Blue Jays prove they're top dog, clinch ALCS berth in the Bronx
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NEW YORK -- Start spreading the news, the Toronto Blue Jays are going to the ALCS.
The Blue Jays have eliminated the Yankees in four games with Wednesday’s 5-2 win at Yankee Stadium, finally knocking off the powerhouse that’s felt like their big brother in the American League East for nearly a decade.
Why not the Blue Jays? Why not this year? It’s the dream season no one wants to wake up from.
“I feel amazing,” Vladimir Guerrero Jr. said. “I feel so good. We played for this, and I feel so good. I don’t have the words to say how I feel right now.”
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The Yankees have fallen, and now, the Blue Jays fly back to Canada to kick their feet up for a day, waiting on either the Tigers or Mariners to punch their own ticket to the ALCS in their Game 5 on Friday. It’s the Blue Jays’ first trip to the Championship Series since those incredible runs of 2015 and ‘16. Those teams were overflowing with talent and attitude, just as capable of winning a ballgame as a brawl, but this ‘25 team has captured the country in the best way, which is by surprise.
“It’s hard to describe. These guys don’t quit -- this team never quits," said George Springer postgame. "Day in and day out, you fight, and it’s just a special group and I’m so proud of everybody."
Why else watch 162 games of baseball -- a good 500 hours of your summer -- if it weren’t for the game’s ability to surprise you?
Perhaps we still haven’t even seen the Blue Jays at their best, either. Bo Bichette could return as early as the ALCS, another star coming back for one last run in what could be his final year with the organization. This is what he and Guerrero, longtime teammates and friends, have dreamed about since they were teenagers.
“We’ve wanted to win a World Series our entire careers,” Bichette said. “We’re not there yet, but this is a huge step. It’s a blessing to be part of this group.”
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This Blue Jays team won 74 games a year ago and came into camp preaching “internal improvements,” two words which have never been printed across the back of a jersey. In the early days of Spring Training, the dark cloud of Guerrero's contract situation hung over camp, taking the shine off of just about everything. No matter where you looked, every external projection painted the Blue Jays as a .500 team, maybe even a boring one. Those projections had every reason to.
Look at them now.
The Blue Jays are the No. 1 seed in the American League, waiting to host Game 1 of the ALCS while Vladdy and his $500 million contract just had a series we’ll be talking about for the rest of his career.
“DAAA Yankees…lose!” a beer-soaked Guerrero said, sharing David Ortiz’s catchphrase with him on the post-game show. No matter how many times Guerrero dodged the media’s attempts to get a hot sound bite out of him this week about how much he loves to beat up on the Yankees, we all know it was burning somewhere inside him.
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Guerrero homered in each of the first three games, a pair of first-inning blasts on either side of a grand slam in Game 2 at home. Before the Yankees could even step to the plate Wednesday night in The Bronx, Guerrero had put the Blue Jays up 1-0 by slapping a single just inside the right-field line. The face of the franchise has put the franchise -- and the country -- on his back.
"To me, it’s one pitch at a time, one hit at a time," he said. "When you believe in your teammates and you believe in God, everything happens. I put this year in God’s hands, and thank God we won this series.”
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This was a masterclass from manager John Schneider and pitching coach Pete Walker, too, the bullpen day that all future bullpen days will be held to.
The Blue Jays are just four wins away from the World Series now, ground they haven’t stood on since 1993 when Joe Carter touched ‘em all. For decades, the Blue Jays have been chasing that again. Those ‘15 and ‘16 teams were close, but it’s time for more than close.
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A new generation of Blue Jays fans officially has their team and have fallen in love with the 2025 squad for all of their own reasons. There’s always time to remember and even romanticize the past, but the Blue Jays are the best show in Canada again, maybe the best show in baseball.
Why not them? Why not now?