Springer’s homer sends Blue Jays into World Series with 4-3 win over Mariners in Game 7 of ALCS

TORONTO AP Woah Canada After a huge swing by George Springer the World Series is headed north of the confines for the first time in years Springer hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the seventh inning and the Toronto Blue Jays won their first pennant since by beating the Seattle Mariners - in Challenge 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 Encounter on Friday when the Fall Classic comes to Canada for the third time The job s not finished We got four more to go explained Guerrero the ALCS MVP The defending champion Dodgers completed a four-game sweep of Milwaukee in the NLCS last week I truly think that the best two teams are left standing Toronto manager John Schneider explained Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodr guez each hit a solo home run for Seattle in the group s first postseason Encounter but the heartbroken Mariners squandered a - lead in the seventh and fell eight outs short of their first World Series appearance I hate to use the word failure but it s a failure Raleigh disclosed What we expected was to get to the World Series and win a World Series That s what the bar is and the standard is and that s what we want to hold ourselves accountable to Seattle remains the only major league club without a pennant There s no question that it s going to sting manager Dan Wilson explained It s a special association in there It s a shame that we had to come out on the wrong side of this one Addison Barger walked to begin the seventh Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled on an - pitch and Mariners right-hander Bryan Woo was removed after No batter Andr s Gim nez advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt Springer the World Series MVP for Houston greeted Eduard Bazardo with his fourth homer this postseason a -foot drive to left field that sent the sellout crowd of into a roaring pulsating frenzy It s so fitting Schneider commented Bottom of our order gets it done again There s supposedly 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 Challenge history when a unit trailed by multiple runs in the seventh inning or later And it was the rd career postseason homer for Springer tying Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber for third place Manny Ram rez holds the major league record with Unbelievable moment Springer commented So happy for our squad our fans our city our country Toronto became the fourth squad to lose the first two games in a best-of-seven postseason series at home and rebound to win The others were the Kansas City Royals New York Mets and New York Yankees all in the World Series I think it s an inspiration for million people in Canada from coast to coast to coast Blue Jays chairman Edward Rogers mentioned This is Canada s crew Making his first relief appearance since the playoffs Kevin Gausman worked around three walks in a scoreless seventh inning to earn the win Fellow starter Chris Bassitt tossed a perfect eighth and Jeff Hoffman struck out all three batters in the ninth for his second save this postseason Rodr guez opened the contest 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 Rodr guez restored the lead for Seattle with a leadoff homer in the third Raleigh who led the majors with homers in the regular season made it - with a leadoff homer against Louis Varland in the fifth Raleigh has home runs in career games at Rogers Centre three of them in the postseason He also homered at Toronto in Meeting of a Wild Card Series and Challenge 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 innings He walked one and struck out five The Blue Jays were playing in a Encounter for the first time since losing at home to Kansas City in the ALCS The -year-old Guerrero born in Montreal arrived at the stadium wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs hockey jersey with Auston Matthews name and number The star forward is - in Event s with Toronto during his NHL seasons I think Vladdy broke the curse Schneider joked The Blue Jays achievement also put -year-old bench coach Don Mattingly in the World Series for the first time after a long career in baseball The former New York Yankees captain a six-time All-Star and the AL MVP managed the Dodgers from - Up next The Dodgers are in the World Series for the fifth time since and are chasing their third championship in six years Toronto s only appearances resulted in back-to-back titles in and The AL East champion Blue Jays hold home-field advantage and will host the opener because they finished the regular season with wins one more than the NL West champion Dodgers AP MLB https apnews com hub mlb Source