TORONTO -- Decisions can make or break a game, a series, a season. We saw it in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series, when Blue Jays manager John Schneider went to Brendon Little to face the heart of the Mariners’ lineup, only for Cal Raleigh and Eugenio Suárez to author a storybook moment in Seattle.
In Toronto’s 4-3 Game 7 win on Monday night, a key decision in the seventh inning flipped the winner-take-all game on its head, when Mariners manager Dan Wilson went to reliever Eduard Bazardo, and one swing from George Springer sent Rogers Centre into mayhem and the Blue Jays to their first World Series appearance since 1993.
Let’s break it down:
The situation
The Mariners were nine outs from their first World Series appearance in franchise history. Their 3-1 lead was built on their homegrown core, with Julio Rodríguez and Raleigh both homering while starter George Kirby and Bryan Woo -- Seattle’s All-Star appearing out of the bullpen as he came back from a pectoral injury -- had combined for six innings of one-run ball.
Wilson sent Woo out to the mound to begin the bottom of the seventh. The Blue Jays’ bottom of the order was due up, and those hitters were no joke: In 83 ALCS plate appearances, Toronto’s No. 7-9 hitters had a .284/.338/.500 slash line with four homers, four doubles and 12 RBIs.
Addison Barger worked a five-pitch walk. Isiah Kiner-Falefa followed by sending a ground ball up the middle on a sweeper in the middle of the zone.
“Hoping to get the ground ball, which we did, but it just found a hole,” Wilson said.
A mound visit from Mariners pitching coach Pete Woodworth gave Woo a breather and reminded the infield that No. 9 hitter Andrés Giménez would likely lay down a sacrifice bunt, which he did. Barger and Kiner-Falefa stood on second and third with one out.
Toronto’s lineup flipped over to leadoff man Springer.
The decisions
To face Springer, Wilson brought in Bazardo, who posted a 2.52 ERA across 78 2/3 innings in the regular season and had allowed one run in five innings in the ALCS coming into the day.
“Bazardo has been doing it all season long,” Wilson said. “And he’s been so consistent at it. He’s done such a good job all year. Felt really comfortable with him out there with the way he’s been throwing the ball, especially this series, and it was a good spot for him.”
At that point, it was the highest-leverage moment of the most important game of the season. But Wilson did not decide to keep Woo, his best pitcher the entire season despite the late injury, in the game.
Nor did Wilson turn to either of his two best relievers, setup man Matt Brash or closer Andrés Muñoz.
“[Woo] had such a good outing there, and it was time to turn it over, we thought, to the leverage guys who are in those situations,” Wilson said. “That’s what went into that decision.”
Woo added: “We always want the ball. Unfortunately, in that circumstance, it was the second [mound] visit, so didn’t really have a choice at that point.”
Notably, Springer had not taken an at-bat against Muñoz in 2025 – in the regular season or postseason.
“Everybody was ready,” Muñoz said. “But in that moment, they thought that was the best decision, and we all support that, because we've been doing that through the whole season. So, today it didn't work. It doesn't mean that they made a wrong call. It was just that today wasn't the day. That's it.”
Springer may be at the tail end of his career, but he is certainly not done yet. The 36-year-old hit 32 home runs in the regular season and knows how to hit in October, a fact Mariners fans know all too well. In 78 playoff games, Springer has a .264/.343/.540 slash line with 23 homers and 47 RBIs.
Was there any thought to walking him, which would put him on first and set up the double play with the left-hander Nathan Lukes due up?
“It’s a tough call,” Wilson said. “It’s a tough decision. You don’t want to put that go-ahead run at first. And then that also introduces [Vladimir Guerrero Jr.] into the equation [hitting behind Lukes] if you don’t get the double play. The way we looked at it, we were going to go with George.”
Springer, it should be noted, is dealing with a sore right knee after being hit by a pitch there in Game 5, forcing him to leave that game early. There were questions if he was even going play in Games 6 and 7, and he didn’t exactly look like himself in the at-bats leading up to the homer, going hitless (including two walks) in his eight trips to the plate prior to the series-changing blast.
Schneider was trying to think alongside Wilson and what counter moves he had. The thought in the Blue Jays dugout was that Wilson might put Springer on first base and go to lefty Gabe Speier for the left-on-left matchup with Lukes.
In that scenario, Schneider would have had to pinch-hit for Lukes.
“That’s what I thought he was going to do,” Schneider said. “I didn’t know which way Dan was going to go in terms of strategy. But I love the fact that he kept the bat in George’s hands.
“... I’ll never count George out of an at-bat that means something.”
The outcome
Bazardo threw two pitches, the first a sinker inside and the second a sinker in the zone. All Springer was trying to do, he said, was score Barger from third base.
Instead, Springer touched ’em all.
“The sinker [was supposed to] stay, like, inside but just a little bit down, and I think he connected the ball right there,” Bazardo said. “I threw my best sinker. He just got me today with the same sinker that I threw yesterday. He made a groundball yesterday, and today he got a homer.”
Rogers Centre erupted. The Mariners were stunned. Muñoz, by the way, pitched the bottom of the eighth inning with Seattle trailing by a run.
“You make your decisions, and sometimes you have to live and die with it,” Wilson said. “The way ‘Zardo has thrown the ball all season long, we were comfortable with where we were. It just didn’t go our way.”