Vlad Guerrero Jr. set an example for Toronto’s other sports stars

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Vladimir Guerrero Jr., in an October for the ages, has set the bar for all that post-season performance can be for a Toronto athlete of prominence.

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For any athlete, of any team, really. It has been that terrific.

Guerrero had eight playoff home runs heading into Game 7 of the World Series on Saturday night, knocked in 15 runs in 17 games, scored 17 runs, had 28 hits, walked 13 times, had an on-base average of .506, a batting average of .412 and an OPS of 1.330.

All of those stunning individual numbers at a time of year when it’s most difficult to be so.

Matthews and Nylander have yet to have their renaissance playoff with the Maple Leafs. Not even a series changing playoffs, really.

This is Season 7 for Guerrero in Toronto. This is his first time out of the wild-card round. This has been his debut on the national stage, starting in New York, moving to Seattle, then heading to Los Angeles.

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This is Season 10 for Matthews and Nylander with the Maple Leafs and, before that, nine seasons of Mitch Marner and his rose-coloured glasses. None of them have left a playoff calling card behind. None of them had a post-season series that changed the way people looked at them.

It’s different for Barnes and Ingram. This is Ingram’s first season as a Raptor. This is Barnes’ fifth NBA season. He’s played only four playoff games in his career.

Not unlike what Guerrero faced prior to this season. His stage, if ever there is one, seems so very far away. Watching Guerrero take ownership of this Blue Jays team under the bright international lights has been a memory for a lifetime.

And an opportunity for more of this in the future.

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Trey Yesavage needs no tag day

There is a convenient misconception being spread around about how much the rookie phenom Trey Yesavage has been paid to pitch for the Blue Jays. It has been reported — over and over again in these days of social media semi-accuracy — that Yesavage was paid just more than $50,000 for his 12 days with the Jays pre-playoffs. Which is sort of true. People seem to forget — or don’t bother to report — that Yesavage happened to get a signing bonus of more than $4 million when he was drafted by the Jays in the first round a year ago. So now, you don’t have to buy him dinner if you see him, unless of course you just want to … Yesavage shares his East Carolina U status with fellow Jays pitcher Jeff Hoffman, also a Toronto first-round pick years ago. But they’re not the best known Pirates graduates. Those happen to be the Hall of Fame actress Sandra Bullock and WWE creator Vince McMahon Jr. … There’s a lot to appreciate about Kevin Gausman. He’s a pro’s pro and has been with the Blue Jays from the day he first signed in Toronto. He’s had four excellent starts against Seattle and Los Angeles in the post-season, winning none of them. The Jays scored only five runs in Gausman’s four starts in the ALCS and World Series … George Springer, leading off, is paid more than $24 million by the Jays, with  Guerrero batting third at $28 million and rising next year. Sandwiched in between them: Nathan Lukes, at $766,000 a season. The major-league minimum salary is $760,000. The Jays like to pay just a little more than minimum for many of their players of choice. Among those making less than $800,000 a season on their roster are Lukes, Addison Barger, Louis Varland, Yesavage, Tyler Heineman, Braydon Fisher, Brendon Little, Joey Loperfido and Mason Fluharty … Ownership matters, and here’s one reason why. The Jays have the fifth highest payroll in baseball, yet are not considered a top-10 team in franchise value. That’s a leap of faith ownership has — Edward Rogers as chairman, Tony Staffieri as CEO — with the Jays having enough in payroll to be able to play most of the playoffs with $90 million in salary not performing because of various injuries. That’s more than the total payrolls of the A’s, Rays, Pirates and White Sox … Staffieri, by the way, is considered to be the 12th highest-paid CEO in Canada for his role with Rogers … Minimum salary in the NBA is $1.27 million a season, followed by $840,000 in the NFL, $775,000 in the NHL and $760,000 in baseball … Through good days and a few bad ones, no Blue Jay held up better throughout the post-season than manager John Schneider. Having never been a national figure of any kind in baseball — rather an afterthought, really — Schneider handled his team, his decision-making and his numerous daily interview requests with a natural comfort and with anecdotal humility. He is an unknown no longer. A contract extension should be on the way.

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Something not right with Leafs

An NHL coach on the struggling Matthews. “Something is off with 34,” he said. “Something is off with that team. They’re playing a strange game right now. Far different than last season.” … NHL reality on Matthews: Since Craig Berube took over as Maple Leafs coach, Matthews is 30th in the NHL in goals scored, 41st in even-strength goals, 39th in power-play goals. In the eight seasons before Berube, Matthews was first in the NHL in goals, cumulatively, first in even-strength goals, seventh in power-play goals and eighth in points … Right this minute, Cale Makar is the best player, this season, in the NHL … What makes zero sense: The Pittsburgh Penguins, pretty much everybody’s doormat heading into the season, lead the NHL in points and, more importantly, in goal differential, tied with Colorado … Jordan Binnington, expected to start in goal for Canada at the Olympics, has a 3.21 goals against average in St. Louis and a save percentage of .860. That’s concerning. Team Canada pretty much has to have Washington’s Logan Thompson on the team, even if assistant coach Bruce Cassidy isn’t a huge fan. Thompson  has a 1.51 goals against in the early season with the Capitals and a .935 save percentage … The four games Chris Tanev missed on the Leafs defence: Four goals against per game. That’s no coincidence … When there’s a rather simple equation in defining good hockey teams from bad ones: Your penalty-kill and power-play numbers have to add up to more than 100. The Leafs are 29th on the power play (13.8%) and 11th in penalty kill (83.3%): Their combined total is 97.1%. The Winnipeg Jets, for example, come in at 118.8%.

