NEW YORK (AP) After beating the legendary New York Yankees in their own stadium, Toronto manager John Schneider was ready to revel in the triumph.
“Start spreading the news!” » exclaimed Schneider while enjoying a bottle of champagne to spark the Toronto Blue Jays’ jubilant celebration inside their clubhouse at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night.
As the party was underway, the familiar lyrics of Frank Sinatra’s version of “New York, New York” — the Yankees’ longtime victory anthem — echoed in the background as roaring Toronto players doused themselves with alcohol in the Bronx.
This time it was their time.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and George Springer each drove in a run, and eight Toronto pitchers shut down the Yankees in a 5-2 victory that sent the Blue Jays to the American League Championship Series for the first time in nine years.
“It’s pretty normal that it took everyone to win today,” Schneider said, his hair and T-shirt soaked.
Nathan Lukes provided a two-run single and Addison Barger had three of Toronto’s 12 hits as the Blue Jays, fouling on tough pitches and constantly putting the ball in play, bounced back after blowing a five-run lead in Tuesday night’s loss.
AL East champion Toronto, wearing its lucky caps with the white panels, won the best-of-five division series 3-1 and will host Game 1 of the best-of-seven ALCS on Sunday against the Detroit Tigers or Seattle Mariners.
These teams are expected to decide their playoff series Friday in Game 5 in Seattle.
“It’s great,” Guerrero said through a translator. “Everyone was together from day one. You could tell there was something special there.”
Guerrero was something special himself. The $500 million slugger hit .529 with three homers and nine RBIs in the ALDS, tormenting the Yankees in October in the mold of David Ortiz, Ken Griffey Jr. and George Brett decades ago.
Jeff Hoffman retired Austin Wells with the bases loaded to end the eighth inning and got four outs to earn his first save of the postseason, advancing the Blue Jays from worst to first in their eighth AL Championship Series.
Toronto’s only pennants came in 1992 and 1993, when the club won back-to-back World Series crowns. A season ago, the Blue Jays finished last in the AL East with a 74-88 record.
“Maybe some people don’t believe in the team all year long, but I always remind everyone that we have a whole country behind us that believes in us, and I hope we can bring the World Series back to Canada,” Guerrero said.
Ryan McMahon homered and Aaron Judge had an RBI single for the wild-card Yankees, unable to avoid elimination for the fourth time in the postseason as they failed to repeat as AL champions.
Despite a tremendous postseason performance from Judge following his previous October woes, the 33-year-old superstar and team captain remains without a World Series ring. New York is still chasing its 28th title and its first since 2009.
“We got beat here. Thanks to the Blue Jays,” manager Aaron Boone said. “They brought it to us this series.”
New York tied Toronto for the AL’s best regular season record at 94-68, but lost a head-to-head tiebreaker for the division title. Ultimately, the Yankees were never able to get past the Blue Jays – going 1-8 in Toronto this year and losing in 11 of 17 total games.
Judge extended New York’s season one final time with an RBI single over the left wall with two outs in the ninth. Hoffman then struck out Cody Bellinger, and happy Blue Jays players came out of the dugout to bounce in unison near the mound.
About 25 minutes later, a group of Toronto fans were still chanting “Let’s go Blue Jays!” » behind the third base dugout.
“I think we more than showed what we can do in this series between all that throwing, that defense, everything,” Schneider said. “The guys here know what we’re capable of and we don’t really care what anyone else thinks.”
Lukes made it 4-1 with a two-run single after an error by Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. cost debutant Cam Schlittler a chance to advance to the seventh with an inning-ending double play.
“I just missed it,” Chisholm said. “I’ve been thinking about it since the play happened, I’m still thinking about it now. I still can’t get it out of my head.”
Myles Straw, who came on the bench for infield defense, added an RBI single in the eighth after Alejandro Kirk’s double.
With the score tied at 1, Ernie Clement singled in the top of Toronto’s fifth and moved to third when No. 9 hitter Andrés Giménez bounced a single up the middle. Clement, who had nine hits in the series, scored on Springer’s sacrifice fly.
Toronto left veteran right-handers Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt off the ALDS roster, opting instead to carry four left-handed relievers against the Bronx Bombers as the Blue Jays pointed to a bullpen parade in Game 4 if the series went that far.
It turned out to be a winning decision.
Toronto opener Louis Varland, who gave up game-changing homers Tuesday to Judge and Chisholm in relief, became the first pitcher in major league history to lose a postseason game and start the next day.
Varland worked 1 1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, and seven relievers followed while Schneider mixed and matched with help from his coaching staff in planning. No pitcher had more than five outs – but all were effective.
Seranthony Domínguez pitched 1 2/3 innings without a hit for the win.
On the other hand, Schlittler was coming off one of the most dominant pitching performances in postseason history, when he beat rival Boston 4-0 in the winning Game 3 of their Wild Card Series last Thursday at Yankee Stadium.
This time, he was charged with four runs – two earned – and eight hits in 6 1/3 innings. The right-hander joined Dakota Hudson (2019 for St. Louis) as the only rookies in big league history to make their first two postseason starts in potential playoff games.
Toronto was 4-3 against Detroit this season and 4-2 against Seattle. Veteran right-hander Kevin Gausman and rookie Trey Yesavage, the Blue Jays’ top two starters in the ALDS, will be fully rested for the first two games of the ALCS.
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