So, Jose Bautista is alive!

After the right fielder was released by the Atlanta Braves near the end of May, it kind of seemed like we were nearing the end of the slugger’s career. Since becoming a Met on May 22nd, he’s slashing .253/.425/.462 with a 146 wRC+. He’s not really his 30-year-old self, but at this point, it looks like he still has a few home runs – and a whole lotta walks – left in him. He went from fighting for his major league career to hopefully playing his way onto a contender by the end of the month.

Speaking of home runs, he hit 288 in a Toronto Blue Jays uniform, and surprisingly, not a single one of them came as a walk off. The man with over 330 major league big flies hadn’t hit a game winning home run in the bottom of an inning.

Tonight, he did it in a grand way against the Tampa Bay Rays. Toronto is 1-5 against Tampa Bay so far this season, so it was nice to see the GOAT hurt them like this. In the bottom of the ninth, ole Joey Bats hammered a Chaz Roe pitch and sent it deep into the night, sending Mets fans home happy. Take a look for yourself:

Bautista really hasn’t been the guy that we know since maybe 2016, but seeing that leg kick and the ball exploding off the bat at a measured 106 MPH brings back so many memories.

With the Mets and Blue Jays seasons both in the toilet, I’m completely on board with speaking a Jose Bautista trade into existence, and then bandwagoning the hell out of his new team into October.

Let’s just hope he isn’t in pinstripes.