Heading into Monday night, some Toronto Blue Jays fans were nervous when they saw the team’s star slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. wearing an Auston Matthews jersey ahead of crucial do-or-die game against the Seattle Mariners.
Led by Matthews, the Maple Leafs haven’t been able to make it past the second round of the NHL playoffs in the last nine seasons. The club has also lost all three Game 7s they’ve played during Matthews’ time and the Maple Leafs haven’t been to a conference final since the since the 2001-02 season.
“I’m not going to lie. I was a little worried. I would have loved to see him repping a Kawhi (Leonard) jersey back from the Raptors’ 2019 championship season,” Toronto’s Nathan Kerr, 22, said. “But Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is not Auston Matthews — he knows how to win ballgames. This team knows how to win ballgames, and now we’re going to the World Series.”
McNeil wasn’t worried by Vladdy’s outfit, though. “He walked in wearing Matthews’ jersey and it was game over.”
Vladdy, who inked a 14-year, $500-million extension with the Blue Jays earlier this season, was named the ALCS MVP after batting .385 and notching three home runs against Seattle. During this year’s postseason run, he has six homers and 12 RBIs and has struck out only three times.
“The curse is over! Call (Sportsnet hosts) Jeff Blair and Kevin Barker. Get Blair on the phone,” longtime fan Joe Dibiase proclaimed. “Vladdy is locked in. You saw it for two series in a row. He’s so locked in.”
Like Kerr, season ticket holder Zahid Sarfraz, who went to all 81 home games during the regular season, was uneasy when he caught a glimpse of Vladdy’s Game 7 fit on social media.
“When I saw he was wearing a Maple Leafs jersey, I worried about a curse,” Sarfraz said. “All I can say now is, the curse is over, baby!”
“I think Vladdy broke the curse by wearing Auston Matthews’ jersey here today,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider told The Athletic post-game.
Toronto rapper Drake, who has been known to jinx the teams he roots for, celebrated the win on Instagram, recording closer Jeff Hoffman’s final outs in the ninth inning. MLB shared footage of his watch party with the caption: “Drake was losing his mind after the Blue Jays punched their ticket to the World Series.”
‘This can’t be topped’
Fans of the Blue Jays celebrated into the early hours of Tuesday morning as the team booked a trip to the World Series against the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
Toronto, which started the American League Championship Series down 0-2 against Seattle, won Game 7 after George Springer hit a three-run homer that gave the Blue Jays a 4-3 lead and the series victory Monday night at Rogers Centre.
“I’m 29 years old … I remember going to the ballpark with my grandfather and those were memories we had together. These are moments right here. These are moments where you become a fan, right here,” Toronto native Braydon McNeil told the Sun as he watched the team celebrate on the field. “It’s incredible. It’s amazing to be a part of it. There’s no better feeling than to be a Toronto Blue Jays fan fight now. No better feeling.”
McNeil, who had tickets with his brother Matt along the third base line, said that he became a fan of the Blue Jays watching games with his grandfather as a boy.
“My granddad has been gone for 20 years now — God rest his soul. Tonight is for him and anyone that’s ever been a Blue Jays fan,” he said.
Matt wasn’t even alive when slugger Joe Carter hit his game-winning homer over the left-field wall in 1993 and powered the Blue Jays to the team’s second consecutive World Series title.
“I never thought I would see this in my lifetime,” he told the Sun as this year’s beer-soaked hero Springer returned to the field, shirtless and waving a Blue Jays flag. “So I bawled my eyes out when this happened. This is all you can ask for as a Jays fan. Honestly … we got what we deserved, and we deserved this.”
Starting the year, Kerr said his hope for the 2025 season was to see the team sign Vladdy to a long-term contract. “I was just hoping that Vladdy would stay so we could have 10, 15 years of relevance going forward,” he said, fighting back tears. ” If you would have told me at the start of the season we’d be here, I would have said you were crazy. But that’s one thing about Toronto — we don’t give up hope.”
“I’m here through the highs and the lows and this season has just been high,” Sarfraz added. “Springer and Vladdy brought the heat.”
On the field afterwards, Vladdy called his teammates his “family.”
Meanwhile, Springer, who won a 2017 World Series title with the Houston Astros, called the victory and his 23rd career playoff homer “so special.”
“I love this city and these fans,” Springer told the Sun. “There’s a ton of ways to win a baseball game and that’s what we do.”
Game 1 gets underway at 8 p.m. this Friday from Rogers Centre.