it was the first time she’s been here, after the first day she was here she said it was so different than Toronto and I was like, yeah, the focus is baseball. It’s real grass, it’s outside, there are a lot of different things than what we’re used to, but we’re excited about the new experiences.” -Kevin Gausman
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At first glance, I guess that could be taken as a shot against his former team, but that doesn’t really seem like the type of guy that Gausman is. By all accounts, he and his family really embraced Toronto during his time with the Blue Jays, and he was a beloved player by the fan base. His comment, to me anyway, seems to be strictly about how it feels inside Wrigley Field compared to the Rogers Centre.
As always, the context does matter. He was asked about the atmosphere, and then he shared a personal anecdote about how his wife felt going to her first game at Wrigley Field. There is no chance in hell that after pitching five years for the Blue Jays, Gausman was going to turn around and say people in Toronto do not care about baseball.
But that wasn’t the last of it, as Blue Jays fans also got mad at Gausman after he shared what was an innocent and funny story about his daughter.
Hey, no lies detected from his 5-year-old, as the Cubs have now won five straight at Wrigley Field against the Dodgers, including this week’s sweep. By the way, in that clip, even Gausman admits how that comment hurt him personally, and how could it not?! He started two games against the Dodgers in the 2025 World Series, and Gausman took the loss in each, allowing three runs in 6.2 innings in Game 2 and then three runs in 6 innings in Game 6. The Blue Jays only scored two combined runs in those two losses.
So yeah, the Cubs made a great first impression, beating the Dodgers 10-5 on Monday. Hopefully, Gausman gets run support in his Cubs debut, or else his daughter will be talking trash about them in the offseason.
