For years, he’s come into the Yankees’ house and delivered one big moment after another. Until it all fell apart on the Blue Jays in Tuesday’s 9-6 loss, it looked like he’d just delivered his biggest one yet.
Guerrero launched a two-run shot off Carlos Rodón to give Toronto an early 2-0 lead, his third home run in three games. Guerrero is finally stepping into superstardom on the biggest stage in baseball, finally delivering the postseason moments the Blue Jays have spent the past decade dreaming about since they signed the young prodigy out of the Dominican Republic and developed him into the face of their franchise, a $500 million man.
“It’s been unbelievable,” said teammate Addison Barger. “He’s great right now, and helping us try to win, doing everything he can. He’s an awesome player.”
Still up 2-1 in the ALDS but now reeling after letting their 6-1 lead spiral into the Game 3 loss, all of the Blue Jays’ hopes still rest on Vladdy. When Guerrero is playing like this, they’ll always have a “but,” even in the ugly moments.
Shane Bieber didn’t give the Blue Jays what they needed, four consecutive relievers gave up a run and their defense was uncharacteristically poor, but … they still have Vladdy, the hottest hitter in this Division Series and any other. Blow for blow, this is also turning into a classic series between Guerrero and Aaron Judge, whose three-run blast off the left-field foul pole in the fourth was the moment of the night.
“I think him and Vlad are kind of taking their game to a different level, you know what I mean?” said manager John Schneider. “You can look at those two guys as really rising to the occasion.”
This Guerrero blast was another no-doubter to left-center field, complete with all the choreography that Yankees fans love to hate. The boos rained down on Guerrero, just as they did on the Canadian national anthem, the country Guerrero was born in when his father played for the Montreal Expos and the country he’s chosen to call home as the face of this organization for the next 14 years. Sixteen times, he’s homered at Yankee Stadium in the regular season, but none like this.
On the field, Guerrero is a one-man party. Between games, though, he’s been stoic. It feels like he’s evolved in a way, focused like we’ve never seen him before.
“My emotions are neutral,” Guerrero said coming into New York. “It’s not time to celebrate. It’s time to put your head down. It’s not over. There’s a lot of work to do still. Until we win the third game, then I guess emotions will be different, and we’ll celebrate.”
It’s not shocking that Guerrero was able to make solid contact off Rodón. Entering Tuesday, the Yankees’ lefty had faced Guerrero 21 times in their respective careers, and exactly zero of those times ended in a strikeout. In the regular season, Guerrero has 10 hits, four walks and a .588/.667/.941 line against Rodón, with only four swing-and-misses among the 78 pitches that he’s seen.
Rodón is the only pitcher that Guerrero has faced more than 16 times without a strikeout. Guerrero is the only batter Rodón has faced at least 15 times without a strikeout.
Guerrero is now the only player in Blue Jays history to homer in three consecutive postseason games. This is also the Blue Jays’ ninth home run in their first three games as a team, tying them for second in postseason history with the 1995 Yankees, trailing only the 2020 Yankees. Guerrero is the second player in MLB history with a homer and multiple RBIs in each of his first three games of a single postseason — the other was Hank Aaron in 1969.
Davis Schneider’s excellent at-bat in front of Guerrero made this one a two-run shot, adding to an incredible string of moments Guerrero is having in the ALDS.
In Game 1 of the series, Guerrero’s first-inning home run shook off the anxiety of the big stage for a fanbase that had just watched as the Blue Jays came all too close to handing the division back to the Yankees in the final days of the season. In Game 2, Guerrero hit the first grand slam in Blue Jays postseason history to blow the game wide open. All of this comes after Guerrero had a quiet ending to the season himself, but this is always what he’s been capable of.
Finally, Guerrero’s incredible talents are showing up on baseball’s biggest stage, and he’s doing it all in New York, his favorite (American) city to put on a show for.
