George Springer gave Toronto the lead with a three-run homer in the seventh inning and Toronto Blue Jays advanced to the World Series for the first time since 1993, defeating the Seattle Mariners 4-3 in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series on Monday night.
It was the first go-ahead homer in Game 7 history when the team trailed by several runs in the seventh inning or later.
The Blue Jays will host Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 on Friday night when World Series comes to Canada for the third time. The defending champion Dodgers beat Milwaukee in the NLCS.
The Blue Jays played Game 7 for the first time since losing at home to Kansas City in the 1985 ALCS.
Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez hit solo home runs for the Mariners in the team's first Game 7, but Seattle failed to reach its first World Series, leaving the heartbroken Mariners as the only major league team without a pennant.
Addison Barger started the seventh and Isaiah Kiner-Falefa followed with a single. Seattle right-hander Brian Wu was removed after Andres Jimenez advanced runners with a sacrifice bunt, and Springer greeted Eduard Bazardo with his fourth homer of the postseason, a blast 381 feet to left field that drew a roar from the sold-out crowd of 44,770.
Toronto went 54-27 at home in the regular season and 4-2 at home in the AL playoffs.
Making his first bullpen appearance since Game 5 of the 2021 division series, Kevin Gausman pitched one scoreless inning with three walks to earn Toronto the win.
Fellow starter Chris Bassitt pitched a perfect eighth and Jeff Hoffman finished with his second save of the postseason.
Rodriguez opened the game with a double and scored on Josh Naylor's single. Dalton Varsho tied the game with an RBI single from George Kirby in the bottom half before Rodriguez restored Seattle's lead with his first homer in the third.
Raleigh, who led the tournament with 60 homers in the regular season, made it 3-1 with his first homer against Louis Warland in the fifth.
Raleigh has 10 home runs in 15 career games at Rogers Center, three of them in the postseason. He also scored in Toronto in Game 1 of the 2022 wild card series and Game 1 of this year's ALCS.
Naylor was called to finish first after the umpires ruled that he had interfered with Ernie Clement at first base on a double play by jumping into the throw and deflecting it.
Kirby allowed one run and four hits over four innings. He walked one and struck out three.
Blue Jays starter Shane Bieber allowed two runs and seven hits in 3 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out five.
Toronto slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. arrived at the stadium wearing a Maple Leafs jersey with Auston Matthews' name and number on it. The star forward is 0-6 in seven games with Toronto in 10 NHL seasons.
