The Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners gave baseball fans a series to remember in the first seven-game ALCS in five years. The top-seeded Blue Jays won Game 7 at home in comeback fashion to deliver the team’s first American League pennant since 1993.
The Blue Jays also became just the second team in the last nine MLB Game 7s to get the job done as the home team. Toronto now prepares to meet the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series with hopes of stopping back-to-back titles for the reigning champions.
The back-and-forth series between Seattle and Toronto brought the best out of each team’s superstars to thrill fans with several highlight moments.
Here are three studs and three duds from the 2025 ALCS.
STUDS
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
The 2025 ALCS MVP continued the greatest postseason hitting performance in Blue Jays franchise history.
Guerrero Jr. shredded the New York Yankees in the ALDS (.529 average, 1.609 OPS) and didn’t slow down against Seattle. He posted a 1.330 OPS in the seven-game set with three more home runs to drive Toronto’s talented lineup. The big slugger signed a 14-year extension for $500 million before the season and immediately brought his best in his efforts to deliver a championship to Toronto.
George Springer
The 2017 World Series MVP added another heroic chapter to his storied career as one of the greatest postseason performers of the modern generation.
Springer fought through multiple nagging injuries to drive in seven runs in the series. He homered on the first pitch the Blue Jays saw in Game 1 and later provided the series-changing swing with a go-ahead, three-run home run in the seventh inning of Game 7 that reignited a raucous Rogers Centre crowd.
Mariners’ Big Bats
Cal Raleigh (AL-record 65 home runs in 2025, including postseason) nearly dragged Seattle’s big bats to the World Series. He homered four times and his game-tying solo shot paved the way for Eugenio Suarez’s game-winning grand slam to win Game 5 in Seattle.
Julio Rodriguez added three more home runs in the series while Seattle posted a .755 OPS as a team.
DUDS
Trey Yesavage
The rookie right-hander could not carry over his dominant outing from the ALDS when he no-hit the Yankees into the middle innings of Game 2 with 11 strikeouts. He struggled against the Mariners in Game 2. His improved outing in Game 6 to force the decisive game Monday night still posted a 6.52 ERA in 9 2/3 innings during the ALCS. Despite the regression from one round to the next, the Blue Jays should feel outstanding about their young starter.
George Kirby
Another young starter, this time for Seattle, pitched to the tale of two starts. Kirby gave the Mariners four innings of one-run ball in Game 7, though that came after the Blue Jays tagged him for eight runs in Game 3, which sparked a turning point for the eventual AL champions.
Mariners (History)
Seattle, after winning the first two games on the road, eventually came within nine outs of the franchise’s first-ever trip to the World Series. Toronto’s Game 7 comeback ensured that drought will continue for the Mariners for at least another season in the team’s 48-year history.
More MLB: World Series History Points Toward Blue Jays Toppling Dodgers
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