The Toronto Blue Jays needed a hero. Scratch that. It'd have to be a superhero.
George Springer answered the call.
The Blue Jays trailed almost the entire night to the Seattle Mariners in Game 7 of the ALCS.
But with two runners on and a two-run deficit in the bottom of the seventh, Springer dug in.
Springer is one of the best playoff hitters of all time. He entered the night with 22 career postseason home runs.
He ended it with 23.
This one was a no-doubter. Springer clobbered the baseball deep to left-center at Rogers Centre, well beyond the fence, a go-ahead home run in the biggest game the Blue Jays have played in a long time.
Toronto hadn't been to the World Series since 1993. That's the series in which Joe Carter hit his epic walk-off home run.
MORE: George Springer climbs MLB record books with epic homer
It's safe to say that Springer's blast was the Blue Jays' biggest home run since that one by Carter 32 years ago.
The Mariners were a valiant foe. The dynamic duo of Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh both hit home runs. Seattle's starting pitcher, George Kirby, rebounded from giving up eight runs in his first start of the series to throw four one-run innings on Monday night.
But every baseball novel is written with a hero. No one knows where that hero is coming from.
Sometimes, the batting lineup doesn't get to the guy who everyone just knows in their heart would deliver.
This time, the lineup got to exactly that guy at exactly the right time.
Springer dug in with a chance at a brilliant Blue Jays baseball moment.
He trotted around the bases having provided just that.
A couple innings later, the Blue Jays were officially American League champions. They were going to the World Series.
Springer has been there before, and won it, with the Houston Astros.
And now, in a new uniform, after a nightmare 2024 season, Springer has written a new piece of his legacy in 2025.
The Blue Jays will take on the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
It's been a season no one quite saw coming for Toronto.
Now, it'll end in the Fall Classic, with a postseason legend in Springer on their side, with a chance to hoist the big trophy for the first time in a generation.
Game 7 didn't disappoint, and the Blue Jays triumphed, and now they'll get a chance to win the whole thing.
More Mariners-Blue Jays news
- Cal Raleigh breaks Aaron Judge's AL record
- Julio Rodriguez makes Seattle franchise history not done since 1995