The teams will play a makeup game at 2:20 p.m. ET / 11:20 a.m. PT (Sportsnet and Sportsnet+) for their contest that was rained out on June 21 on what was originally supposed to be an off day.
Gausman was on turn to start Thursday, but will make his Cubs debut on Friday against the Kansas City Royals instead.
Toronto will send new ace Dylan Cease to the hill fresh off winning American League pitcher of the month and making the July MLB team of the month. He pitched to a 1.00 ERA with 46 strikeouts and 11 walks over five starts to earn the honour.
That included a no-hit bid that was broken up in the ninth inning against the San Francisco Giants on July 8, and a complete-game one-hitter against the Boston Red Sox on July 25. It was the first time a Blue Jay completed the feat since Shaun Marcum in 2010.
Cease is currently second in American League Cy Young award odds after Yankees righty Cam Schlittler. Cease has a 2.41 ERA, 174 strikeouts and 51 walks over 119.1 innings this year. He also leads the AL in FIP (2.30) and strikeout-minus-walk rate (25.6 per cent).
The Cubs counter with starter David Peterson, who had a 5.57 ERA with 12 strikeouts and 10 walks in July in comparison. The 30-year-old southpaw was an all-star in 2025 but has struggled to a 5.52 ERA this season and was traded from the New York Mets to the Cubs for minor-leaguer Cole Mathis on June 25.
Similarly struggling Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was out of the lineup for their series finale against the Astros on Wednesday. One day after Toronto manager John Schneider described Guerrero as feeling “tight and tired,” he sat and missed his seventh game of the season, a new career high.
Schneider said it was “just a day off” for Guerrero amid a stretch of 17 straight games and 30 in 31 days. Schneider added that the first baseman is dealing with hamstring tightness and other stuff, but that “he wants to be out there, he wants to be contributing more than he is.”
Guerrero has posted the worst offensive numbers of his career so far in 2026, with just six home runs, 44 RBI and a .687 OPS entering Thursday.
But despite Guerrero’s struggles, and taking a hybrid buy-sell approach on Monday’s trade deadline, the Blue Jays are only three games out of a wild-card spot in what has been a weak AL race.
Toronto has won three straight series, moving to 54-61, but still has six teams to leap in the packed playoff picture.
The Blue Jays can look to the Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers for inspiration. They were three games back and 8.5 games back at the start of August in each of the last two seasons, respectively, before going on miraculous runs to make the post-season.
The Guardians finished 33-20, including a 10-game winning streak, and the Tigers went 34-18 to secure a wild-card berth. The Blue Jays will have to go on a similarly spectacular run to play October baseball.