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World Series TV numbers

The World Series television numbers in Canada have been rather extraordinary. If you do the math, which has never been my best subject, almost 20% of Canadians have been watching the Blue Jays on Sportsnet most game nights. By comparison, less than 4% of Americans have watched the Series regularly on TV in the U.S. …  The Jays are an excellent base-running team, which makes the Game 6 blunder of Barger getting doubled off second base in the ninth inning all the more stunning. Give Barger some props, though. He had three extra-base hits in the Series’ first six games. The only player with more than that — a guy named Shohei Ohtani … Weird juxtaposition with the Jays. They’re a fine base-running team yet reasonably slow as a group … Freddie Freeman on Ohtani: “He’s hit three home runs in a game. I’ve never done that. He’s struck out 10 in a game, I’ve never done that. And he did both of that in the same game. That’s Shohei.” … One thing for young Barger to remember: In 2023 wild-card playoffs against Minnesota, Guerrero was badly picked off second by the Twins … The Jays played their 180th game of the season Saturday night. That’s 180 games in 219 days. I can’t speak for the players, but I’m exhausted … The Jays will announce a contract extension for club president Mark Shapiro in the coming days … One thing that will always separate the 1992 championship Blue Jays from other Jays teams: A bullpen that had Tom Henke closing and Duane Ward setting up.

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Strange thing happening in NHL

Athletes worth any price of admission: Patrick Mahomes. Josh Allen. Aaron Judge. Ohtani. Still Steph Curry. Connor McDavid. Makar. Still Sidney Crosby. And now, Playoff Vladdy Jr. … As of Saturday afternoon, the Minnesota Wild, St. Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers would all miss the Stanley Cup playoffs. That could mean, come April, that the coach and general manager of both Team Canada and Team USA could all be missing from the post-season. Not sure this has ever happened before … Maybe one day Guerrero will join his famous father in the Baseball Hall of Fame, becoming the first father-son players to make the Hall. Hockey has Gordie Howe and his son, Mark Howe, along with Bobby Hull and his son, Brett Hull, in its Hall of Fame. Vladdy Jr. will have to pick up his regular-season numbers over the next 14 seasons to qualify for Cooperstown … The remarkable story of brothers being general managers in the NFL and NHL at the same time is over. Mike Grier’s older brother, Chris Grier, has been let go as GM of the Miami Dolphins. Mike remains the GM of the improving San Jose Sharks …You can’t leave Macklin Celebrini off Team Canada for the Milan Olympics, can you? The 19-year-old has 17 points in 11 games and is scoring at a 126-point pace for the Sharks … Nathan Rourke is up for Most Outstanding Player in the Canadian Football League. Should he win, he’ll become the first Canadian quarterback since the legendary Russ Jackson to take home top-player honours … This is how you know you’re Canadian other than you recognize the name Russ Jackson: You watch the Tim Hortons commercial with Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon and Brad Marchand and you can identify all three of them without their names being fonted on television … Words that don’t seem to match: Darko Rajakovic and defence. He talks about defence a lot. Starting his third season with the Raptors, he talks defence, they just don’t play enough of it … The very likeable Davis Schneider was the Jays 30th draft pick in 2017. Of the 29 players selected by Toronto before him, none are currently in the major leagues … A question I was asked after Game 5 of the World Series, when Schneider and Guerrero led off with home runs: Has a winning hit of any Series game ever come on the third pitch of the game? … Word from those who know better is that the Toronto Tempo has hired a sound first coach in veteran Sandy Brondello. Word around also is that the WNBA is heading to a lockout, and that there is that much difficulty between players and owners in the league … Not sure I buy into commissioner Rob Manfred’s nonsense about baseball expanding to Canada. The cost of a franchise, of stadium-building, and the difference in the Canadian dollar make expansion next to impossible in either Montreal or Vancouver. The best way to get Montreal back in the majors? A franchise transfer, and that’s not happening … That’s too much money for Martin Necas, $11.5 million a year, isn’t it?  He’s never scored more than 28 goals in any season …
Did you see Vladdy, someone asked me Saturday? “He walked in wearing a Poulin jersey today?” “Dave Poulin?” I thought. “No,” I was told, “Marie-Philip.” … Carey Price and Patrice Bergeron are absolute shoo-ins to be elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame for the Class of 2026. After the two sure things, that leaves spots available for Curtis Joseph, Keith Tkachuk, maybe Henrik Zetterberg, maybe Patrik Elias, maybe Ryan Getzlaf. And maybe, if you watch highlight films, nifty Rick Middleton … Credit to the two-time Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers for being open-minded enough to give Marchand permission to take a leave in-season to help out a friend in need who lost a daughter. Most teams and most players wouldn’t operate with that much compassion … Happy birthday to Tie Domi (56), Rick Ley (77), Luke Schenn (36), Stephen Vogt (41), Bobby Heenan (81), Adam (Edge) Copeland (52), Willie McGee (67), Yunel Escobar (43), Stuart Skinner (27) and Tomas Plekanec (43) … And hey, whatever became of Manuel Lee?

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