Blue Jays dream season continues after Game 7 comeback vs. M’s

Springer’s Kirk Gibson moment burying M’s on wounded knee

The moment Blue Jays fans across the country will forever remember came in the bottom of the seventh inning, trailing by a pair, with Blue Jays on second and third. Up to the plate stepped the team’s, season-long, offensive catalyst George Springer to face M’s hard-throwing setup man, Eduard Bazardo. The Jays DH had been 0-for-6 with a pair of walks in two games since he was hit on the right knee on Friday in Game 5 at Seattle and forced to leave. Every swing and miss seemed to bring him to his knees. But then came that one swing and a blast that turned the game around producing a 4-3 Jays lead that became the final score. Six Mariner outs later, the Jays were headed to their third World Series in the 49 years of the franchise.

There are so many comparisons to that soon-to-be-legendary Game 7 moment. Earlier in the game, first-base umpire Doug Eddings had ruled “no swing’ on a 1-2 Shane Bieber pitch to Julio Rodriguez that was clearly a swing and a strikeout not called. Three pitches later, J-Rod drove a pitch deep to left for a homer and a 2-1 M’s lead. Would that be the moment that cost the Jays the series?

I felt the same about that moment as I had 10 years earlier when a Russell Martin throwback hit the bat of Rangers’ fidgety Shin-Soo Choo, allowing Rougned Odor to scoot home from third. While covering at the time for The Star, I immediately turned to my seat-mate and said “the baseball gods will not allow that play to decide the game.” Then came the seventh-inning swing, tyhe glare and the Bautista bat flip. Move ahead 10 years to Monday night and the seventh inning Springer heroics.

The home run sailed over the heads of Jeff Hoffman in the bullpen. It was the moment the relievers had been waiting for as a group … the chance to finally protect a lead in a game that would take them to a World Series. After Kevin Gausman navigated the seventh and Chris Bassitt dominated the eighth, Hoffman came in and adrenalized the ninth, striking out the side, ending it fittingly with a full count K of J-Rod.

“There’s no way to measure clutch, but George has shown time and time again that he can go out and do that,” Hoffman said of the winning homer. “It’s amazing to watch him. You can see him navigating moments in his mind and I’ve heard him talk about it. So, in that moment you just feel so many emotions. Many for him and the season he’s had, but mainly for this country with one swing of the bat.

“It’s obvious. He’s done it time and time again in the post-season. He’s shown it again, now, in a different city, a different country. All these different thigs and he’s the same guy. He’s one of the best to do it in the post-season, all time and we’re glad he’s on our side.”

Guerrero, the perpetual man-chid, blessed with the bat to ball skills of his Hall-of-Fame father but with the patience for the job, was named MVP of the series, making his half-billion-dollar extension seem like a solid investment by ownership for the next 14 years. At 26-years-old. He is clearly the face of the Blue Jays franchise. Schneider sees it and as a career member of the organization was eager to elaborate.

“I feel like I’m part Canadian,” Schneider began, while being doused by reliever Louis Varland. “I love drinking beer. I like Tim Horton’s. I’m one of them. To have everyone, coast-to-coast be part of this is something special.

“I think Vladdy broke the curse by wearing Auston Matthews jersey in here (on the way into the ballpark). I’m just really happy for the city and the country. Besides my wife and my kids, this organization is what I live for and what I’ve devoted my adult life to. I don’t take it lightly. I know there’s scrutiny and second guessing that comes with the job and that’s fine. I get it. That’s okay. But I will do everything in my power to do what’s right for this organization and this entire country. So, for me, it’s kind of a surreal moment.”

The Jays have never lost in two previous trips to the Fall Classic, beating the Braves in 1992, for the first championship outside of the United States, then repeating in ’93 on Joe Carter’s dramatic walk-off blast against Phillies’ closer Mitch Williams. Thirty-two years later they will now be facing their toughest challenge in the Los Angeles Dodgers and the deepest team that money can buy. The Jays are decided underdogs, but the baseball gods don’t care.

There was a question going to Game 7 of whether it was best for the Jays to replace Springer at leadoff and as DH because of his lingering discomfort. Schneider, this time, made the decision with his heart, not his head.

In his first three plate appearances, Springer had made two weak outs and a walk. Then he stepped in for his moment. It was suggested to manager Schneider that Springer’s game-winner, burying the M’s on wounded knee, was akin to Kirk Gibson’s legendary pinch-hit homer for the Dodgers in Game 1 of the ’88 World Series, on one healthy leg, off Dennis Eckersley in game 1 of the ‘88 World Series, but for a new generation of baseball fans, who weren’t yet born, this emotional blast will have to suffice.

“He might be a little healthier than Gibson,” Schneider laughed. “But I’m just so happy for Georgie because he’s the heart and soul of our team. Him and Vlad are just like the heavy lifters, but it’s really cool that they both got their moment today.”

For such a meaningful game for the franchise, a win-or-go-home affair, it had been rather tame and lifeless through six innings, with the Jays unable to generate much offence vs. George Kirby and Bryan Woo. But in the seventh, after Gausman had navigated his way through a three-walk frame, including an intentional pass to Cal Raleigh with nobody on, the pressure became on Hoffman and the Jays to win or go home. They chose to win.It was a moment Schneider and his pitching coach Pete Walker had been feeling deep down since early in spring training, as they strapped it on with this special group. Twenty-six hearts. One heartbeat.

“We had a quiet confidence about us from a very, very early point in spring training,” Schneider explained. “Just with the players and the people we put in here. We knew. Everyone predicted us to finish last in the division and be a 75-win team or whatever the hell it was. We knew that and we didn’t give a shit. It’s an amazing body of work from so many people. The players go out and do it.”

Now comes the Dodgers and the need for four more wins to complete the task. And, by the way, it can be confirmed, Shohei Ohtani IS on a flight to Toronto.