Cubs pitcher Kevin Gausman playing with ‘house money’ as he chases World Series ring

Posted September 05, 2026 12:37 pm

By Patrick Mooney

Kevin Gausman still has it. The Chicago Cubs banked on that pitching savvy and big-game experience when the club acquired him from the Toronto Blue Jays at this summer’s trade deadline, believing he could replicate his performance during last year’s World Series run.

The Cubs are 5-1 in Gausman’s six starts since the deal that cost them center fielder Brett Bateman and Class-A infielder Ty Southisene, two midrange prospects. Though Gausman’s outings have varied in effectiveness (4.37 ERA), the flashes of dominance and overall body of work have left little doubt that he should be operating near the front of Chicago’s potential playoff rotation, perhaps as the Game 2 starter following Clay Holmes.

The upside was easy to see in Thursday’s 2-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field, where Gausman limited the National League’s best team (by winning percentage) to one run over seven innings. Gausman had already beaten the Arizona Diamondbacks on Aug. 24, putting together seven shutout innings against a playoff contender the Cubs could face in the wild-card round.

Gausman, who will be 36 next year, said he wants to play next season, making him an intriguing option for a Cubs team that likely has five upcoming free agents in its current rotation: Holmes, Gausman, Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga and David Peterson.

Two factors to consider: 1.) The anticipated lockout when this collective bargaining agreement expires. And 2.) Whether the Cubs end this season with a championship parade.

“I’ll be honest, I really haven’t thought too much about it,” Gausman said. “There’s obviously a lot of question marks going into next year, but the focus is this team right now and giving whatever I got for these guys and this organization. Whatever happens after this season, I kind of feel like I’m playing with house money.

“The second half of my career has been such a blessing that I didn’t necessarily expect. So with that, I’ve played with a lot of guys that didn’t have the choice to say when they’re done. We’ll see what happens, but hopefully it’s with a ring.”

The winding pursuit of Gausman lasted so long that Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer described him as a “white whale.”

As Theo Epstein’s longtime general manager, Hoyer was a driving force behind the deal that sent Scott Feldman and Steve Clevenger to the Baltimore Orioles for Jake Arrieta and Pedro Strop in 2013, which coincided with Gausman’s major-league debut.

The Orioles had selected Gausman with the No. 4 pick in the 2012 draft out of LSU. Arrieta’s evolution into a Cy Young Award winner and Strop’s emergence as a top reliever made the Cubs curious whether Gausman would benefit from a similar change of scenery.

“In today’s age, it’s impossible to ignore those things,” Gausman said. “Every person that I knew that was a Cubs fan definitely (let me know about) any article that was written where my name was involved, even going back to around 2014.

“I believe there were some rumors about (Javier) Báez and maybe some other guys with me, and maybe some guys in Baltimore. There were some crazy rumors, for sure. You never know what’s actually true and what’s not true. But, yeah, it was always there. It’s funny, when I told my wife, ‘Hey, we just got traded to the Cubs,’ she kind of jokingly said: ‘It’s about time.’”

In buzzer-beater deals ahead of the lockout following the 2021 season, the Blue Jays splurged to sign Gausman to a five-year, $110 million contract while the Cubs gave Marcus Stroman a three-year, $71 million deal.

By that point, Gausman had already been traded to the Atlanta Braves at the 2018 deadline and selected off waivers by the Cincinnati Reds during the 2019 season. The San Francisco Giants then signed him to a one-year, $9 million contract for 2020 and retained him with a qualifying offer.

“When it wasn’t Jed, it was Theo,” Gausman said. “Scott Harris was here as well (as a Cubs executive back then). Scott Harris picked me up with the Giants, and that was one of the first things he said: ‘We were always trying to get you in Chicago.’ It’s kind of always been a crazy thing that is even crazier now that I’m finally here in my 14th year.”

Gausman filters the accumulated information and observations into his routine, game plans and clubhouse interactions. The durability, swing-and-miss stuff and unique approach when he’s on — the fastball/splitter combination forces the hitter to pick one or the other — has resulted in more than 2,100 strikeouts over nearly 2,100 career innings.

“He’s a good energy guy,” Cubs catcher Carson Kelly said. “He wants the ball. You can see that every inning. It just seems like he gets stronger and stronger.”

Gausman kept pitching all the way to Halloween last year, when he posted two quality starts against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. His presence is obvious to new teammate Michael Conforto, a veteran hitter who earned a World Series ring with the Dodgers last year. Although Conforto wasn’t on the active roster during the postseason, he saw up close what Gausman meant to Toronto’s resilience.

“He reads swings so well,” Conforto said. “He’s got great command. That splitter is devastating. And then he has the postseason pedigree and experience. He knows what those feelings and those situations are like. I watched the way that the Dodgers tried to prepare for him, and he diced them up.”

That’s what the Cubs hope this is building toward, even if winning the division and earning a first-round bye appears to be out of reach after splitting a four-game series against the first-place Brewers.

“Pitching plays in the postseason,” Gausman said. “Once you get to that point, it’s all hands on deck. It doesn’t matter what you did in the regular season. If you made 34 starts, you might have to go to the bullpen. If you’re healthy enough and you pitched three days ago, you’re ready to go.

“Those guys that want the ball at that time of year, they can kind of make legends of themselves, the Madison Bumgarners and (Yoshinobu) Yamamotos.”

The Cubs do not have that kind of singular force on their pitching staff; Yamamoto earned the victory in three of the four wins the Dodgers needed against the Blue Jays to defend their World Series title. But Holmes, Gausman and Matthew Boyd would be a credible rotation in a best-of-three series. There’s still time for Cubs manager Craig Counsell to figure out the back end of the bullpen and restore confidence in certain relievers.

All-Star center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong might be the sport’s best player right now. Gold Glove shortstop Dansby Swanson’s eventual return from an oblique injury would elevate the club’s defense back to best-in-class.

When the team is closer to full strength, the Cubs should have their deepest bench in years. Kelly and Miguel Amaya are more like 1 and 1A catchers than players in different tiers. Conforto is a solid left-handed-hitting option for particular matchups. Tyrone Taylor can shift all over the outfield. Pedro Ramírez and Matt Shaw are young, versatile defenders who could become more prominent in October.

“You also need guys who can play multiple positions because the manager’s going to be asked to make tough decisions,” Gausman said. “Last year in the World Series, we played an 18-inning game. You only have two catchers. When do you pull that catcher and go with the backup? Do you have to move Ernie Clement to an outfield position? There are so many things.

“The good thing about this roster is you have a lot of guys who can (move around). You need pitching and defense, and you need timely hitting. This club seems like they have what they need. It’s just a matter of putting it all together.”