<p>Perhaps I&#8217;m a little biased, but the MLB playoffs are the best postseason of any professional sport.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Although some of the scores might not suggest it, my argument for playoff baseball was aided this week as baseball fans everywhere were treated to an exciting series between the <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com">Blue Jays</a> and Yankees. It featured a couple of the game&#8217;s brightest stars, a couple of the game&#8217;s up-and-coming stars, and a pair of fantastic venues for playoff baseball.</p>
<p>As a United States resident, appearances by the Blue Jays on a national stage &#8211; FOX, TBS, ESPN &#8211; were few and far between this regular season. Thankfully, a single-team subscription to the Blue Jays kept Sportsnet on my television every night, but if a baseball game was played in prime time this year, the Blue Jays were probably left out of it.</p>
<p>This isn&#8217;t some sort of sob story. At the end of the day, who cares about what channel the Blue Jays were on for their regular-season games? Eventually, a 94-win season and an AL East crown granted the Blue Jays the top seed in the American League, and when the games meant more than they ever had, the Blue Jays were set to play on prime-time television for everyone to see.</p>
<p>Baseball fans were greeted with the type of impact player that Ernie Clement is. It didn&#8217;t matter which pitcher was on the mound; the Yankees couldn&#8217;t keep him out of the hit column. Finishing the ALDS with a .643/.625/.929 slash line, Clement displayed a player profile that is a stark contrast to one who was passed up on by the Guardians and the Athletics a couple of years ago.</p>
<p>Unless any non-Jays fans were prospect gurus, who knew about Trey Yesavage, a pitcher that Toronto utilized like an ace up their sleeve? How many baseball fans knew about Nathan Lukes, a 31-year-old with just 186 major league games under his belt entering the playoffs? After a two-out, two-run single to provide some much-needed separation on Wednesday night, more people were put on notice.</p>
<p>Clement and Lukes combined for 10 RBIs against the Yankees, the same amount that Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton put out in that series.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">LUKES IN THE CLUTCH</p>
<p>🎥 Sportsnet <a href="https://t.co/9UcJIvLAbD">pic.twitter.com/9UcJIvLAbD</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Blue Jays Nation (@thejaysnation) <a href="https://twitter.com/thejaysnation/status/1976095955360547321?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 9, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>The <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/how-2025-toronto-blue-jays-found-their-way-alcs">Blue Jays</a> struck out just 24 times across the four games, compared to New York&#8217;s 37. Their supporting cast had a far better series than the Yankees&#8217;, with the likes of Ben Rice, Trent Grisham, Jazz Chisholm Jr., and Cody Bellinger combining to go just 9-for-58.</p>
<p>Blue Jays fans knew of the low strikeout-high contact approach, a stellar <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/toronto-blue-jays-notable-player-performances-from-alds">supporting cast</a>, and a &#8220;parts are bigger than the whole&#8221; mentality, but now, everyone got to see it.</p>
<p>While the unsung hero stories are important, the best part of this series was that, on the biggest stage, we saw a pair of baseball&#8217;s best go shot for shot, especially on Tuesday night. In an era where criticism will quickly find those who are making the most money and aren&#8217;t putting the team on their back, this series was an exception.</p>
<p>Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Aaron Judge&#8217;s track records of playoff performance were spotlighted before the series began. Guerrero had just three hits in 22 at-bats, along with a lacklustre base running error in the 2023 Wild Card series against the Twins. Judge, on the other hand, was just a .205 career hitter in playoff games entering the playoffs, and the crucial fielding error he made in last year&#8217;s World Series still scars the minds of Yankees fans to this day.</p>
<p>Guerrero looked incredibly comfortable, as if he had done this before. He recorded nine hits in 17 at-bats, three home runs, nine RBIs, and just one strikeout. He became the <a href="https://athlonsports.com/mlb/toronto-blue-jays/blue-jays-vladimir-guerrero-jr-makes-mlb-history-against-yankees">first player</a> in MLB history to record nine hits and nine RBIs through the first four games of any playoff series. While he has the rest of these playoffs and 14 more years to create legacy moments of his own, his grand slam in the second game of the series might stay at the forefront of those moments until he&#8217;s done in Toronto. The sound off the bat, the bat flip, the camera shots of both the Blue Jays and Yankees dugouts &#8211; it had Guerrero&#8217;s name all over it.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">GRAND SLAM VLADDY!!!! IT&#39;S 9-0!!!!!!</p>
<p>🎥: Sportsnet | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlueJays?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlueJays</a> <a href="https://t.co/Nh4oWbSeOB">pic.twitter.com/Nh4oWbSeOB</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Blue Jays Nation (@thejaysnation) <a href="https://twitter.com/thejaysnation/status/1974949644401881530?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 5, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Judge also rewrote part of his playoff narrative, going 9-for-15 with two doubles, six RBIs, and a loud home run off the left field foul pole that sent Yankee Stadium into a frenzy, and gave fans hope that maybe this series was far from over.</p>
<p>Judge and Guerrero both showed up and showed out, and with both players still signed with these teams for many more years to come, this rivalry will stay juiced up for the foreseeable future. Regardless of the outcome and regardless of it being the first Division Series to finish, this Blue Jays-Yankees series was incredible for baseball.</p>
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<h2><strong>PRESENTED BY 6IX INNING STRETCH PODCAST</strong></h2>
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<p>Love baseball? Don’t miss The 6ix Inning Stretch — the brand new podcast from The Nation Network, presented by Betway. Hosted by Toronto sports reporter Lindsay Dunn and 3-time MLB All-Star Whit Merrifield, this weekly show delivers insider stories, unfiltered Jays talk, player interviews, and expert analysis from around the majors. New episodes drop every Wednesday — listen on your favourite podcast platform or watch on the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@bluejaysnationdotcom" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/@bluejaysnationdotcom&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1752618160475000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0OzeJ9qt2a5kxzVjmdwaEg">Bluejaysnation YouTube channel.</a></p>
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Perhaps I'm a little biased, but the MLB playoffs are the best postseason of any professional sport.



