One more for the road.

With the Toronto Blue Jays’ playoff hopes long extinguished and the team essentially locked in with the 13th-best odds to win land the first overall pick, it may appear like Sunday’s season finale against the Cincinnati Reds is meaningless. However, nothing could be further from the truth. This game could very well end up being the final of two illustrious careers.

Sunday marks the end of George Springer’s six-year tenure, at least for now. It’s crazy how much things have changed since the Jays signed him all the way back in the 2021 off-season, but that signing (along with the Hyun Jin Ryu signing) ushered a new era of contention for the Blue Jays.

Springer’s first two seasons as a Blue Jays were terrific, even if he was often injured. The 2023 and 2024 seasons saw Springer take a step back, as many players do as they approach the mid-30s. But during the 2024-25 off-season, he must’ve took a dip in the fountain of youth, as Springer was easily the Blue Jays’ best hitter.

And he even hit one of the biggest home runs in franchise history. Down 3-1 in the seventh inning of Game 7 in the 2025 ALCS, Springer took a pitch to left centre, giving the Blue Jays a 4-3 lead and sending the team to its first World Series since 1993. It’s hard to think about a bigger home run in the team’s history since Joe Carter’s walk-off blast in 1993.

With how last season ended and the 2027 season possibly being wiped away due to a lockout, the 2026 season has been a massive disappointment. But at the very least, Blue Jays fans will be able to give Springer one last standing ovation on Sunday, in what could not just be his final game as a Blue Jay, but as a big leaguer.

For old times’ sake, Springer is leading off as he looks to hit his 66th lead-off home run, just behind Rickey Henderson’s 81.

There won’t be a dry eye at Rogers Centre when he is inevitably pulled, and the water works will only continue (or start) when Max Scherzer is yanked from the game. He’s a first ballot Hall of Famer, and he’s spent the last two seasons in Canada, even if his tenure has been a mixed bag. What a privilege it has been to watch him.

At his best in Toronto, Scherzer has been a Game 7 starter in the World Series. It doesn’t get much better than that. Like Springer, Scherzer has been coy in regards to his future plans, but at 42 years old, Sunday could be his final start. He’s also doing it on short rest, just to get that standing ovation from the hometown fans.

Going back to the regular gameday coverage, the Blue Jays are up against Reds’ southpaw Brandon Williamson. Only one player in the Jays lineup, Davis Schneider, has faced Williamson, hitting a home run off the south paw on August 19th, 2023.

Schneider, who is batting fifth, is one of six lefties in the lineup. Springer leads off, Kazuma Okamoto bats third, Charles McAdoo bats cleanup, Myles Straw bats seventh, and Ernie Clement bats ninth. Two left-handed hitters are in the lineup, Brett Bateman bats second, while Andrés Giménez bats eight. Switch-hitting catcher Brandon Valenzuela will catch Scherzer in what could be his final start.

There won’t be a dry eye watching this game. Hell, the waterworks have already started for me while writing this. Let’s set up the 2026 season finale.

Toronto Blue Jays – Max Scherzer: 3-9 record, 6.14 ERA, 77.2 IP, 61 SO, 34 BB

Cincinnati Reds – Brandon Williamson: 5-4 record, 4.89 ERA, 49.2 IP, 33 SO, 27 BB