Despite having a 2-1 series lead, there was a lot of doom and gloom among Toronto Blue Jays fans after Tuesday’s heartbreaking game three loss to the New York Yankees.
After going up 6-1, the Jays surrendered eight unanswered runs to lose 9-6 and faced a difficult game four matchup with impressive rookie Cam Schlittler set to start for the Yankees.
Schlittler put away the Boston Red Sox in game three of the AL Wildcard Series with a world-class performance that saw him strike out 14 batters over eight innings.
Toronto, on the other hand, was responding with a “bullpen game,” which means they did not have a starting pitcher available and would use a committee of relievers to try and get the job done.
And get the job done they did, delivering a 5-2 win to eliminate the Yankees in four games and advance to the AL Championship Series.
For the first time since 2016, the @BlueJays are heading to the American League Championship Series đ pic.twitter.com/5sAYOt3OyT
— MLB (@MLB) October 9, 2025
Louis Varland, Mason Fluharty, Seranthony Dominguez, Eric Lauer, Yariel Rodriguez, Brendon LIttle, Braydon Fisher and Jeff Hoffman combined to hold the powerful New York lineup to just two runs on six hits.
Those eight relievers delivered on one end and the Blue Jays’ bats came through when it mattered, beginning with a Vladimir Guerrero RBI single in the top of the first.
Ryan McMahon tied things up at one with a solo shot for New York in the third, but George Springer’s sacrifice fly restored Toronto’s one-run advantage in the fifth.
Arguably the most important hit of the game was from Nathan Lukes, as the journeyman outfielder brought home two runs with a two-out single in the seventh to make it 4-1.
It was certainly the biggest hit of the 31-year-old’s career and a microcosm of the Blue Jays’ season, with seemingly a new unheralded hero stepping up at every turn.
Needed it, Nathan đ #WANTITALL pic.twitter.com/0kpwxoT5pg
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) October 9, 2025
“It’s everything I thought it would be,” Lukes said this morning of his first taste of postseason baseball, adding this about his long journey to becoming an everyday major leaguer. “I don’t want to go back (minors).”
Myles Straw, another one of those unheralded heroes that has thrived in his role for Toronto this year, added an insurance run with an RBI single in the eighth.
Although Aaron Judge singled home a run for New York in the bottom of the ninth, that was as close as the Yankees would come before Hoffman shut the door with a strikeout of Cody Bellinger.
The Blue Jays will party in the visitors clubhouse at Yankee Stadium tonight and likely on the flight home to Toronto in a few hours, but it will be back to business for the team very soon.
They’ll watch game five between the Seattle Mariners and Detroit Tigers on Friday night and prepare to take on the winner of that game in the ALCS, which will begin at Rogers Centre in Toronto on Sunday.
