Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Trey Yesavage reacts after a fifth inning-ending double play in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series against the Seattle Mariners in Toronto on Sunday. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

TORONTO (AP) — Rookie Trey Yesavage will start tonight’s World Series opener for the Toronto Blue Jays against the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers and Blake Snell, giving the 22-year-old more postseason starts than career regular-season outings.

Yesavage, who debuted on Sept. 15, will be making his fourth postseason start.

Blue Jays manager John Schneider said Thursday he wasn’t ready to announce his Game 2 starter from among Kevin Gausman, Max Scherzer and Shane Bieber.

Selected 20th overall in last year’s amateur draft from East Carolina University, Yesavage began the season at Class A Dunedin, was promoted to High-A Vancouver on May 20, Double-A New Hampshire on June 12 and Triple-A Buffalo on Aug. 12.

He was 1-0 with a 3.21 ERA in three starts in September, striking out 16 in 14 innings, helped by a devastating splitter, with seven walks.

Yesavage beat the New York Yankees with 5 1/3 scoreless, hitless innings in Game 2 of the Division Series as he struck out 11, lost Game 2 of the AL Championship Series when he allowed five runs in four innings, then won Game 6 of the ALCS on Sunday when he gave up two runs in 5 2/3 innings.

Gausman threw 19 pitches in relief in Game 7 of the ALCS on Monday against Seattle, three days after he tossed 91 pitches in his Game 5 start.

“It made sense to hold Kevin for a day,” Schneider said, not committing to Gausman for Game 2 on Saturday or Game 3 on Monday at Dodger Stadium.

Back in spring training, hardly anyone anticipated Yesavage reaching the majors this season — but much was expected of 23-year-old Roki Sasaki after his ballyhooed arrival from Japan.

A tantalizing starter in his home country, he began the season in Los Angeles’ rotation but struggled to adjust and throw strikes. Sasaki looked sad and teary-eyed in the dugout following a rough Dodger Stadium debut, and he went 1-1 with a 4.72 ERA in eight starts before landing on the injured list in May with a right shoulder impingement.

After all that hype, Sasaki almost became an afterthought. Five rehab starts with Triple-A Oklahoma City yielded unimpressive results — but then he came out of the bullpen twice in the minors and something clicked.

The right-hander finally rejoined the Dodgers on Sept. 24, made two terrific relief appearances and quickly found himself closing playoff games, stabilizing a suspect Los Angeles bullpen with his 100 mph fastball.

“As a starter, I understand that there’s always ups and downs. So, I kind of take that same approach with pitching as a reliever,” Sasaki said through a translator after saving Game 3 of the NLCS against Milwaukee.

Sasaki has a 1.13 ERA in seven October outings covering eight innings. He is the first pitcher to earn each of his first three career saves in the postseason since saves became an official statistic in 1969.