Toronto, Canada.- On Sunday night, before a packed and vibrant Rogers Centre, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. wrote his name in the history of the Toronto Blue Jays by hitting his sixth postseason home run during Game 6 of the American League Championship Series against the Seattle Mariners.
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In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Dominican slugger punished a curveball from Logan Gilbert, sending the ball 384 feet from home plate with an exit velocity of 102.6 miles per hour, extending Toronto’s lead to 5-0 on the scoreboard. With that hit, Guerrero tied the franchise record for most career postseason home runs (6), sharing the mark with his predecessors José Bautista and Joe Carter.
Most notably: Guerrero reached that figure in just one postseason and in only 10 games, while Bautista needed 20 and Carter 29 to achieve it.
“I am very happy, but that is not my goal”, Guerrero expressed after the game. “My goal is to win and help us get to the World Series”.
The 26-year-old hitter continues to star in an exceptional postseason. With his two hits on Sunday, he added 18 hits in these playoffs, ranking fourth in franchise history for a single postseason, behind Paul Molitor (21), Roberto Alomar (19) and Devon White (19), who reached those figures in 1993, the year of Toronto’s last championship.
Guerrero had already surpassed Bautista’s mark (4) for most home runs in a single postseason with his hit in Game 4 in Seattle, and with Sunday’s he extended that new mark to six home runs.
In the current Championship Series, Guerrero presents an offensive line of “.409/.519/.955” (OPS of “1.474”) with three home runs. In total, throughout the postseason, he bats “.462/.532/1.000”, with six home runs and 12 RBIs, establishing himself as one of the most dominant figures of October.
Guerrero Jr.’s power has been the engine of an offense that keeps the Blue Jays’ hopes alive of reaching their first World Series since 1993. His next challenge: the decisive Game 7 against the Mariners, with the ticket to the Fall Classic at stake.
