2025 ALCS10.19.25 / 10.20.25
Toronto, ON
I'll try my best to put words to this. But arriving in Toronto, a city I've been longing to move to for years, and within days getting the chance to attend both game six and seven of the ALCS at the SkyDome, and to witness what actually transpired during these games... words can't describe how I feel to be where I'm at. If this is culmination of everything I've worked towards, and Toronto said "welcome home, Alex" like this, something tells me I'm doing something right, and that this is where I belong.
I was still in Vancouver when I actually bought these tickets, knowing these were the only two playoff games that overlapped with my moving date to Toronto. The ALCS hadn't even started at that point. And no one knew if the series would even go that far. But I went for it, knowing the tickets would just get refunded if the games weren't necessary. We didn't even know who the opponent would be, with the Mariners and Tigers still duking it out in the other ALDS.
And when the Jays went down 2-0 in the series a couple days later, losing the opening two home games at home before heading to Seattle, it seemed like games six and seven were just a remote possibility. But they pulled off the improbable, taking games three and four in Seattle, before losing game five. The series was headed back to Toronto, with the Jays on the verge of elimination.
I was mostly just happy to get a chance to see the Jays play playoff baseball at all. Just absolutely perfect timing with my move.
I'm writing this after attending both game six and seven. With the heroics of game seven, it's easy to forget the big moments of game six. I was seated in the 100 level outfield for this one, near center field, just to the left of the batter's eye, with no view of the jumbotron. Lots of TV cameras were positioned in the stanchion directly to my left. The couple to my right actually came in from Ottawa for the game. Small world! There was no seat directly behind me, so I could freely stand as much as I wanted, and I surely took advantage of that — on the first at-bat of the game, Julio Rodríguez flied out to center, and watching back the TV broadcast, you can see me as the one guy standing up right when Varsho made the catch. I'll go through the rest of the game chronologically, since it quite literally played out like a movie.
Bottom of the second: Daulton Varsho singled, safe at second on a fielding error by Rodríguez, playing center field. Rodríguez was stationed right near my section most of the game, so perhaps the ribbing he took from my section got to him. But not really, of course. Ernie Clement followed, pulling up to first on an error by third baseman Eugenio Suárez. Addison Barger came up next, singling to right, bringing in Varsho. 1-0 Jays. Mid-season re-acquisition Isiah Kiner-Falefa then reached on an infield single, bringing in Ernie. 2-0 Jays. That was it for the Jays' offense that inning. Great start though, and the building was buzzing.
Top of the third: the Mariners were threatening. Bases were loaded with one out, and Cal Raleigh stepping up to the plate. But the Jays' rookie starter, Trey Yesavage, who I'm sure will read off as a household name if I'm reading this back in a few years, managed to turn the double play with the help of Andrés Giménez and Vladdy. To pull that off, against Raleigh (AKA Big Dumper) of all people, is just insane. Yesavage had said earlier in October that he was built for this. No doubt about that.
Bottom of the third: with two outs, Ernie Clement tripled to right. Addison Barger followed with a bomb to right center, clocking in at 403 feet. 4-0 Jays. Now the building was really rocking. It's the home runs that really turn it up to a fever pitch.
Top of the fourth: yet again, bases were loaded for the Mariners with one out. J.P. Crawford stepped up the plate, and while he is obviously not the threat that Big Dumper is, Yesavage and company managed to turn the double play once again. Just mesmerizing stuff. All from a rookie.
Top of the fifth: bases were not loaded for once, but Dominic Canzone had singled and was on first base. But once again, Yesavage and the Jays turned the double play. Incredible stuff — the Jays' defense ending three innings in a row with double plays, the Mariners leaving a total of seven runners on base during that stretch.
And what's a playoff game without a little Vladdy magic? Bottom of the fifth: Vladdy leads off with a solo home run to left field. There's just something special about Vladdy homers. He is the face of the franchise, and it's in moments like these that you really feel the love the city has for him. 5-0 Jays.
Yesavage continued into the sixth inning, striking out Raleigh to lead off and grounding out Jorge Polanco. Mississauga's own Josh Naylor then stepped up, and breathed the slightest bit of life into the Mariners with a single homer to right. Lots of groans from the crowd. He's a guy you kinda love to hate. After Randy Arozaena singled to right, that was it for Yesavage, John Schneider pulling him from the game, much to the dismay of the crowd. It's a funny thing, initially booing his removal from the game, but then remembering to cheer Yesavage to show appreciation for his night of work. Louis Varland was first out of the pen, allowing a run on an infield single from Suárez that brought in Arozaena, before striking out Crawford swinging to end the inning. 5-2 Jays.