Although some of the scores might not suggest it, my argument for playoff baseball was aided this week as baseball fans everywhere were treated to an exciting series between the <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com">Blue Jays</a> and Yankees. It featured a couple of the game's brightest stars, a couple of the game's up-and-coming stars, and a pair of fantastic venues for playoff baseball.

As a United States resident, appearances by the Blue Jays on a national stage - FOX, TBS, ESPN - were few and far between this regular season. Thankfully, a single-team subscription to the Blue Jays kept Sportsnet on my television every night, but if a baseball game was played in prime time this year, the Blue Jays were probably left out of it.

This isn't some sort of sob story. At the end of the day, who cares about what channel the Blue Jays were on for their regular-season games? Eventually, a 94-win season and an AL East crown granted the Blue Jays the top seed in the American League, and when the games meant more than they ever had, the Blue Jays were set to play on prime-time television for everyone to see.

Baseball fans were greeted with the type of impact player that Ernie Clement is. It didn't matter which pitcher was on the mound; the Yankees couldn't keep him out of the hit column. Finishing the ALDS with a .643/.625/.929 slash line, Clement displayed a player profile that is a stark contrast to one who was passed up on by the Guardians and the Athletics a couple of years ago.

Unless any non-Jays fans were prospect gurus, who knew about Trey Yesavage, a pitcher that Toronto utilized like an ace up their sleeve? How many baseball fans knew about Nathan Lukes, a 31-year-old with just 186 major league games under his belt entering the playoffs? After a two-out, two-run single to provide some much-needed separation on Wednesday night, more people were put on notice.

Clement and Lukes combined for 10 RBIs against the Yankees, the same amount that Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton put out in that series.

https://twitter.com/thejaysnation/status/1976095955360547321

The <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/how-2025-toronto-blue-jays-found-their-way-alcs">Blue Jays</a> struck out just 24 times across the four games, compared to New York's 37. Their supporting cast had a far better series than the Yankees', with the likes of Ben Rice, Trent Grisham, Jazz Chisholm Jr., and Cody Bellinger combining to go just 9-for-58.

Blue Jays fans knew of the low strikeout-high contact approach, a stellar <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/toronto-blue-jays-notable-player-performances-from-alds">supporting cast</a>, and a "parts are bigger than the whole" mentality, but now, everyone got to see it.

While the unsung hero stories are important, the best part of this series was that, on the biggest stage, we saw a pair of baseball's best go shot for shot, especially on Tuesday night. In an era where criticism will quickly find those who are making the most money and aren't putting the team on their back, this series was an exception.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Aaron Judge's track records of playoff performance were spotlighted before the series began. Guerrero had just three hits in 22 at-bats, along with a lacklustre base running error in the 2023 Wild Card series against the Twins. Judge, on the other hand, was just a .205 career hitter in playoff games entering the playoffs, and the crucial fielding error he made in last year's World Series still scars the minds of Yankees fans to this day.

Guerrero looked incredibly comfortable, as if he had done this before. He recorded nine hits in 17 at-bats, three home runs, nine RBIs, and just one strikeout. He became the <a href="https://athlonsports.com/mlb/toronto-blue-jays/blue-jays-vladimir-guerrero-jr-makes-mlb-history-against-yankees">first player</a> in MLB history to record nine hits and nine RBIs through the first four games of any playoff series. While he has the rest of these playoffs and 14 more years to create legacy moments of his own, his grand slam in the second game of the series might stay at the forefront of those moments until he's done in Toronto. The sound off the bat, the bat flip, the camera shots of both the Blue Jays and Yankees dugouts - it had Guerrero's name all over it.

https://twitter.com/thejaysnation/status/1974949644401881530

Judge also rewrote part of his playoff narrative, going 9-for-15 with two doubles, six RBIs, and a loud home run off the left field foul pole that sent Yankee Stadium into a frenzy, and gave fans hope that maybe this series was far from over.

Judge and Guerrero both showed up and showed out, and with both players still signed with these teams for many more years to come, this rivalry will stay juiced up for the foreseeable future. Regardless of the outcome and regardless of it being the first Division Series to finish, this Blue Jays-Yankees series was incredible for baseball.

<hr />

<div>
<h2><strong>PRESENTED BY 6IX INNING STRETCH PODCAST</strong></h2>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/@bluejaysnationdotcom"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-88534" src="https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2099/08/6IS-107-GRA_ShowPromo_727x404-V4.2.png" alt="" width="727" height="404" /></a>

Love baseball? Don’t miss The 6ix Inning Stretch — the brand new podcast from The Nation Network, presented by Betway. Hosted by Toronto sports reporter Lindsay Dunn and 3-time MLB All-Star Whit Merrifield, this weekly show delivers insider stories, unfiltered Jays talk, player interviews, and expert analysis from around the majors. New episodes drop every Wednesday — listen on your favourite podcast platform or watch on the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@bluejaysnationdotcom" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/@bluejaysnationdotcom&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1752618160475000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0OzeJ9qt2a5kxzVjmdwaEg">Bluejaysnation YouTube channel.</a>

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