TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays clubhouse was quiet early Sunday morning when Vladimir Guerrero Jr., wearing the same Marie-Philip Poulin Team Canada hockey jersey he had on before the biggest game of his life, walked over to Jeff Hoffman’s locker and gave the Blue Jays closer a hug in the aftermath of Game 7.
“Thank you,” Hoffman said, while he and Guerrero Jr. held their embrace for a few seconds.
Minutes earlier, Hoffman had stood in front of his locker with his hands on his hips while he addressed reporters after the 11-inning, 5-4 loss his team suffered to the heavily favoured Los Angeles Dodgers in the deciding game of the World Series.
“That cost everybody in here a World Series ring, so it’s pretty s—–,” Hoffman said of his performance, still wearing a Blue Jays cap. “Got to execute better in that spot.”
The spot Hoffman was referring to was in the ninth inning, when the Blue Jays had a 4-3 lead. The closer opened that final frame by striking out Kike Hernandez, to the delight of the roaring crowd at the Rogers Centre, who basically shook the place with their enthusiasm. The Blue Jays were two outs away from their first World Series championship in 32 years, their third title in franchise history.
But then up came Miguel Rojas, and the Dodgers second baseman connected on the seventh pitch he saw from Hoffman, sending a hanging slider over the left-field wall, at once silencing the sold-out crowd and tying up the World Series finale.
The solo shot was the only damage done in the ninth, which Hoffman ended with another strikeout. The closer said when he got to the dugout the coaching staff reminded him it was a tie game and told him that they’d win it from there in extra innings.
“That message never really changed from the staff. They’re a very consistent group and it’s one of the reasons we love them so much,” the 32-year-old said.
Still, Hoffman was taking responsibility for the loss while the Dodgers were still on the field celebrating their second straight World Series title with their families.
“I mean, we were two outs away from the world Series and I was the one on the mound, so…” Hoffman said, by way of explanation.
The game wasn’t decided in a scoreless 10th inning, and in the 11th, in came starter Shane Bieber. The right-hander worked quickly and induced groundouts from both Rojas and Shohei Ohtani. But Will Smith got a hold of a hanging slider and sent it 366 feet, up and over the left-field wall, giving the Dodgers a 5-4 lead while a stunned and quiet crowd watched him bound around the bases.
“He was looking for it,” Bieber said. “I didn’t execute.”
The Blue Jays offence couldn’t capitalize on Guerrero Jr.’s leadoff double to open the bottom of the 11th, and just like that it was game over. The team that came back to win more than any in MLB during the regular season couldn’t come back in the biggest game of all.
“Yeah, this one stings — it’s going to sting for a while. That’s the reality of it. This game’s not for the faint of heart,” Bieber said, holding back tears. “This group is unlike any other than I’ve been a part of and that’s a sentiment that we all kind of shared personally, and it’s very clear.”
Bieber may have pitched his final game as a Blue Jay. He holds a $16 million player option for next year, and he’ll likely choose to test the open market.
“One of the best teammates I’ve ever had,” outfielder Myles Straw said of Bieber, who was traded to Toronto this past summer after undergoing Tommy John surgery and worked his way into the starting rotation in late August. “He wants to win more than anybody.”
Bieber sat at his locker wearing jeans and a t-shirt, periodically sipping on a beer and staring at the floor. On the other side of the clubhouse, Ernie Clement was also nursing a beer. The third baseman said he’d been crying for about an hour by the time he addressed media.
“I’d go to war with Jeff Hoffman every day of the week. I want him on the mound. I want Biebs on the mound,” Clement said, tears still falling. “Ninety-nine times out of 100 those guys get it done.”
Clement, who in Game 7 went 3-for-5 and set a record for the most hits in a single post-season (30), then underscored his point about the pitchers who gave up the final two runs.
“I can’t emphasize it enough — those guys bust their tails all year, come through in big moments,” he said. “Just wasn’t our night.”
Added Bieber: “We’re wearing this one together as we succeed and fail together.”
Reliever Louis Varland echoed that just before he packed up at least a dozen hats and put them in a big Blue Jays bag. Told Hoffman said he’d cost his teammates World Series rings, Varland was emphatic.
“He did not,” Varland said, shaking his head. “That’s exactly the inning, the situation we want him to be in. It didn’t go exactly as planned, but that’s baseball. Doesn’t always go as planned. You can ask me about that — I’ve let up some home runs this post-season that cost us the game.
“You’ve got to keep your head up,” Varland added. “He knows he’s a savage, he knows he’s a great pitcher. So we’re looking forward to next year now.”
Next season, though, is part of the reason many players in the clubhouse were so gutted, because the thought of the roster changes the Blue Jays will experience only added more misery to the loss. The guy who amped up the home crowd with a three-run shot in the third inning, Bo Bichette, is set to become a free agent. So too is starter-turned-reliever Chris Bassitt, who gave up a pair of hits and a run in one inning of work on Saturday.
“I hope I have another chance with this group,” Bassitt said with tears in his eyes, looking up at the ceiling to try to regroup and find the words. “I love these guys. You just never know, but I’d love to have another shot with this group.”
Asked about replicating this with another team, finding the camaraderie shared with this version of the Blue Jays in another market, the 36-year-old veteran said, “I think it’s hard to replicate true love.”
Before he walked out of the clubhouse and got a big hug from his two-year-old son, Colson, Bassitt added: “This group is really, really special. And man, the ending obviously just sucks.”
Nobody in the Blue Jays clubhouse was disagreeing with that sentiment.
“Supposed to end differently,” Hoffman said, straight-faced. “Just one pitch.”
from Sportsnet.ca
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