The Toronto Blue Jays completed their series comeback on Monday, Oct. 20, prevailing 4-3 over the Seattle Mariners behind a seventh inning home run from George Springer to punch their ticket to the World Series in a winner-takes-all Game 7. Toronto trailed 3-1 after solo home runs from Julio Rodríguez and Cal Raleigh, but Springer put them in front for good with his fourth home run of the postseason. This marks the Blue Jays’ first American League pennant since 1993. They’ve won each of the two World Series they’ve played in.
Seattle, meanwhile, will go at least another year without making their first World Series, one of the worst marks in baseball out of the 49-year-old franchise. Toronto advances to face the Los Angeles Dodgers, who they’ll host at 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 25. Here are the winners and losers from Game 7.
Winner: George Springer
Who else could sit atop this list? Springer already has one World Series MVP award to his name, won during his 2017 run with the Houston Astros, and his clutch gene was on full display on Monday night. The 36-year-old slugger hasn’t had the best postseason, batting .239 with an on-base percentage of .321, but when he gets ahold of a ball, he’s hitting the cover off it: of Springer’s 11 hits, nine have gone for extra bases.
As an added bonus, Springer’s home run came just three days after he took a fastball to the knee in Game 5. He went 0-for-4 in Game 6, visibly hobbled, but was still able to generate enough power to drive in the pennant-clinching run.
Winner: Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
The Mariners took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, rising to the occasion in the biggest game of their lives. Toronto answered back immediately, reeling the Mariners back in on an RBI single from Daulton Varsho. The two-out play came on the heels of another single, this one from Vladimir Guerrero Jr., to put the limping Springer in scoring position, teeing him up to trot home.
While Vladdy Jr. went just 1-for-4 on Monday night, well below the lofty standard he’s set for himself this postseason, he brought home the ALCS MVP award after batting .385 with a 1.330 OPS, striking out just twice in the seven game series.
This postseason, Guerrero is slashing an otherworldly .442 /.510/.930 with more than three times as many walks (10) and twice as many homers (six) as he has strikeouts (two). When the Blue Jays have needed a run, Guerrero has responded with gusto.
Loser: Eduard Bazardo
With two runners in scoring position and one out, Mariners manager Dan Wilson trusted reliever Eduard Bazardo to preserve a 3-1 lead in the biggest moment of his career. Facing fellow right-hander George Springer, Bazardo threw a first pitch ball, then tried a 96 mile per hour sinker that drifted right into Springer’s wheelhouse.
The veteran slugger didn’t miss, depositing Bazardo’s offering over the fence in left-center and giving the Blue Jays a lead that held.
Wilson perhaps deserves some of the blame for letting Bazardo test Springer with a base open and the possibility of a double play, but the fact remains that Bazardo did the one thing he absolutely could not do: give up the long ball.
Loser: Mariners’ Clutch Hitting
Although they only trailed by one run with six outs to work with, Springer’s home run utterly deflated the Mariners. Seattle went 0-for-6 across the final two frames, and Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman struck out the side to cap the ninth inning.
Their struggles at the plate began before Springer’s dagger, as the Mariners went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position on the evening. Two of their three runs came via solo homers, an inability to extend rallies quashing their chance of building on the lead.