The rest of the game was relatively uneventful, with the Jays tacking on an extra run in the seventh, courtesy of Vladdy and a throwing error from Raleigh.
So game six was not really about the dramatics, save for the stretch of inning-ending double plays from Yesavage and the defense. The Jays were in control the whole game, not trailing at any point. A very confident performance from a team on the brink of elimination.
Game seven, on the other hand, was all about the dramatics. We're talking the kind of heroics that a sports fan dreams of witnessing in person. I was way up in the 500 level nosebleeds for this one, but honestly, the vibes were just as electric up there, if not more.
The game got off to a troubling start, with Rodríguez doubling to left. Raleigh struck out swinging, but the hometown boy turned enemy Naylor singled to right, bringing in Rodríguez. 1-0 Mariners. The tension in the dome was palpable, but that was it for the Mariners that inning.
The bottom of the first was quintessential Blue Jays baseball. Just chipping away, one at-bat at a time. George Springer led off with a walk. Nathan Lukes flied out to left. One out. Vladdy came up and singled to left, bringing Springer to second. Alejandro Kirk struck out swinging. Two outs. Daulton Varsho then came up and singled to center, bringing in Springer. Tie game! Positive vibes were back.
There wasn't any more scoring until the third inning, when Rodríguez homered to left center, a real long one, clocking in at 423 feet. Not too much damage though, it being just a solo homer, and the Mariners not putting up any other runs in the third. 2-1 Mariners.
Fast forward to the fifth inning, the Jays' starter Shane Bieber was replaced by Louis Varland, and Cal Raleigh immediately went deep. As I mentioned earlier, Vladdy homers hit different, and Big Dumper homers hit different too, in the way they just deflate the crowd. Everyone knows what he's capable of, and when he's on, you know the Mariners will be right there rallying behind him. 3-1 Mariners.
This being a winner takes all game, everything was on the table. The teams know they have three months of rest ahead of them, one way or the other. That became quite apparent when Kevin Gausman walked out to pitch the seventh inning. His command was a bit off, but he scraped together three outs.
Now we are in the bottom of the seventh. This is where the magic started to happen. Bryan Woo, the Mariners' injured ace turned reliever, was on the mound. Barger led off with a walk. IKF singled to center, bringing Barger to second. When IKF manages to get a hit, that's something you have to take advantage of. Giménez up next, ninth in the order, hit a sacrifice bunt right at Woo, bringing IKF to second and Barger to third. This was when the crowd really started to believe the Jays were onto something, with only one out and the top of the order coming up. Woo was pulled out of the game, with Eduard Bazardo coming in as relief.
But who was going to be the hero? Would it be the 500 million dollar man Vladimir Guerrero Jr.? Perhaps the battered and bruised George Springer, who had been hit on his right kneecap by a a 95.6 mph sinker from Woo in game five, much to the delight of the Seattle crowd?
The answer was the latter. In a moment that will be etched in the minds of Jays fans nationwide for generations to come, alike José Bautista's bat flip homer ten years prior, and Joe Carter's World Series walk-off homer in '93, Springer got just enough juice on a 1-0 sinker off of Bazardo to send it into the seats in left center. And man, the building popped off like nothing I've witnessed before. Just sheer elation, strangers hugging each other and high-fiving like lifelong friends. It's really hard to describe the kind of emotions running through your body in a moment like that. It's moments like those that I point to if I'm ever asked why I think sports are so important. What else can bring people together like that, uniting not just a city, but a whole damn country? 4-3 Jays.
And we have to give our flowers to the boys out of the pen that brought this one home. Ostracized starter turned reliever Chris Bassitt took down the Mariners in order in the eighth. The Jays' de-facto closer, Jeff Hoffman, came in for the ninth, striking out the side on a slew of pitches that the Mariners just absolutely whiffed on. They were all looking to be the hero, but Hoffman had the upper hand. Final score, 4-3 Jays.
Reflecting on these two games, it's so much to process. The Jays playing their most legendary baseball in YEARS within a week of me moving to Toronto, and I was right there in the dome to see it all live. Life imitates art, how can you not be romantic about baseball, etc. etc., but the prevailing sentiment for me is that I chose to be here. I did my time away, the proverbial stepping stone, and sure, the timing was lucky, but it's no luck that I was here in Toronto and not somewhere else. Sure, if I was still in Vancouver, there's a good chance I would have made it down to Seattle for games three to five, and I probably would've been waxing poetic about that. But I chose Toronto, knowing that moments like this are made for a city that lives and breathes everything it stands for, wearing its heart on its sleeve. And I know this is just the beginning for my Toronto chapter.
