While Toronto Blue Jays star George Springer further cemented his baseball legacy in Toronto with his heroics in Monday’s series-clinching win over the Seattle Mariners, Mariners reliever Eduard Bazardo might need some time to get over the pitch he threw — the one Springer launched for the go-ahead home run that sealed the Blue Jays’ 4-3 victory in Game 7.
Bazardo had been a reliable bullpen asset for the Mariners in the 2025 MLB regular season, in which he posted a 2.52 ERA and a 2.64 FIP across 78.2 innings of work. He gave up just nine home runs. He surrendered 1.03 home runs per nine innings pitched, which is 26th among all relievers who pitched at least 70.0 innings.
However, he allowed three home runs in the 2025 postseason, none bigger than the one that Springer sent 381 feet into the air to drive in three runs in the seventh inning.
“I never lost one game all season, and today, the most important game, I lost the game,” Bazardo said after the loss to the Blue Jays, per Tyler Kepner of The Athletic. “It’s a little incredible, that part.”
Before Bazardo took to the mound, George Kirby pitched for four innings and allowed a run on four hits through four innings of work. Bryan Woo replaced Kirby and allowed two Blue Jays to reach base, which Bazardo later inherited. Bazardo picked up the pitching loss and will perhaps be forever remembered as the October Zero to Springer's October Hero.
After Seattle's loss, there has been a lot of second-guessing going around in the baseball world on Mariners manager Dan Wilson's decision to go with Bazardo instead of going straight to Andrez Munoz, who had two saves in the 2025 MLB postseason. But it is what it is for Seattle, which remains the only current club not to reach the World Series ever.
