The Toronto Blue Jays have offered a strong response to their disappointing World Series loss at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
After coming up just short in extra innings of Game 7 of the Fall Classic, the Blue Jays have returned with an overhauled roster, earning a series sweep of the Athletics in their opening and setting a significant Major League Baseball record in the process.
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“Kevin Gausman set a Blue Jays Opening Day record by striking out 11 batters in six innings Friday,” the Associated Press reported. “Dylan Cease fanned 12 Saturday, the most by any pitcher making his Blue Jays debut. Eric Lauer struck out nine Sunday as Toronto won the finale 5-2… The 50 strikeouts tied the franchise record for the most in a single series.”
Logging 50 strikeouts in the first three games also set an MLB milestone and it offered a good sign for a Blue Jays team that is dead set on returning to the World Series.
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And the offensive side offered some exciting signs as well, with franchise slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. slashing .400/.571/.400 with four hits and four walks in his first 10 at-bats.
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It was a strong continuation of the heroics Guerrero displayed in the World Series last year, when he logged 10 hits and two homers in 30 at-bats.
Recently, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman revealed just how impressed he was by Guerrero’s performance during that series.
“That was all very fitting for him in this series,” Friedman said while rewatching a double that Guerrero hit in the final half-inning of Game 7, according to ESPN’s Buster Olney. “That at-bat was incredible.”
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Los Angeles Dodgers’ Andrew Friedman Praises Toronto Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr
Friedman has seen quite a few heroic World Series at-bats in his time with the Dodgers, including multiple walk-off homers from his own Freddie Freeman and a go-ahead homer from Dodgers catcher Will Smith in the 11th inning of Game 7 last year. And his team has faced off against some fierce competitors in the World Series over the years, including the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge and two pitchers who would later join his team in Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow.
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But he suggested that Guerrero had surpassed all of those opposing players in one key way when he shared a message with the Blue Jays first baseman’s agent.
“I can’t remember seeing a player on the other side where their desire to win was so palpable,” Friedman said Guerrero’s agent, Barry Praver, per Olney. “Watching his at-bats, watching him in the dugout, with his teammates, it felt so important to him.”
With a potential return to the World Series at the forefront for the Blue Jays this season, the team will be hoping Guerrero can maintain that desire for another campaign. And there seems to be a good chance he will have an opportunity to face off against Friedman’s club once again.