Blue Jays beat Mariners to force winner-take-all ALCS Game 7 showdown

Oct 19, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (27) celebrates after winning game six of the ALCS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs against the Seattle Mariners at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images

TORONTO — What do 3-6-1 and 4-6-3 and 6-4-3 add up to?

Game 7.

The Toronto Blue Jays came back from one of the most crushing losses in franchise history to force a winner-take-all battle in the American League Championship Series, using a trio of double plays in consecutive innings to deny the Seattle Mariners their first trip ever to the World Series.

Their 6-2 victory in Game 6 had its share of offensive heroes: Addison Barger and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit home runs, Guerrero equaling Joe Carter and Jose Bautista’s franchise record with his sixth long ball this postseason. Ernie Clement once again could not be kept off the bases and three Seattle errors aided the cause.

Yet this game was won in the third, fourth and fifth innings, when rookie starter Trey Yesavage courted trouble, twice loading the bases and putting runners on first and second in another.

And every time, he executed a pitch – on two occasions, his trusty split-finger fastball – to induce a double-play ball and escape damage.

Yesavage was sitting on a 4-0 lead in the top of the third when he walked leadoff man Julio Rodriguez to load the bases, J-Rod clapping his hands twice and exhorting the sleepy Mariners dugout. The tying run was at the plate. The World Series was still just, in theory, innings away.

Yet Cal Raleigh, who tied Game 5 in Seattle with a towering home run, grounded a first-pitch splitter to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who deftly threw to second with Yesavage scrambling to cover first. Inning over.

In the fourth? Two singles and a walk to Eugenio Suárez loaded the bases for shortstop J.P. Crawford. But Yesavage jumped ahead 0-2 in the count and Crawford topped a nasty one-hopper to second. Isiah Kiner-Falefa short-hopped the ball, tossed to shortstop Andrés Giménez – and already pointed skyward in exultation before Giménez made the turn to first.

Finally, Rodriguez came up in the fifth and jumped on a first-pitch fastball. Right to Giménez, for the easy 6-4-3.

The twin killings enabled Yesavage to lumber through 5 ⅔ innings, giving up just two runs and departing to a standing ovation from the Rogers Centre crowd of 44,764.

The Mariners? Well, they knew they had two chances to clinch the series, but now will be in the same boat as the Blue Jays – loser goes home. They’ll surely bemoan their many mistakes, including an error on Game 5 grand slam king Suárez that preceded a pair of RBI singles in the second.

The mistake-fest was capped by Raleigh, who looked primed to claim series MVP honors as the night began. Instead, he struck out three times, grounded into that double play and committed a throwing error that allowed Guerrero to scamper home with an insurance run in the seventh to make it 6-2 – a huge run given the state of the Toronto bullpen.

And now, Game 7. Shane Bieber and Seattle right-hander George Kirby are on turn to square off, but it will be a spikes-on night for anyone who pitches for a living.

Yesavage and his defensive mates made sure that game will come.

Here's how Game 6 unfolded

Blue Jays score another in the seventh

TORONTO - Just as the Mariners got the momentum in their favor, their defense let them down once again in ALCS Game 6.

Trailing by just three runs in the bottom of the seventh, set-up ace Matt Brash hit Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with a pitch, and he eventually advanced to third on a wild pitch and came home when Cal Raleigh threw the ball into left field trying to cut him down at third.

It made the score 6-2, and with the Blue Jays' abundant bullpen issues, the difference between 5-2 and 6-2 can't be overestimated.

Mariners score two in the sixth, Blue Jays lead 5-2

TORONTO — The Mariners are finally on the board - and have shooed rookie starter Trey Yesavage from the game.

Josh Naylor lined a home run to right field - capped by a pivot and bat flip - and the Mariners scored again to reduce the Blue Jays' lead to 5-2 in the sixth inning of ALCS Game 6.

When Randy Arozarena followed Naylor's homer with a single, manager John Schneider emerged from the dugout to get Yesavage, his walk to the mound greeted by thunderous boos from the crowd wanting to see more from the kid.

They quickly turned to cheers as Yesavage exited the mound, his night done after giving up six hits, two runs, striking out seven and most important, inducing three double-play grounders from the Mariners over 5 ⅔ innings.

