Jorge CastilloOct 20, 2025, 11:00 PM ETCloseESPN baseball reporter. Covered the Washington Wizards from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 for The Washington Post before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024.Follow on X
And Springer, the starring actor in so many October dramas on another team in a previous life, did not deviate from his preparation. He stayed out of the batting cage. He stayed off the tablet so many of his peers use to analyze themselves and their foes.
And Springer felt what was coming when he hobbled into the batter’s box with runners on second and third, the Blue Jays down two runs, and Rogers Centre on the verge of its roof busting open.
The Mariners, knowing he was hampered by a sore right knee after he was hit on the kneecap by a pitch in Game 5, sought to establish the inner half of the plate with two-seam fastballs against Springer all game. The game plan was obvious when he led off the top of the first inning and George Kirby brushed him off the plate with two two-seamers to begin the encounter.
Mariners reliever Eduard Bazardo, summoned by manager Dan Wilson over closer Andres Munoz to face Springer eight outs from the franchise’s first trip to the World Series, stayed with the approach. Bazardo’s first pitch was a two-seam fastball inside and off the plate. The second pitch was another two-seamer.
“I knew I got the guy in from third, which was all I was trying to do and then I started to watch the outfielder,” Springer said. “I watched what happened and I sort of blacked out after that.”
This blast, after Toronto secured six more outs, sent the Blue Jays to the World Series for the first time since Carter’s heroics. They’ll face the Los Angeles Dodgers, the reigning champions attempting to become the first team to repeat in 25 years. Game 1 is scheduled for Friday at Rogers Centre.
“Any time your back leg’s compromised, it’s a little harder to turn,” Popkins said. “But he had one turn left so they kind of fell into a trap there.”
“It leaked a little bit over the heart [of the plate],” Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh said of the pitch Springer hit. “Maybe should’ve gone with a different pitch.”
After the game, Guerrero, who signed a 14-year, $500 million contract extension to remain with the organization that signed him at 16 years old, was in tears on the field as he addressed a raucous crowd that stayed to celebrate.
“I was born here,” said Guerrero, who was born in Montreal while his father played for the Expos. “I grew up in the Dominican, and then from the moment that I signed here, I knew I was going to be here my entire career. I knew I had to somehow make all the fans, the entire country, proud of me, of my team. And like I always say, my challenge is to bring the World Series here back to Canada.”
Guerrero loomed two batters after Springer when Bazardo chose to pitch to him. In the Blue Jays’ dugout, Schneider wondered if the Mariners would pitch around Springer or intentionally walk him with first base open and replace Bazardo with left-hander Gabe Speier to face the left-handed-hitting Nathan Lukes. But Bazardo stayed in.
Before the start of the bottom of the seventh, Guerrero said he went into the tunnel, got down on his knees and prayed for a win.
“We’ve just been reinforcing him to be who he has been his whole career,” Popkins said. “Go be violent. Go be aggressive. Don’t slow down. You’re a f—ing lion. Go attack and it just empowered him to be who he is.”
And there was nobody else the Blue Jays wanted at the plate in that spot in the seventh inning, with their season on the brink, than a hindered Springer.
“I had no doubt in my mind,” said Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette, who missed the series because of a knee injury.
Added Schneider: “It was almost like an out-of-body experience because of what he means to this team, to this organization.”
The heroics came days after Mariners fans booed when Springer was hit by a 95 mph sinker from Woo off the kneecap in Game 5 and cheered when he exited. The moment was not forgotten during the Blue Jays’ celebration. One Blue Jay noted during the postgame celebration that it was “fitting” that Springer ended the Mariners’ season after the episode.
CloseESPN baseball reporter. Covered the Washington Wizards from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 for The Washington Post before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024.Follow on X
TORONTO — Nothing changed for the Toronto Blue Jays, Major League Baseball’s premier comeback artists in this dream of a season, before George Springer completed the franchise’s most important comeback since 1993 in their 4-3 win over the Seattle Mariners in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series on Monday.
ESPN senior writer Buster Olney contributed to this report.
“He’s very clear minded,” Popkins said. “He feels things.”
Toronto fans erupt at Springer’s go-ahead three-run dinger (1:01)Blue Jays fans go into a frenzy after George Springer blasts a go-ahead three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning vs. Seattle. (1:01)