SEATTLE—Things were looking good for Seattle Mariners fans last night until Toronto Bluejays powerhouse George Springer hit a three-run homerun in the seventh inning, a play that Seattle’s baseball team would be unable to bounce back from and secure its first ever World Series appearance.
Up until that point the Mariners were up 3-1 after two consecutive home runs by Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez (one in the third and another in the fifth). Rodriguez also secured the team’s first inning point with a leadoff double, driven home by Josh Naylor.
The Blue Jays tied the game 1-1 when Daulton Varsho hit an RBI single off George Kirby in the first inning.
After the Mariner’s two home runs, setting the score at 3-1, Seattle had the lead until the seventh inning and couldn’t recover from Josh Hoffman’s consecutive strikeouts in the ninth. The final score was 4-3 Toronto after Springer’s three-run homer.
The Blue Jays are now headed to the World Series for the first time in over 30 years while the Seattle Mariners remain the only team in the MLB to have never even reached the World Series. Their closest attempts have been reaching the American League Championship Series (ALCS) in 1995, 2000, 2001, and now 2025.
The best-of-seven game series against the Blue Jays had the Mariners in a good spot, trailing the Blue Jays with three wins and two losses, meaning they had two chances to win just a single game for their World Series ticket. The Blue Jays, on the other hand, shut that opportunity down with two consecutive wins despite historically struggling to bounce back from being behind in playoff games. The 2025 series was a different story, however, with 49 total comeback victories for Canada’s baseball team solidifying a nickname “the comeback kids.”
Last night’s game gave the Mariners home team advantage after securing two victories in Toronto. Even with the nearly 50,000 enthusiastic fans in attendance at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park generating “crowd quakes” comparable to a 3.0 earthquake – according to the University of Washinton’s Pacific Northwest Seismic Network (PNSN) – the energy was not enough to seal the deal.
The Toronto Blue Jays now face defending champions the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series beginning on Friday, October 24.
Author: Kienan Briscoe
