The American League Championship Series went about as well as it could have for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Not only did they outscore their division rival New York Yankees 34-19 throughout the series, but they won games in totally different ways.
The Jays made a statement with a lopsided victory in Game 1. In Game 2, they got a performance for the ages from rookie Trey Yesavage, who struck out a franchise record 11 hitters in his postseason debut. And then after a heartbreaking loss that saw them squander a 6-1 lead in Game 3, manager John Schneider maneuvered his way perfectly through a bullpen-driven Game 4 to send Toronto back to the ALCS for the first time in nine years.
The Game 4 victory was also ideal from a logistical standpoint, giving the Jays three days of rest and the ability to set up their starting rotation however they pleased. On the flip side, the Seattle Mariners needed 15 high-stress innings to defeat the Detroit Tigers in their ALDS series and had virtually a quarter of the rest the Jays did heading into their matchup.
But it’s the Mariners who are in control so far, taking a 2-0 series lead back home for Wednesday’s Game 3.
Seattle has undeniably outplayed the Jays through two games, outscoring Toronto 13-4. Much of that has to do with the Jays’ offensive output being a far cry from what it was last round.
In Game 1, Toronto was 2-for-29, and that includes George Springer going deep off Bryce Miller on the very first pitch the Jays saw in the series. Game 2 wasn’t a whole lot different with Blue Jay hitters going 6-for-32 with just one extra-base hit. For the series, that’s a grand total of 8-for-61, a batting average of .131. During the regular season they led the league in batting average (.265) and on-base percentage (.333) and had the highest batting average of any team in the Division Series (.338).
Schneider knows his team desperately needs to start hitting.
“Looking at it as a whole, we’ve got to figure out ways to generate more offence. I give the guys a ton of credit for coming back, down three and we tied it, they just made more swings than us the last two games. That’s what it comes down to. We’ve got to find a way to limit damage and generate more offence,” Schneider said via MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was the catalyst in the Division Series. Often times, when he goes, so do the Jays.
Vladdy was 9-for-17 (.519) with three home runs, nine RBI and 18 total bases against the Yankees.
Against the Mariners, it’s been an entirely different story. The 26-year-old is 0-for-7 with a walk in eight plate appearances in the ALCS. He knows he’s instrumental in the Jays’ success and took ownership for his slow start to the series.
“We need to get better offensively. For example, myself, I had a big at-bat, and I couldn’t come through,” Guerrero told Matheson through an interpreter.
“That’s baseball. We need to go out there and win games.”
Guerrero is far from the only one. Daulton Varsho is 0-for-7, and Addison Barger and Andres Gimenez are each hitless in six at-bats. The sample size is small, but the impact in a postseason series is anything but.
History says the Blue Jays have their work cut out for them.
Teams that go up 2-0 in the postseason have gone on to win the series 78 of 93 times, nearly 84 per cent. And if the Jays don’t win Wednesday, it gets virtually impossible. The 2004 Boston Red Sox are still the lone team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven format. The Houston Astros nearly did it five years ago against the Tampa Bay Rays but lost in Game 7.
Of course, the Jays are no stranger to the comeback. They led the majors with 49 come-from-behind wins during the regular season. And what better way to tell the story of the 2025 Blue Jays than having them rally once again in the ALCS to reach baseball’s biggest stage.
“The series is not over until it’s over,” Jays closer Jeff Hoffman told reporters after Game 2.
“We’ve just got to go out and play our game and focus on the now and execute our gameplan, and we’ll be in a pretty good spot.”
Shane Bieber gets the ball in Game 3 against George Kirby in effectively a must-win game in Seattle for Toronto Wednesday night.
