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For the first time since 1993, the Toronto Blue Jays are heading to the World Series.
And they can thank the man who has won one for the chance.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, with runners on second and third with nobody out, George Springer stepped to the plate with the chance to tie a 3-1 ball game in favor of the Seattle Mariners, a team desperate for its first-ever World Series appearance in franchise history.
Springer decided to do one better, sitting on a fastball from Eduard Bazardo and launching it over the left field fence to take a 4-3 lead. That was the swing needed for the Blue Jays to cement their American League pennant victory.
The Blue Jays will now face the reigning-champion Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 of the World Series on Friday night.
This was a series filled with theatrics from the very start, but the Blue Jays found themselves heading back home down 3-2 in the series and needing two straight victories to be crowned pennant winners. They made that happen on Sunday night, as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Addison Barger delivered home runs to force a win-or-go-home Game 7.
But Monday night didn’t start the way Toronto would’ve liked, as Josh Naylor put Seattle ahead early with an RBI single to score Julio Rodriguez. However, Daulton Varsho, who has been another clutch Blue Jays hitter throughout the postseason, smacked a single to center to score Springer to knot the game at one apiece.
Then, in the top of the third inning, Rodriguez got the Mariners back on top, belting a solo home run to deep left center field. And who other than Cal Raleigh, the AL MVP hopeful, coming through when his team needed him with a solo home run himself to make it a 3-1 ball game in the top of the fifth inning.
With the Mariners’ pitching staff being one of the best in baseball all year, there were options for who to deploy late in the game considering it was an all-hands-on-deck situation. Mariners manager Dan Wilson went with Bryan Woo after George Kirby gave him four innings, and Woo gave him clean fifth and sixth innings.
But Woo opened the door with a walk to Barger to begin the seventh inning, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa woke up Rogers Centre with a single that left runners on first and second with nobody out. After Andres Gimenez moved them over with a sacrifice bunt, Bazardo came in to face Springer.
Springer came out on top.
Jeff Hoffman finished off the Mariners in the ninth inning, striking out all three batters, including Rodriguez, to start the celebration.
The Blue Jays are hoping they can do what that team did in 1993, as the Toronto team secured back-to-back World Series titles that season.
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