Getty
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays speaks with Shohei Ohtani during a game. Guerrero recently shared his perspective on facing the Dodgers superstar.
The Toronto Blue Jays had a busy and expensive offseason, committing $353 million in new contracts to build on last year’s success. But at least one Blue Jays superstar is still thinking about the World Series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers that brought a crushing end to what was otherwise a dream season.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who in April signed a whopping 14-year, $500 million contract extension that will keep him in Toronto through age 41, offered his frank opinions specifically on what it was like to face the Dodgers’ own two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani in the two games Ohtani started for Los Angeles in the Series.
According to what Guerrero Jr. said in a Spanish-language interview with Dominican sports journalist Yancen Pujols, posted to Pujols’ YouTube channel on Wednesday, facing the 6-foot-3 right-hander from Iwate, Japan, was not all that tough.
Facing Ohtani Not Difficult for Jays
Asked by Pujols about the challenge of facing Ohtani and the defending champion Dodgers in the World Series, Guerrero said his team understood that they faced an uphill climb from the start — but not necessarily against Ohtani, at least in his role as a pitcher.
“We knew we were playing against a Dream Team,” Guerrero told the interviewer. “Nobody believed in us. People thought they were just going to beat us easily from the beginning.”
Ohtani, however, was not the toughest matchup for the Jays, according to their highest-paid player.
“Facing Ohtani really wasn’t that difficult, honestly,” Guerrero said. “(Yoshinobu) Yamamoto was. He was nasty. He was the MVP. He takes the bat out of your hands. That guy keeps the ball down at your knees and strikes everybody out.”
Yamamoto stymied Jays hitters in three World Series outings, including in Game 7 when he came out of the bullpen in the bottom of the ninth to squash a potentially game-winning — and Series-winning — Toronto rally, then retired six of eight batters in extra innings to seal the Dodgers’ second straight championship.
Ohtani Struggled in World Series Mound Outings
Ohtani started Game 7 for the Dodgers and was roughed up for three runs on five hits in just 2 2/3 innings, including a three-run blast by Bo Bichette in the third inning. In his second season with the Dodgers after signing a 10-year, $700 million free-agent contract, Ohtani was also shaky in Game 4, lasting six innings but allowing four runs and taking the loss.
Guerrero faced Ohtani six times in the World Series with only one hit and a walk. But his lone hit was a Game 4, third-inning two-run home run. That means, in his small sample size against the Dodgers superstar, Guerrero put together an OPS of .833 — not much different from his .848 OPS for all seven World Series games.
The Blue Jays slugger has only nine plate appearances in his career, outside of last year’s World Series, against Ohtani. But he has three hits including a double and a homer, to go with a walk and two strikeouts in his limited experience against Ohtani, adding to an OPS of 1.319.
Of all hitters who have faced Ohtani at least nine times, the highest OPS belongs to new Chicago White Sox outfielder Jarred Kelenic at 1.400. Guerrero is third behind his Toronto teammate George Springer at 1.367 in 15 plate appearances.
Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering Japan Pro Baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin
More Heavy on Blue Jays
Loading more stories