LOS ANGELES -- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. just landed his counterpunch to Shohei Ohtani in the World Series.
It was an uppercut, too, with Ohtani himself on the mound. Guerrero launched a go-ahead two-run shot in the top of the third inning of Game 4 at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday as the Blue Jays rolled to a 6-2 victory to even the Fall Classic at two games apiece.
This is the moment for which the Blue Jays have been waiting. The World Series itself has been waiting for this. Guerrero has still been hitting, but singles don’t beat the Dodgers. One night after Ohtani made history by reaching base nine times, Guerrero needed to answer. The response would only be loud enough if it came from him.
Guerrero’s home run completely changed the energy of Dodger Stadium, turning one of the loudest ballpark experiences you could imagine from Game 3 into something more normal. This was different than if Guerrero had homered off Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow or Yoshinobu Yamamoto. This was best on best in every sense, two superstars leaning into one another with all of their weight.
“It's easy to write Ohtani versus Guerrero. To us, it's Toronto versus Los Angeles,” said manager John Schneider. “But that swing was huge. A sweeper is a pitch designed to generate popups, in my opinion. And the swing that Vlad put on it was elite. After last night and kind of all the recognition that went into Shohei individually, then he's on the mound today, it's a huge swing from Vlad. It's a huge swing to get us going.”
Guerrero’s seven postseason home runs are more than any Blue Jays player has hit, with Joe Carter and José Bautista hitting six in their careers. He’s also up to 26 hits, tied for second-most in a single postseason in MLB history, trailing only Randy Arozarena in 2020 (29).
They can try to deflect the attention off Guerrero versus Ohtani, but it isn’t going anywhere. Yes, the Blue Jays’ incredible ability to string hits together is worthy of the spotlight. Yes, the Dodgers’ rotation and Yamamoto are an incredible force. There are so many stories in this World Series, now down to a best-of-three and guaranteed to return to Canada for Game 6, but Guerrero and Ohtani overshadow it all.
“I respect Ohtani a lot, and I know basically that myself and him, we are the talk of the Series, but when we are between those two lines, we're competing,” Guerrero said through interpreter Hector Lebron. “I mean, it felt good that tonight I could hit that homer against him.”
The respect between the two is genuine. Besides, in Game 3, Guerrero spent more time with Ohtani than he’s spent with some members of his own family this month.
There’s no beef here. Even though Ohtani broke the hearts of Blue Jays fans two years ago when he decided to sign with the Dodgers following what may be the greatest free-agent drama we ever witness in Toronto, that bad blood hasn’t carried over onto the field between the two teams. That’s for division rivalries, perhaps even the Mariners, who the Blue Jays keep running into in October. Between the Blue Jays and Dodgers, though, there’s an incredible level of respect, almost a quiet understanding between the two.
While Guerrero rarely spends much time speaking about himself, he knows how this game works. He knows that he’s the face of the franchise. He knows that Ohtani is one of the best baseball players to ever walk this earth. Homering off Ohtani after what he did in Game 3 meant something more.
It could be the image of this Series and of this season, Guerrero unleashing that swing as Ohtani whips his head around to watch it fly.
“That was huge. We needed to break through and get something going. There’s nobody better than him to do that,” said Bo Bichette. “From my viewpoint, it was just a hanging breaking ball and he got it, but that’s what Vladdy does.”
Now, Guerrero has the Blue Jays within two victories of winning their first World Series since 1993. They might be forced to take a run at this without George Springer, who was held out of Game 4 with right side discomfort after leaving Game 3, but this team just keeps finding ways to win.
That’s all Guerrero wants to talk about. It’s all he’s ever talked about, really. For years, he’s been asked about the eye-popping numbers, the incredible moments and the pitchers he’s turned into highlight reels, but he never bites. He wants to talk about his team, always the team, only the team.
“If we’re winning games, I consider myself hot,” Guerrero said back in July.
He’s hot again. He’s never been this hot, and if Guerrero can go blow for blow with the mighty Ohtani, the rest of the Blue Jays can beat the rest of the Dodgers. They’re that close now, and Vladdy has officially joined the fight.