A week ago, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was taking heat at Rogers Centre, still looking for his first home run of 2026 and carrying the kind of frustration that comes with a rough season in the middle of a tight Wild Card race. Toronto needed a spark, and its biggest name finally delivered one Wednesday night in Cleveland.
Guerrero powered the Blue Jays to an 11-0 rout of the Guardians, the club Toronto is trying to catch in the chase for the final Wild Card spot. He opened the scoring with a double off the wall in center field in the first inning, bringing home Brett Bateman for a 1-0 lead.
The ball left his bat at 105.9 mph and traveled 407 feet, a drive that likely leaves the yard in a lot of parks. Progressive Field’s 19-foot wall kept it in play.
The next time up, Guerrero found no such resistance.
With two on and two outs in the second inning, he jumped on an 80.6 mph curveball from Joey Cantillo and absolutely punished it. The ball came off at 107.8 mph with a 37-degree launch angle, and although Statcast listed it at 406 feet to the pull side, it looked like it kept climbing forever. It was Guerrero’s first home run since Aug. 8, and the three-run blast to right field gave Toronto the kind of middle-of-the-order punch it has been waiting for.
By the time he headed back to the dugout, the mood had flipped. The boos he heard in Toronto were replaced by “Vladdy” chants from Blue Jays fans in Cleveland.
That homer pushed Toronto out to a 6-0 lead in the second inning, and with Dylan Cease on the mound, the game quickly started to feel out of reach for Cleveland. Cease rolled through six scoreless innings, allowing four hits, walking none and striking out four.
The outing snapped his streak of at least seven strikeouts in 19 straight starts, but it also lowered his road ERA to 1.67. Opponents are hitting just .150 against him away from home, and his WHIP sits at 0.94.
He has allowed only one earned run in his last six road starts.
Cease has now put himself squarely in the Cy Young conversation.
Guerrero wasn’t done, either. He added an RBI single in the sixth inning, giving him 1,200 hits for his career and finishing a 3-for-4 night with a run scored and five RBIs. It was his first game with at least five RBIs since June 29, 2024.
For Toronto, the performance mattered as much for how it looked as for what it meant in the standings. Guerrero’s double, home run and RBI single all came from at-bats that showed timing, force and confidence. It was the kind of night that reminded everyone what he can still do when everything clicks.
The Blue Jays moved to 69-71 with the win, pulling within 1.5 games of the Guardians, who are 70-69, for the final Wild Card spot. Toronto is also tied with the Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles, both with identical records.
One game doesn’t erase the inconsistency that fueled the boos, but it does give the Blue Jays something they badly needed: proof that Guerrero can still take over a game. If that version of Vladdy shows up more often, Toronto’s push gets a lot more dangerous.
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