Kevin Gausman is ready to embrace everything Toronto and go all Canada for arguably his biggest start as a Blue Jay.

Assigned by manager John Schneider as the Game 1 starter for the curtain-raiser of Canada’s compelling best-of-three American League Division Series against the New York Yankees, Gausman is all-in.

And yes, there will be a hockey-style playoff beard when Gausman takes the mound at the Rogers Centre on Saturday, one he hopes to continue to grow out for the next month.

“I didn’t know that was a thing,” Gausman said on Friday as the Jays and Yankees went through their final preparations for the division rivals’ first post-season clash.

“Now that I’m here, everybody keeps telling me you’ve got to let it go.”

More significantly, now in his fourth year with the Jays, it’s the

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