Bo’s Emotional Return to Toronto
Blue Jays hang on for 2-1 win over Mets in series opener
It had been 209 days in the making for Monday night’s bittersweet reunion at the Rogers Centre of Bo Bichette and the Blue Jays, ever since the dramatic and emotional Game 7 loss to the Dodgers in one of the great World Series of this century.
Yes, Bichette had been back to Rogers Centre to pack his gear in the clubhouse, a day after that devastating Nov. 1, 2025 loss, a winner-take-all for the title, a game which for a time looked like it would end with Bo’s career highlight cemented as a Canadian sports hero, his three-run homer in the third. It would have been that roundtripper, if it remained a Game 7 winning blast that would be remembered by Jays fans forever.
But that didn’t happen and on Monday, as he jogged up the steps from the clubhouse with his familiar pre-game cutoff sleeves, emerging into the dugout for a scheduled pre-game presser, he scanned the field for the first time in a Mets uniform. Then he tried to hold it together. He failed.
“I didn’t expect that (emotion), to be honest,” Bichette said, eyes glistening with honest feelings as he surveyed the field upon which he and Vlad used to roam and rule together. “But this was also the first time that I had been out here and the first time that I had talked to any of you (media) guys. So, I mean, I’m sure a lot of things just came out of me at one time.”
Bichette’s honest reaction to returning to the only major-league home he had known was nice to see for normal human beings. But in the world of macho athletes, in a faux-tough social media world, in which showing real emotion in public as an elite athlete must mean you are soft, there are those that will choose to believe Bo Bichette is soft. Manager John Schneider is not one of those.
“Bo was kind of playing on one leg,” Schneider described the Fall Classic grit he witnessed from his shortstop turned second-baseman, activated for the final round of playoffs following a long stint on the IL. “The fact that he did what he did and played a new position was pretty remarkable for missing six weeks. Then asking him to go hit fourth in your first World Series. It’s just kind of telling for who he is as a competitor. He tried to ramp it up earlier in the post-season and kind of had a setback. He easily could have said, I’m not gonna…but it was, no, I’m going to keep going. So, yeah, he was playing hurt.”
But two hours before his Jays scoreboard tribute was cheered loudly by the fans, he found himself talking to a familiar Blue Jays media group, Bo tried his best to answer a series of friendly-fire questions to explain, among other things, his relationship with Vlad Guerrero Jr, with the city and its fans.
“Baseball life is crazy and we’re all caught up in our own world,” Bichette started. “I think (awkward pause) I gave it everything I had (long glistening pause) that’s for sure.”
Then he regrouped.
“I think this is an opportunity for me to reflect on good times. You dream of getting in the situation, getting that opportunity. I’m so grateful that (Vlad and me) had that experience, got there with a dream of winning it. I don’t know how many times I’ve replayed (Game 7), but it comes to mind, every once in a while.”
Recall it was the third inning of Game 7 and, Shohei Ohtani had just issued an intentional pass to a red-hot Guerrero Jr. to get to Bichette. That’s a slap-in-the-face challenge and an insult to many proud players. Bo responded in kind with a first-pitch 3-run bomb to deep right centre for a 3-0 lead.
“It was pretty fitting it was the first pitch, after they walked Vlad,” Schneider said. “I haven’t even asked Bo this, but I have a feeling that what was going in his head was, ‘You’re going to walk this guy to get to me?’ It was probably in his brain a little bit.
“But I remember that swing, watching how far the ball went. I’ll always remember him and Vlad, like Vlad waiting for him at home plate. It’s like, oh shit, if this is ever going to be what it should be for those two guys, it’s Game 7 of the World Series and you felt pretty good about it. I remember taking a little snapshot in my head of that.”
But history will show there was too much time left in the game and the Dodgers had their own secret weapon, the tireless Yosh Yamamoto combined with a devastating piece of scared baserunning by the Jays, with Isiah Kiner Falefa on third, with the bases loaded and a chance to walk it off. But Bo on this Monday was only asked about the return from injury and his dramatic home run.
There was a moment in Monday’s 2-1 Jays win over the Mets when Schneider walked another Dominican slugger, Juan Soto, to get to Bichette. Did the Jays skipper have a flashback moment with a little fear of what happens when you make Bo mad?
“For sure,” Schneider admitted. “We talked about it before the game. “Soto’s an unbelievable hitter and Bo’s right there with him. So I thought about what we talked about before the game. It doesn’t feel great for a dude (Bichette) that has the numbers he does with runners in scoring position, no matter who he’s facing. But it just made sense to try and get him on the ground.”
Prior to the game, Bo had talked about his hard work to get back to the active roster for the Series, even at a new position, with Andres Gimenez taking over at short.
“It was a difficult time for me leading up to that World Series,” Bo said. “Going through the injury. Working really hard to get to a point with that team where we were making a run. That’s a part of it, then having to go out to play the World Series, not at full strength.
“Just a lot going on for me at that time that I knew I was capable of and I knew that if I went out there and competed and gave what I had, I could do something special. Honestly, when I hit that home run, I had a moment by myself kind of down in the tunnel where I just was thinking, couldn’t have drew it up better. I hoped we would have won, but for me, just what I was going through up to that point, it was cool for me.”
The two Jays stars were joined at the hip for nine years. Bichette was drafted in 2016 and Vlad was signed a year earlier as an international free agent. The two future stars came through the minors in seeming lockstep, from 2016 on, each making his MLB debut in 2019. That’s nine seasons of sharing a World Series dream.
“We went through it all together,” Bo explained with tears welling up once again. “The one goal we had together, we didn’t accomplish here. I’ve seen him at his lowest. He’s seen me at mine. And vice-versa. We went from teammates as kids to …”
He could not continue the thought because of secret thoughts racing through his head and so this cathartic moment, his, uncomfortable, dugout press conference was over … the same way it had started, with real, unbridled emotion.
Welcome back, Bo.