Having a tough time following along with the MLB postseason? Just want to relive the best moments?
Don’t worry, we’re here to help you by figuring out what you missed but shouldn’t have. Here are all the best moments from last night in Major League Baseball:
The Blue Jays’ bats woke up
There were two important things to consider when it came to the Mariners going up 2-0 in the ALCS. The first: it was just two games. The second? The Blue Jays are a great baseball team. The Mariners are, too, and Game 3 was the Jays getting back up off of the floor to hit back.
Toronto would end up winning, 13-4, dominating nearly the entire way through — half of Seattle’s runs were scored in the eighth, well after the Jays had made it clear that, barring one of the great all-time postseason comebacks, this one was their dub.
While the Mariners scored early and first with a 2-run dinger from Julio Rodríguez in the first, that was it for their scoring for the next seven frames. Toronto would respond in the third, with Andres Gimenes hitting a 2-run home run, then George Kirby uncorking a wild pitch with the bases loaded to give the Jays the lead.
Daulton Varsho would then double in Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Alejandro Kirk to put Toronto up 5-2, and that would end up being the game-winner. There was a lot of game left to go, though. George Springer would go yard in the fourth, then Guerrero would hit his own in the fifth, giving the Jays a 7-2 lead before an Ernie Clement single made it 8-3.
Nathan Lukes would make it 9-2 on a ground out in the sixth, with Kirk following that with a genuine big blast, a 3-run bomb that scored Springer and Guerrero.
While the Mariners would plate two runs on back-to-back home runs by Randy Arozarena and Cal Raleigh, Toronto answered once more with a shot from Addison Barger in the ninth. That was the fifth home run allowed on the day by Mariners’ pitching, which had been so good in the series until Game 3.
Game 4 will be played in Seattle at 8:33 p.m. ET, on FS1. Max Scherzer will make his first appearance this postseason as Toronto’s starter, going up against Luis Castillo. Like with Game 2 starter George Kirby, knowing which version of Scherzer is going to show up is a bit of a dice roll, but Castillo has had the kind of season that should make Mariners fans feel good about Game 4. Well, as good as any team that’s never made a World Series and just got crushed at home can feel the day after, anyway.
What’s going on here
Blowout boredom? An arcane ritual to help the Mariners out? We already have rally caps, stick to that next time.
Just ignore the sign, Vlad
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was a triple shy of the cycle, and then hit a ball to right center. He stopped on second base instead of trying for third, which is understandable except for one thing: what’s the worst that could have happened if you went for it instead? You get thrown out in a game the Blue Jays are already leading 12-3 in the eighth inning?
Hey, FOX Sports’ own Derek Jeter agrees, and he’s in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Bieber was dealing
Don’t let it be lost amid the offensive explosion, but Shane Bieber, Toronto’s Game 3 starter, looked great. He gave up that first inning homer to Rodríguez, yes, but check that line as a whole. He allowed just those runs, 4 hits total, a lone walk, went six innings and struck out 8 Mariners.
Bieber won the 2020 AL Cy Young award with the Guardians, and was traded at the deadline this July while still rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. He looked pretty good — though susceptible to the long ball — in the 40.1 innings he compiled with Toronto before the season ended, then struggled in the ALDS against the Yankees, lasting just 2.2 innings. If the Blue Jays can survive the ALCS — or even push it to seven games — we might see Bieber again. And this version of the right-hander would be give Toronto a real chance to win this round, and the whole thing.
Springer moves on up
George Springer has long been a postseason hero. He was the 2017 World Series MVP with the Astros, and is a career .267/.343/.541 hitter across 17 playoff series and 344 plate appearances within them — his .884 postseason OPS is actually higher than his career regular season one of .831.
In Game 3, Springer hit a home run, his 22nd career postseason dinger. That tied him for fourth all-time with Yankees’ postseason legend Bernie Williams.
That puts him one behind Kyle Schwarber, five behind former teammate Jose Altuve and nine behind the all-time leader, Manny Ramirez. Springer is 35, so it’s difficult to say if he can move all the way up to where Ramirez sits. But even “just” fourth is pretty great for a guy not even necessarily known for his home runs.
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