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Blue Jays star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has powerful take on ALCS comeback bid
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- Blue Jays star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has powerful take on ALCS comeback bid
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The Blue Jays didn't just stay alive in this ALCS — they roared back into it. After two punchless losses at home, Toronto's lineup detonated in Game 3 at T-Mobile Park, pounding the Mariners 13–4 to trim the series deficit to 2–1 and flip the tone of October in a single night.
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No one embodied the reset more than Vladimir Guerrero Jr . Held hitless in seven at-bats in Toronto, he authored a perfect 4-for-4 in Seattle with two doubles and a homer, a loud answer to any early-series doubts. His postgame message matched the production. "We believe in us, we know what kind of team we are. To us, it's one day at a time and one pitch at a time…" Guerrero told MLB Network's Jon Morosi, framing the comeback bid in simple, sturdy terms.
The Jays needed that belief. Seattle jumped ahead on Julio Rodríguez 's first-inning two-run homer, and George Kirby looked like more of the same through two scoreless. Then Toronto went to work — and didn't stop. In the third, No. 9 hitter Andrés Giménez tied it with a two-run shot, Ernie Clement punched a double, and Daulton Varsho scorched a two-run laser to the right-field wall. Suddenly it was 5–2, and the dam had burst.
Blue Jays dominate the Mariners in Game 3, still face 2-1 deficit
John Froschauer-Imagn Images
The approach was decisive: attack early counts and heaters. All eight hits off Kirby came at 1–1 or earlier, and Toronto stacked high-exit-velocity contact, posting 13 balls in play at 100+ mph (11 for hits) after managing just 10 such balls total across Games 1 and 2. The exclamation points came in waves — George Springer 's 431-foot blast to center, Guerrero's no-doubt drive an inning later, and Alejandro Kirk 's opposite-field three-run homer to blow it open.
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On the mound, Shane Bieber settled after the J-Rod jolt, leaning off-speed (sliders/curves/cutters/changeups) and generating 17 whiffs across six innings. Seattle trimmed cosmetics late, but the night belonged to Toronto's bats — 18 hits, five homers, seven extra-base knocks — a stunning contrast to the .131 average and zero extra-base hits at Rogers Centre.
The road team has won each game so far — a trend the Jays would happily extend. Game 4 brings another storyline: 41-year-old Max Scherzer gets his first postseason start of 2025 with a chance to square the series before it pivots back to Canada.
One rout doesn't clinch anything. But it reasserts identity. And with Guerrero locked in and the clubhouse echoing his mantra — one day, one pitch at a time — the ALCS suddenly feels like a series again.
Related: Blue Jays' John Schneider gives props to Addison Barger for ALCS Game 3 home run
Related: Blue Jays' Shane Bieber details long path to ALCS Game 3 start
