Eric Lauer, Blue Jays advance to World Series with Game 7 win over Mariners

TORONTO — George Springer put Toronto ahead with a three-run homer in the seventh inning and the Toronto Blue Jays advanced to the World Series for the first time since 1993 by beating the Seattle Mariners 4-3 in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series on Monday night. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Blue Jays will host Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 on Friday night when the World Series comes to Canada for the third time. The defending champion Dodgers swept Milwaukee in the NLCS. "The job's not finished. We got four more to go," said Guerrero, the ALCS MVP. On Toronto's roster is pitcher Eric Lauer, a Midview High graduate, who is the first Lorain County player to advance to the Fall Classic. Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez each hit a solo home run for Seattle in the team's first postseason Game 7, but the heartbroken Mariners squandered a 3-1 lead in the seventh and fell eight outs short of their first World Series appearance. Seattle remains the only major league club without a pennant. Addison Barger walked to begin the seventh, Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled on an 0-2 pitch and Seattle right-hander Bryan Woo was removed after No. 9 batter Andrés Giménez advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt. Springer, the 2017 World Series MVP with Houston, greeted Eduard Bazardo with his fourth homer of this postseason, a 381-foot drive to left field that sent the sellout crowd of 44,770 into a roaring, pulsating frenzy. "It's so fitting," Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. "Bottom of our order gets it done again. There's probably not another person on planet Earth that I want up other than George Springer and his October magic." It was the first go-ahead homer in Game 7 history when a team trailed by multiple runs in the seventh inning or later. And it was the 23rd career postseason homer for Springer, tying Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber for third place. Manny Ramírez holds the major league record with 29. "So happy for our team, our fans, our city, our country," Springer said. After losing the first two games in the best-of-seven series at home, the Blue Jays rallied and took the next two in Seattle. They dropped Game 5 before winning the final two on home turf. AL East champion Toronto went 54-27 at home in the regular season and 4-2 in its own ballpark during the AL playoffs. "I think it's an inspiration for 41 million people in Canada, from coast to coast to coast," Blue Jays chairman Edward Rogers said. "This is Canada's team." Making his first relief appearance since Game 5 of the 2021 Division Series, Kevin Gausman pitched one inning of scoreless relief, working around three walks, to earn the win for Toronto. Fellow starter Chris Bassitt pitched a perfect eighth and Jeff Hoffman finished for his second save this postseason. Rodríguez opened the game with a double and scored on a one-out single by Josh Naylor. Daulton Varsho tied it with an RBI single off George Kirby in the bottom half before Rodríguez restored the lead for Seattle with a leadoff homer in the third. Raleigh, who led the majors with 60 homers in the regular season, made it 3-1 with a leadoff homer against Louis Varland in the fifth. Raleigh has 10 home runs in 15 career games at Rogers Centre, three of them in the postseason. He also homered at Toronto in Game 1 of a 2022 Wild Card Series and Game 1 of this year's ALCS. Naylor was called out to end the first after umpires ruled he interfered with Ernie Clement's relay to first base on a double play by jumping into the throw and deflecting it. Kirby allowed one run and four hits in four innings. He walked one and struck out three. Toronto starter Shane Bieber permitted two runs and seven hits in 3 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out five. The Blue Jays were playing in a Game 7 for the first time since losing at home to Kansas City in the 1985 ALCS. Guerrero arrived at the stadium wearing a Maple Leafs hockey jersey with Auston Matthews' name and number. The star forward is 0-6 in Game 7s with Toronto during his 10 seasons in the NHL.