Louis Varland relieved and gave up a soft single to Eugenio Suarez that landed in no-man's-land in foul territory, enabling Arozarena to score from first. But he struck out J.P. Crawford to end the inning.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. home run makes it 5-0

TORONTO — A pair of long balls and a trio of twin killings have the Blue Jays perched to force Game 7 of this ALCS.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. now stands shoulder to shoulder with Joe Carter and Jose Bautista in club history with his sixth home run of the postseason, a laser to left field that finished the night for Mariners starter Logan Gilbert and gave the Blue Jays a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth.

The insurance was nice for Blue Jays fans, but the bigger exhales came in the previous three innings, when rookie starter Trey Yesavage induced three one-out, double-play grounders - two with the bases loaded - to keep the Mariners off the scoreboard.

Addison Barger's two-run shot in the third extended the lead to 4-0.

Trey Yesavage gets another bases-loaded GIDP

For the second inning a row, Blue Jays starter Trey Yesavage induced an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded, getting J.P. Crawford to hit a hot shot to second that was fielded by Isiah Kiner-Falefa.

Addison Barger home run makes it 4-0 Blue Jays

TORONTO - The Blue Jays are determined to take this ALCS to the limit.

They struck in lightning-quick fashion with two outs in the bottom of the third inning, as Ernie Clement tripled off left field wall and Addison Barger torched his second home run of this series, a two-run shot off Logan Gilbert to give the Blue Jays a 4-0 lead heading to the fourth inning of Game 6.

Barger's 403-foot blast ignited the Rogers Centre crowd and gave rookie starter Trey Yesavage even more of a cushion to work with. Meanwhile, Gilbert has thrown 61 pitches through three innings and relievers are warming in the Mariners bullpen.

Blue Jays escape bases-loaded jam

TORONTO - Julio Rodriguez drew a walk to load the bases and clapped his hands together twice, pumping his arms toward the Mariners dugout. Down two runs, this was the moment they'd pounce on Blue Jays rookie starter Trey Yesavage and get their trip to the World Series back on track.

Instead, Yesavage needed just one pitch to steady the listing Blue Jays.

He got Raleigh to roll his trusty split-finger pitch to Vladimir Guerrero, who started a 3-6-1 double play to end the inning - and retain Toronto's 2-0 lead in ALCS Game 6.

Yesavage, visited by pitching coach Pete Walker before Raleigh came up, did not pump his fist or exhort after completing the twin killing - just casually sauntered across the diamond back to his dugout.

Many more big spots await the kid this night. But this was a big one, and he passed the test coolly.

Blue Jays take second-inning lead

TORONTO — The Mariners momentarily self-destructed. Will that be enough of an opening for the Blue Jays to force a Game 7 in this ALCS?

Toronto took advantage of a pair of Seattle errors and a do-or-die play that Game 5 hero Eugenio Suárez could not make to take a 2-0 lead after two innings of Game 6.

Yet the Blue Jays may rue not cashing in even more.

RBI singles by Addison Barger and Isiah Kiner-Falefa and a one-out walk to George Springer that loaded the bases with one out had Toronto primed for a kill.

But Mariners starter Logan Gilbert struck out Nathan Lukes and then found some good fortune - a 116-mph turf burner that Suárez managed to dive and spear and throw to second for the final out - saving at least two runs.

Still, Gilbert has thrown 47 pitches in two innings. Advantage, for now, Toronto.

Mariners-Blue Jays Game 6 underway in Toronto

TORONTO — Trey Yesavage resembled the better part of himself in the first inning of ALCS Game 6. And that's a very good omen for the Toronto Blue Jays - even better than Jose Bautista throwing out the first pitch.

Yesavage needed just nine pitches to retire the Seattle Mariners in the bottom of the first inning as he starts this must-win game with the Mariners leading the series 3-2. He struck out Cal Raleigh on a nasty slider - Yesavage walked off the mound like he knew he ripped it well - and embarked on a start he hopes is better than the four-inning, five-run effort in Game 2.

Mariners starter Logan Gilbert needed 19 pitches to retire the side in the bottom half, as George Springer worked a nine-pitch at-bat before fouling out and Nathan Lukes singled. But he got Alejandro Kirk flailing at a split-finger fastball to keep the game scoreless after one.

