And It Comes Down To This: J-Rod vs. Vladdy Jr. in Game 7 of ALCS

Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports

NEW YORK, NY — Two of the greatest words in sports: Game Seven.

Game 7 of the 2025 American League Championship Series is set to go down tonight, Monday, October 20th, at the Rogers Centre, with the Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays battling it out one final time with the winner clinching the AL pennant to advance to the World Series. 

“This is what we sign up for,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider. “Whenever you can play for Game 7 to go to the World Series, it sounds kind of cool to say it. But this is why we sacrifice everything. It’s why players sacrifice everything. It’s special and unique.” 

To make matters even more enticing for this Game 7, the world of Major League Baseball has been treated to the showdown of Dominican Republic’s finest, Julio Rodríguez vs. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., on the sport’s biggest stage. 

Each the face of their respective franchise of Seattle and Toronto, as both inked long-term deals with the organizations, whom first signed them as teenagers out of the Dominican Republic—Rodríguez, 24, agreed to terms on a 14-year/$210 million extension in the summer of 2022 with incentives and a maximum value of $470 million while Guerrero Jr., 26, signed a massive 14-year/$500 million contract this past April—the third largest ever in MLB history. 

Though it is a lot of money ponied up by the Mariners and Blue Jays, approximately $970 million combined when accounting for maximum monetary value, J-Rod and Vladdy Jr., two former LatinoMVP Award winners, have been worth every penny and some in this best of seven ALCS. 

Rodríguez, looking to send the Mariners to the franchise’s first-ever Fall Classic, has recorded two home runs with five RBI this series across 20 at-bats with five walks. 

Then when it comes to his close friend off the field, an opponent on the other side, Guerrero Jr. took this ALCS by storm, compiling a 1.474 OPS with three HR’s, three RBI, four walks and nine hits overall. 

And for the 2025 MLB postseason all together, the five-time All-Star has smashed six home runs with his latest coming in Game 6 of the ALCS Sunday night, which surpassed Toronto icon José Bautista for the most HR’s ever by a Blue Jay in a single postseason. 

Regardless of the numbers, only one can advance. And it all comes down to Game 7. 

First pitch tonight at 8:10PM ET/5:10 PT on FOX and FOX Sports 1.

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