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TORONTO, ON – OCTOBER 20: George Springer #4 of the Toronto Blue Jays celebrates while rounding the bases after hitting a three-run home run to take the lead in the seventh inning during Game Seven of the American League Championship Series presented (Daniel Shirey / MLB Photos / Getty Images)

TORONTO – Julio Rodríguez unleashed a visceral scream that echoed throughout the visitor’s clubhouse at Rogers Centre.

Cal Raleigh wiped his bloodshot eyes, losing a fight with his raw emotions.

The Seattle Mariners season is over. One game short of reaching the elusive World Series for the first time in franchise history. And the pain inside the visitor’s clubhouse was palpable, knowing just how close they’d come to reaching the final stage of baseball’s postseason.

“I’m super proud of these guys,” Raleigh said. “It was a great team effort. Love every guy in this room, but ultimately it’s not what we wanted.”

George Springer’s three-run home run in the seventh inning off Eduard Bazardo sent the 44,770 fans at Rogers Centre into a frenzy as one swing flipped everything for the Mariners. Seattle had seen Game 7 play out nearly perfectly through six innings. George Kirby gave them a strong four innings to start. Bryan Woo backstopped that with two solid innings that allowed the Mariners to carry a 3-1 lead into the seventh inning.

But baseball can be cruel. The Mariners were nine outs away from erasing the moniker of the only team in Major League Baseball to never have reached the World Series. Instead, they had the prize snatched from their grasp.

“I hate to use the word failure, but it’s a failure,” Raleigh said. “That’s what we expected was to get to a World Series, win a World Series and that’s what the bar is and what the standard is. It’s what we want to hold ourselves accountable to.”

A lead-off walk to Addison Barger by Woo and a single to Isiah Kiner-Falefa put two runners on with no outs. After a sacrifice bunt from Andrés Giménez moved the runners into scoring position, manager Dan Wilson turned to Eduard Bazardo to try and get Seattle out of the jam.

“Bazardo has been the guy that’s gotten us through those situations, those tight ones, especially in the pivot role, and that’s where we were going at that point,” Wilson said.

“Bazardo’s been doing it all season long and has been so consistent at it and he’s done such a good job all year. We felt really comfortable with him out there, the way he’s been throwing the ball, especially in this series, and it was a good spot for him.”

But Springer won the battle, launching a 1-0 sinker from Bazardo into the first row of seats in left field to stun Seattle and put the Blue Jays up 4-3.

“Yesterday, I threw the same pitch right there and it was a ground ball. And today was the day he got me,” Bazardo said. 

“I was ready. I threw my best sinker. He just got me today. … I never lost one game all season. Today, the most important game, I lost the game.”

The Mariners pitched to Springer despite having first base open, knowing that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. lurked just around the corner and Springer would have been getting a free pass as the go-ahead run. 

But Springer delivered the decisive blow himself that ultimately ended Seattle’s season.

“I know this stings and there’s no question that it’s going to sting,” Wilson said. “But the kind of season they had, doing things that no team in this organization has ever done, and knocking on the door of a World Series, all that, you know, it’s due to how hard they’ve worked, how hard they’ve played all season long, all the times they have come back, all the times they have bounced back. It’s a special team in there. It’s a shame that we had to come out on the wrong side of this one.”

It seemed like Seattle was going to ride the performances of its stars to the World Series.

Rodríguez doubled and scored in the first inning and hit a solo home run off Shane Bieber in the third that put Seattle up 2-1. Raleigh then crushed his fifth home run of the postseason – and 65th home run of the 2025 campaign – off Louis Varland in the fifth to give the Mariners a 3-1 advantage.

The Mariners chased Bieber from the game before the end of the fourth inning. They had three runs on eight hits between Bieber and Varland as they finally got a Blue Jays start out of the game early. Meanwhile, Kirby rebounded from a rocky outing in Game 3 to hold the Blue Jays to just one run on four hits with a walk and three strikeouts over the first four innings.

“It stinks,” Kirby said. “We’ve all been dreaming for this moment for a long time. A Game 7 loss that close is really tough. We all fought to the end and nobody left anything in the tank. I love this team. Everyone gives it their all every day and we came up short, but it wasn’t a lack of effort, that’s for sure.”

Rodríguez laced a lead-off double into the left field corner and scored on Josh Naylor’s one-out single to give Seattle the early 1-0 lead.

Kirby’s walk of Springer to lead-off the bottom of the first ultimately tied the game. Guerrero Jr. singled to advance Springer and he came around to score on a two-out single from Daulton Varsho to tie the game at 1-1.

The Mariners put two on with no outs in the second, but were unable to convert before Rodríguez crushed a hanging knuckle curveball from Bieber into the left field seats for a 2-1 Mariners lead. 

Rodríguez shook off taking a foul ball to his foot, and nearly struck out on a checked swing call that first base umpire Doug Eddings ruled wasn’t a swing. After fouling off a couple more pitches, Rodríguez took Bieber deep for the second time in the series as he also homered off him in Game 3.

“When I was a kid in Loma de Cabrera I never really thought, ever, that I was going to be able to get this far in this sport. And to be able to hit a home run in Game 7 in the sport that I love, that I grew up playing, it was very special,” Rodríguez said.

Kirby retired 10 of the final 12 batters he faced before giving the ball to Woo.

Raleigh then blasted a hanging changeup from Varland deep into Seattle’s bullpen behind the right field wall for a 3-1 Mariners lead.

Woo was strong for two innings, getting the help of a J.P. Crawford double play turned in the fifth and a big strikeout of Guerrero Jr. after a nine-pitch battle in the sixth.

So close, but so far.

“We put so much work and effort throughout this whole and it’s over,” Rodríguez said.

Springer’s blast dashed Seattle’s hopes and brought the most successful season in Mariners history to close, still five wins shy of the ultimate prize.

So close, but so far.

Kevin Gausman worked around three walks in the seventh inning to escape a jam for Toronto, Chris Bassitt shut down the Mariners in the eighth, and Jeff Hoffman struck out the side in the night as Rodríguez flailed helplessly at a slide for strike three to sent the Blue Jays onward and the Mariners back home to Seattle.

“I’m proud of the guys in this room. I thought we fought all the way to the end. it was a great group of guys and I love every single one of them,” Raleigh said.

The Source: Information in this story came from FOX 13 Seattle reporting.

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