Blue Jays beat Yankees 5-2 in Game
4 to reach first ALCS since 2016
[October 09, 2025]
By MIKE FITZPATRICK
NEW YORK (AP) — After taking down the storied New York Yankees in
their own ballpark, Toronto manager John Schneider was ready to
revel in the triumph.
“Start spreading the news!” Schneider exclaimed while popping a
bottle of bubbly to set off the Blue Jays' jubilant celebration
inside their Yankee Stadium clubhouse Wednesday night.
With the party underway, those familiar lyrics from Frank Sinatra's
version of “New York, New York” — the Yankees' longtime victory
anthem — sounded in the background as roaring Toronto players
sprayed each other with booze in the Bronx.
This time, it was their time.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and George Springer each drove in a run, and
eight Toronto pitchers shut down the Yankees in a 5-2 victory that
sent the Blue Jays to the American League Championship Series for
the first time in nine years.
“Kind of fitting that it took everyone to win today,” said
Schneider, his hair and T-shirt soaked.
Nathan Lukes provided a two-run single and Addison Barger had three
of Toronto's 12 hits as the pesky Blue Jays, fouling off tough
pitches and consistently putting the ball in play, bounced right
back after blowing a five-run lead in Tuesday night's loss.
AL East champion Toronto, wearing its lucky caps with the white
panels, took the best-of-five Division Series 3-1 and will host Game
1 in the best-of-seven ALCS on Sunday against the Detroit Tigers or
Seattle Mariners.
Those teams are set to decide their playoff series Friday in Game 5
at Seattle.

“It feels great,” Guerrero said through a translator. “Everybody was
just together since the first day. You could tell that something
special was there.”
Guerrero was something special himself. The $500 million slugger
batted .529 with three homers and nine RBIs in the ALDS, tormenting
the Yankees in October in the mold of David Ortiz, Ken Griffey Jr.
and George Brett decades ago.
Jeff Hoffman retired Austin Wells with the bases loaded to end the
eighth inning and got four outs to earn his first postseason save,
advancing the worst-to-first Blue Jays to their eighth AL
Championship Series.
Toronto's only pennants came in 1992 and '93, when the club won
consecutive World Series crowns. A season ago, the Blue Jays
finished last in the AL East at 74-88.
“Maybe some people don’t believe in the team through the year, but I
always remind everyone that we have an entire country behind us that
believe in us, and hopefully we can get the World Series back to
Canada,” Guerrero said.
Ryan McMahon homered and Aaron Judge had an RBI single for the
wild-card Yankees, unable to stave off elimination for a fourth time
this postseason as they failed to repeat as AL champions.
Despite a terrific playoff performance from Judge following his
previous October troubles, the 33-year-old superstar and team
captain remains without a World Series ring. New York is still
chasing its 28th title and first since 2009.
“We got beat here. Credit to the Blue Jays,” manager Aaron Boone
said. “They took it to us this series.”
New York tied Toronto for the AL’s best regular-season record at
94-68 but lost a head-to-head tiebreaker for the division title. In
the end, the Yankees never could get past the Blue Jays — going 1-8
in Toronto this year and losing 11 of 17 meetings overall.
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Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. celebrates
after the Blue Jays beat the New York Yankees in Game 4 of
baseball's American League Division Series, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025,
in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Judge extended New York's season one last time with
an RBI single off the left-wall with two outs in the ninth. Hoffman
then struck out Cody Bellinger, and happy Blue Jays players poured
out of the dugout to bounce in unison near the mound.
About 25 minutes later, a group of Toronto fans was still chanting
“Let's go Blue Jays!” behind the third-base dugout.
“I think we more than showed what we can do in this series between
all that pitching, defense, everything," Schneider said. "The guys
in here know what we’re capable of and we don’t really care what
anyone else thinks.”
Lukes made it 4-1 with a two-run single after an error by Yankees
second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. cost rookie starter Cam Schlittler
a chance to get through the seventh with an inning-ending double
play.
“Just missed it,” Chisholm said. “Been thinking about that since the
play happened, still thinking about it now. Still can’t get it out
of my head.”
Myles Straw, who came in off the bench for outfield defense, added
an RBI single in the eighth after Alejandro Kirk's leadoff double.
With the score tied 1-all, Ernie Clement singled leading off the
Toronto fifth and went to third when No. 9 batter Andrés Giménez
bounced a single through the middle. Clement, who had nine hits in
the series, scored on Springer’s sacrifice fly.
Toronto left veteran right-handed starters Max Scherzer and Chris
Bassitt off the ALDS roster, choosing instead to carry four
left-handed relievers against the Bronx Bombers as the Blue Jays
pointed toward a bullpen parade in Game 4 if the series went that
far.
Turned out to be a winning decision.
Toronto opener Louis Varland, who gave up game-changing homers
Tuesday to Judge and Chisholm in relief, became the first pitcher in
major league history to lose a postseason game and start the next
day.
Varland worked 1 1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, and
seven relievers followed as Schneider mixed and matched with
planning help from his coaching staff. No pitcher got more than five
outs — but all of them were effective.
Seranthony Domínguez tossed 1 2/3 hitless innings for the win.
On the other side, Schlittler was coming off one of the most
dominant pitching performances in playoff annals, when he beat rival
Boston 4-0 in the winner-take-all Game 3 of their Wild Card Series
last Thursday at Yankee Stadium.

This time, he was charged with four runs — two earned — and eight
hits in 6 1/3 innings. The right-hander joined Dakota Hudson (2019
for St. Louis) as the only rookies in big league history to make
their first two postseason starts in potential elimination games.
Up next
Toronto went 4-3 against Detroit this season and 4-2 versus Seattle.
Veteran right-hander Kevin Gausman and rookie Trey Yesavage, the
Blue Jays' top two starters in the ALDS, will be fully rested for
the first two games of the ALCS.
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