Everything Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has done to this point in his career has led to this. A marquee matchup for his Toronto Blue Jays against Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series.
You might remember that Vladdy spent a few years telling all who would listen how much he 'hates' the Yankees and loves to beat them. He even, at one point, said he would never consider playing for them even if he 'was dead.'
Now it's time to put his money (and he's got plenty of it now— half a billion dollars worth) where his mouth is.
When it comes to the regular season, Guerrero Jr. has been a Yankee-killer over his career.
In 102 career games against the Bronx Bombers, Vladdy has some incredible numbers, with a .302 average, .550 slugging pct., .918 OPS, along with 22 HR and 74 RBIs.
But let's turn our attention for a moment to what has been Guerrero's Achilles Heel in his career: When the lights are brighest. The postseason. Granted, it's a small sample size, but the face of the Blue Jays franchise, the man who's supposed to carry them to the promised land, has, in six playoff games, batted .136 (3-for-22) with a .536 OPS, zero home runs and one solitary RBI.
Ok, so 'small sample size', as I mentioned. But let's look at the stretch drive this season when the Jays were under extreme pressure from the Yankees to try to hang on to first place in the AL East. In his last 14 games of the season, while the Jays were choking away a five-game lead in the division (only to clinch on the final day, due to a tiebreaker), Vlad batted .164 with a .182 slug and a .375 OPS. Zero homers.
In fact, his last time leaving the yard was a full month ago, on September 5th.
Maybe seeing that Yankees logo on his opponents will awaken that fire within Vladdy in the ALDS. Maybe his Yankee hatred will outweight his postseason blahs and his recent skid.
The Blue Jays certainly have to hope that's the case. Because even though we know that a huge part of Toronto's success this season has been the gritty, grind-it-out offense of the 'Average Joes' throughout the lineup , they're going to need the $500 Million Man to step up and lead this team by example. It's often the big stars that lead a team to a successful World Series run. Now, more than ever, Guerrero Jr. has to be the biggest of stars on the Rogers Centre stage.
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