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All throughout the day that Thursday, his teammates’ phones were vibrating, letting them know, one after another, that their time with the Twins had come to a conclusion. Never, when he was sitting with his Twins teammates at their downtown Cleveland hotel that day, did Louie Varland expect he would get a call, too. But just minutes before the afternoon July 31 trade deadline, Varland got news that he was being sent to Toronto and away from his hometown team, the one that drafted him in the 15th round years earlier and oversaw his development from starter to dominant reliever. What had been a “dream come true,” Varland said, was suddenly over. “The trade caught me off guard. I’m sure it caught everybody off guard,” Varland said Wednesday by phone. “But it all happened for a reason. I kept telling myself that and trusted it. … At the end of the day, it’s what happened and you can either be sad about it, sulk about it or look at it with an optimistic view and … that’s what I did.” While Varland, 27, described himself as initially “blindsided,” the North St. Paul and Concordia-St. Paul alumnus adapted quickly to his new team and now finds himself just four wins away from earning a World Series ring. When the Series begins on Friday night, the Toronto Blue Jays will be searching for their first trophy since 1993, when St. Paul native Paul Molitor led them to their second consecutive title. This time around, the Los Angeles Dodgers are the ones looking to repeat, and Varland and the Blue Jays are the only team left standing in their way. Should Toronto come away victorious, Varland figures to be a big part of the reason why. In the Blue Jays’ 11 playoff games thus far, Varland has been called upon 10 times, the most used reliever out of the Jays’ bullpen. In the seven-game American League Championship Series against Seattle, Varland pitched in six of those games. “I wouldn’t say it’s what I expected, but it is what I wanted,” he said. “To be used and trusted like that, it feels great. I’m glad I’m in a position to pitch every day. … I’ve been available every day, and they love using me. So, it’s a great feeling.” Varland has a 3.27 earned-run average with 13 strikeouts in 11 innings this postseason. All four of the runs he has given up have come on home runs, including one to former teammate Jorge Polanco in the ALCS against Seattle. Varland has been called upon in all kinds of situations this October, from starting a bullpen game one day to entering in the eighth inning on another. He has often been called upon to get four outs. Pitching against the Yankees, he said, was the “peak” of the pressure he has felt this offseason, though the intensity will ratchet up again once the Fall Classic begins. “It’s been just crazy, fun, extremely exciting,” Varland said. “We’re still playing baseball. It’s Oct. 22 now. I’m not used to it, that’s for sure.” While he has never pitched this late into October, Varland did get a little taste of the playoffs while he was with the Twins, pitching in two games during the 2023 season, both, as it turns out, in victories over his current team. That came at the end of a season in which he was up and down between the majors and the minors, primarily as a starting pitcher. That September, the Twins, believing he could be a postseason weapon, put him in the bullpen. The 2024 season followed a similar trajectory for Varland, who transitioned to the bullpen at the end of the season once more before the Twins finally converted him to a relief role full-time this year. The results couldn’t have been much better. Varland had a 2.02 ERA across 51 games before he was dealt at the deadline. He pitched in 74 regular-season games, a sign of his durability, and has pitched in 10 more during the playoffs. Now come the most important games of the right-hander’s career — and he’s ready for the challenge. “I’m blessed to be in this position,” Varland said. “It’s been a crazy, fun ride. I never thought I’d be pitching in the World Series, but here we are.”
