TORONTO -- It felt like Bo Bichette had given us all a moment that might soften everything that came after it.
His three-run home run early in Game 7 of the World Series felt like it would be remembered as one of the biggest swings in franchise history, and perhaps it still will be, but that time feels far away right now. The Blue Jays’ 5-4 loss to the Dodgers in 11 innings puts everything back in such a cruel light, all thrust into reality again so quickly.
Bichette is headed to free agency. The words themselves feel jarring.
Blue Jays fans first knew Bichette as a teenager, back when that long hair still spilled down to his shoulders. He and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. were the next great hope in Toronto, this dynamic duo of prospects that other organizations dreamed of. They had famous last names, transcendent talent and shoulders sturdy enough to carry all of these expectations. Game 7 of the 2025 World Series is the exact moment Blue Jays fans have spent the past decade dreaming of, but the Blue Jays fell just short.
This home run was made for World Series documentaries, made to be played on the towering video board at Rogers Centre 10, 15, 20 years from now at all of the anniversary celebrations. If one more thing had gone right Saturday night, Bichette’s home run would have lived forever in Toronto, taking its place behind only Joe Carter’s walk-off in 1993.
Playing through a left knee injury, Bichette was the hobbled hero, launching a Statcast-projected 442-foot blast off the great Shohei Ohtani. His longtime friend and teammate, Vladdy, was on first base. Guerrero flung his hands into the air and didn’t bring them back down until he’d touched home. By the time Bichette came across to join him, Ohtani was walking off the mound, Rogers Centre shaking around him.
“I think I enjoyed that home run more than him,” Guerrero said through interpreter Hector Lebron. “Seeing him do that, of course I know what he’s capable of doing, but after I got that intentional walk and I saw him hit that homer, it was just unbelievable.”
They were so close. This era, defined by “Vladdy and Bo,” almost ended in a championship. This past week has been their grand arrival together, Bichette coming back from seven weeks on the shelf and even playing second base for the first time in the big leagues, but the end -- and all of its questions -- came so suddenly.
Bichette is an uncomplicated man. He’s not going to play the game with vague quotes and Instagram captions. He’s said the same thing for years now. He said it when he and Vladdy were still teenagers. He’s said it during this team’s struggles. He’s said it before and after Guerrero signed his 14-year, $500 million deal.
“I’ve said I want to be here from the beginning,” Bichette stated plainly, once more.
They’ve had this dream together. This isn’t something dreamt up by fans or a narrative pushed by the media. It comes from them.
“I would love to finish my career playing with him,” Guerrero said. “But it’s free agency, so he’s got to do his thing to go and do what he has to do, to get his money.”
That’s the reality of this. While personal preference can break a tie, money is almost undefeated in free agency. The Blue Jays will have money to spend, given that Max Scherzer, Chris Bassitt and others are coming off the books, but will they outbid 29 other teams for Bichette? Will they value him as a shortstop, where his defensive metrics and declining speed don’t paint a strong image, or as a second baseman? What terms would they be comfortable with?
Right now, there are only questions, and the days following this World Series loss won’t be the time for answers. Bichette wouldn’t expand on anything beyond the belief he’s held all along, which is that he wants to play out the rest of his career in Toronto, next to Vladdy.
It’s just hard to think about that right now.
“I wish we could have won it together,” Bichette said. “I wish we could have shared that moment together.”
Bichette would have been the hero.
If Trey Yesavage, Jeff Hoffman and Shane Bieber hadn’t each given up solo home runs that turned a lead into a heartbreaking loss, Bichette would have been the hero. When Alejandro Kirk grounded into a game-ending double play, it was Guerrero standing on third, desperate to score the run that would extend this game. These two stars, who have been through such an incredible journey together, nearly had their storybook ending.
“That was an epic World Series for a variety of different reasons,” said manager John Schneider. “So at the end of the day, players, they can become legends or they can be this close, and we were this close.”
This could be the end now. Guerrero is the constant, but we’ve never seen him without Bichette and we’ve never seen Bichette in another uniform. Reality doesn’t wait for the heartbreak to heal, though, and so cruelly and quickly, the Blue Jays’ offseason has begun.