Blue Jays' John Schneider criticized for moves in Game 5 loss

TORONTO – John Schneider subscribes to a sage theory in this extremely online era: Never read the comments.

He has taken a beating online and even from the sports network that broadcasts Toronto Blue Jays games after the manager inserted Brendon Little into the eighth inning of Game 5 of the ALCS. As you may have heard, the move backfired terribly, the Blue Jays lost 6-2 and now they face a must-win Game 6 against the Seattle Mariners to stay alive in this ALCS.

When asked before a must-win Game 6 whether he doomscrolls late into the night, Schneider had a ready answer.

“For one, I don't have TikTok,” he says.

“Two, I don't have Twitter; and three, I could care less what people think about me other than in my clubhouse.”

Is George Springer playing tonight?

TORONTO — George Springer is back in the Blue Jays' lineup for ALCS Game 6.

Manager John Schneider had confidence Springer would return, two days after he was drilled on the right knee by a Bryan Woo fastball in Game 5. X-rays and a CT scan taken Friday were both negative, and Schneider said Springer would play if he could handle any pain.

Springer is batting .318 (7-for-22) with two homers in the ALCS, and he's hit three homers with a .933 OPS this postseason.

“It’s pretty incredible to take 97 off the kneecap and be back in the lineup," Daulton Varsho said before Game 6.

— Gabe Lacques

Eugenio Suárez riding high off grand slam

TORONTO — For the Mariners, who have two shots to vanquish the Toronto Blue Jays and capture their first AL pennant, Game 6 will represent an inflection point: Can they bottle the energy that stunning eighth-inning rally created and carry it forward?

Or will the capricious momentum swings of this series – it’s gone Mariners-Mariners-Blue Jays-Blue Jays-Mariners in the win column – threaten to make Eugenio Suárez’s epic blast a historic footnote?

Suárez knows what needs to be done.

“We got to keep that same energy,” Suárez tells USA TODAY Sports. “We gotta keep that electric moment and bring it here. Not try to do much, stay in the momentum, enjoy the process and try to play hard and play good baseball here in Toronto and see what happens tomorrow.”

Mariners lineup today

Julio Rodríguez (R) CF
Cal Raleigh (S) C
Jorge Polanco (S) DH
Josh Naylor (L) 1B
Randy Arozarena (R) LF
Eugenio Suárez (R) 3B
J.P. Crawford (L) SS
Dominic Canzone (L) RF
Leo Rivas (S) 2B

Blue Jays lineup today

George Springer DH
Nathan Lukes LF
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. 1B
Alejandro Kirk C
Daulton Varsho CF
Ernie Clement 3B
Addison Barger RF
Isiah Kiner-Falefa 2B
Andrés Giménez SS

Have the Mariners ever won a World Series?

Seattle is one of five teams that has never won a World Series title and is the only club in Major League Baseball that has never even reached the Fall Classic.

The Mariners came into existence in 1977 and didn't make the playoffs for the first time until 1995. This year marks Seattle's fourth appearance in the ALCS after losing in 1995 (Cleveland), 2000 (Yankees) and 2001 (Yankees).

When did the Blue Jays win the World Series?

The Toronto Blue Jays won back-to-back World Series championships in 1992 and 1993.

They defeated the Atlanta Braves in six games in 1992 for their first title and then beat the Philadelphia Phillies in six to repeat, clinching on Joe Carter's walk-off home run.

Logan Gilbert starts Game 6 for Mariners

Seattle manager Dan Wilson was asked prior to Game 6 what he thinks makes Logan Gilbert so hard to hit when he's at his best.

"We talk about it, ironically, it's the split. It's his secondaries and how they work with his fastball. And when he can locate that fastball where he wants to put that, and then you throw in the sweeper or slider and the split, he is a tough matchup. When he is on and he's able to locate those secondaries, it makes his fastball better and when he can locate that fastball, it makes his secondaries better, and they kind of play off each other.

"So that's what makes Logan so difficult. A lot of swing-and-miss there. I think the split is a big reason why. He can throw that thing at the bottom and break it out of the zone where there's just not a lot of contact to be made. So if that split is on, that's when he's at his best."

When does the World Series start?