One swing on Monday night sent the Toronto Blue Jays from the brink of the offseason to their first World Series in more than 30 years.
George Springer's three-run blast in the 7th inning of Game 7 of the ALCS against the Seattle Mariners turned a 3-1 deficit into a 4-3 win in one of the most dramatic moments in franchise history. Though Vladimir Guerrero Jr. wasn't the one who hit it, he asked for some help from above in the moments before the home run.
Before the inning started, Guerrero was in the tunnel behind the Blue Jays dugout. He dropped to his knees and prayed for a rally, according to SportsNet's Ben Nicholson-Smith.
It started with an Addison Barger walk and a single from Isiah Kiner-Falefa. After Andres Gimenez laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners over, Springer came to the plate. It turns out it didn't matter where the runners were, as he blasted a sinker from Eduard Bazardo into the left field seats.
“Very emotional,” Guerrero said of the moment.
George Springer has his Jose Bautista moment for the Blue Jays
Springer's historic home run was the biggest in Blue Jays history since Joe Carter's walk-off to end the 1993 World Series. It even upstaged Jose Bautista's epic blast and bat flip in the 2015 ALDS.
“Watching the Bautista moment over and over again, it felt like it was that loud,” Springer said, via SportsNet. “I wasn’t there for that one, but this was incredible.”
While Bautista declined to comment on Springer's home run, hoping to let the Connecticut native have his own moment, Kevin Pillar weighed in after the game. Pillar played with Bautista on the 2015 Blue Jays and was in the press box on Monday.
“That was the biggest home run I’d ever seen, that was the loudest this stadium has ever been,” he said. “When you think back to Jose’s, yes it was an unbelievable moment. Changed my life. I’ve talked about that. The game was tied. When George came up in that moment, sitting up in that press box, there was not a lot of hope in this stadium.”
The Blue Jays will face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2025 World Series beginning Friday night in Toronto.
