Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has led the Toronto Blue Jays to their first World Series in three decades.
Guerrero and the Blue Jays beat the Seattle Mariners 4-3 in Game 7 of the ALCS on Monday to clinch their first trip to the World Series since 1993.
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Guerrero, naturally, was named MVP of the series. After starting 0-for-7 in the first two games of the ALCS, he turned things around quickly to win the award. Guerrero finished the series 10-for-26 with three home runs, three doubles and four walks in seven games. He went 1-for-4 at the plate in Monday’s victory.
Guerrero, who was born in Canada when his dad was playing for the Montreal Expos, was incredibly emotional after his team’s victory.
“I was born here,” he said in his postgame media conference. “I grew up in the Dominican, and then from the moment that I signed here, that I knew I was going to be here my entire career, I knew I had to make — somehow to make all the fans, the entire country, proud of me, of my team. And like I always say, my challenge is to bring the World Series here back to Canada.”
Guerrero’s best outing of the series came in Game 3, after the Blue Jays had fallen into an 0-2 hole at home. He went a perfect 4-for-4 in that contest in Seattle, with a home run and a pair of doubles to lift the Blue Jays to a dominant 13-4 win.
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In Game 7, the Mariners built a 3-1 lead through six innings at Rogers Centre in Toronto before George Springer drilled a three-run moon shot in the bottom of the seventh to flip the score and send the Blue Jays to the World Series.
Guerrero, who signed a 14-year, $500 million contract extension in April, had a .292 batting average with 23 home runs and 84 RBI in the regular season, earning his fifth straight All-Star nod.
The Blue Jays are looking for their first championship since 1993, when they beat the Philadelphia Phillies in six games to win their second consecutive title. They’ll host the Los Angeles Dodgers, who swept the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLCS, in Game 1 of the World Series on Friday.
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