Vlad Jr.'s playoff moments

Try as we might, we aren't always good at guessing which team will get hot in the MLB playoffs.

Sometimes we can take a cue from the end of the season and the teams that rode September winning streaks into the postseason. Indeed, sometimes the hot regular season team continues on to be the hot playoff team. But sometimes that isn't the case at all.

As the 2025 postseason continues to play itself out, one the scariest teams in the American League Divisional Series was not the hot team in September. As a matter of fact, these Toronto Blue Jays were just barely able to hang on and avoid blowing a five-game lead for the AL East division title.

None of that matters once the playoffs are rolling. All it took was two decisive wins to open their series with the New York Yankees, and for a couple of days, the Blue Jays looked like the team to beat in the American League.

The face of their franchise is leading the way. Now we'll just have to see if they can bounce back from their first loss of the playoffs and reassert themselves as one of the favorites in these playoffs.

Today

• Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is putting his mark on the MLB playoffs
• The power of positivity and pancakes for the Milwaukee Brewers
• The moment before the moment for the Arizona Cardinals this past Sunday

One signature moment per game

I find myself thinking about the cruelty of baseball a lot this time of year. I think that's fitting. It's like Bart Giamatti said: baseball breaks your heart, because it is meant to break your heart. Fall is often when the heartbreak arrives, at the end of the season and as summer recedes from view.

With the joy and tension of postseason baseball, we also see the heartbreak. I am always struck by how sudden it is. The Cleveland Guardians went from the hottest team in baseball, thinking they were a team of destiny, to dropping their Wild Card series to a Tigers team that was ice cold entering the series.

That brings me to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Toronto Blue Jays. They are just three games into their playoff run, but as they won their first two games against their division rival New York Yankees in the ALDS, they felt like the kinds of games that carry extra meaning. It felt like the heartbreak that accompanies this time of year was far away from the Blue Jays.

At least I think it felt that way, and I think that's the case because each game included a memorable moment from Vlad Jr. He's hitting everything. That included a home run in game 1.

He hit a grand slam in game 2.

And then he had this awesome slide to score from second on a base hit in game 3.

The slide was so cool that I mentioned it before I added that Vlad Jr. hit another dang home run in game 3, too.

Those are the kinds of images that will live on for many years in Blue Jays history. Fans will remember Vlad Jr. flipping his bat towards the dugout after that grand slam. They will smile each time they see him diving towards home plate at Yankees Stadium like a super hero.

These are iconic moments. And maybe they will be memories on the path to a World Series victory. That might be the most fitting ending to a story that starts the way that this one has for the Toronto Blue Jays. But that's far from a guarantee.

Take my Colorado Rockies. My two favorite moments in franchise history both came during their 2007 run to the World Series. "Rocktober" started with this Todd Helton walk-off home run.

The charge continued through the playoffs, culminating when Helton caught the final out of the National League Championship Series to send his Rockies to the World Series. That gave us the most famous image in Colorado's relatively short franchise history: Helton screaming in celebratory joy, both arms raised above his head.

And then? The Rockies were swept by the Boston Red Sox in the 2007 World Series.

Those potential signature moments crop up throughout the course of any given postseason. Some of them live on regardless of the final outcome, which I suspect will be the case with Vlad Jr.'s work so far in the 2025 playoffs just as it was with Helton and Rocktober. But most of the potential iconic moments will be swept away with the rest of the heartbreak as teams are eliminated and left to wait for next season. Most of the signature moments only stay that way for the team that claims the World Series title.

Now is a good time to mention that the Blue Jays blew a lead and lost to the New York Yankees 9-6 on Tuesday night. They still have two opportunities to win a single game and advance. But already the question is there: will these Vlad Jr. playoff moments contribute to heartbreak for opposing teams, or will they be the bright spots in a story that ends in disappointment in Toronto?

The power of positivity and pancakes

Everything is going right for the Milwaukee Brewers. They are up 2-0 on the Chicago Cubs and faced little resistance as they marched out to that series lead. They had the best record in all of baseball in the regular season and picked up where they left off in the playoffs.

We've discussed some of the things going in their favor, the extra factors besides their deep roster and outstanding pitching. There's Uecker magic as they honor the memory of longtime radio announced Bob Uecker. And there are the pocket pancakes for manager Pat Murphy.

That brings me to a connection and a question.

The connection: the New Day, a faction of WWE fame that was long known for the power of positivity, made pancakes a big part of their act.

For a big part of their run, the New Day always had pancakes ready. They showed up with pancakes on plates. They had pancakes in their pockets. They ate the pancakes, they shared the pancakes, and they even threw them to the crowd.

The question: should we all take a serious look at the power of positivity and pancakes?

There is significant research to support the notion that focusing on the positive has the potential to yield actual benefits. My guess is that the research is lacking when it comes to the benefits of always having pancakes on hand. But maybe we should all agree to look into it.

Throw some pancakes in your pockets. Make room in your backpack. I bet we'll pull together a compelling body of research about the positive effects of pocket pancakes in no time, further bolstered each day that the Brewers keep winning.

The moment before the moment

So much of the unpredictability in sports arises from the fact that things can change in an instant. That fact also lends itself to some tiring clichés and annoying commentary. But it's true that so many memorable victories and defeats and so many comebacks and moments of glory start with that single moment or event that nobody saw coming.

When we consider these moments, then, it's always interesting to think of the moment before the moment. To think of the mood before things changed, the inevitability of the course of events right until the moment when everything flipped on its head.

Of course, we can only look back and know that it was the moment before the moment when we know the final result. Take the Arizona Cardinals and their howler of a loss to the Tennessee Titans this past weekend.

It was 21-6 in favor of the Cardinals when running back Emari Demercado sprinted out to what was going to be a 71-yard touchdown. His lane for that touchdown reflected the level of effort from the lifeless Titans defense. Demercado just ran in a straight line and was on his way to glory.

One admirable member of the Titans, cornerback L'Jarius Sneed, busted it all the way down the field to try and stop the touchdown. Still, in those seconds as Demercado crossed the 30, and then the 20, and then the 10 yard line, reality was sinking in: this game was officially a blowout.

It was going to be party time in Arizona, and it was going to be another sad affair running out the string for the poor, winless Titans. That was the moment before the moment.

The moment, then, is when Demercado slows down just enough for Sneed to be a step behind him and then loosens his grip on the ball before he breaks the plane for the touchdown. Sneed hits his arm, and it's a fumble that rolls out of the back of the end zone. Titans ball, and the start of an inexplicable 16-0 run on the way to a 22-21 loss for the Cardinals.

Just like that, it feels like a panic in Arizona. Their head coach Jonathan Gannon had to apologize and was fined $100,000 for smacking Demercado on the sidelines. Dysfunction that might have been simmering below the surface, and that perhaps might have been squashed for the foreseeable future by a decisive win, is now bursting into public view.

That moment before the moment, when things could have been different and all was well for these Arizona Cardinals, was less than two quarters of football ago. But it might feel like a distant memory soon.

Odds and ends

• Aaron Judge keyed the Yankees' comeback win over the aforementioned Vlad Jr. and his Blue Jays with an absurd three-run home run. Mike Axisa writes about Judge finally having a big playoff moment. Of course, the Yankees might lose game 4 and bury this one a little further down in franchise lore (CBS Sport).
• Mike Tanier is on to the New York Jets with his "Tank Watch" series. I really enjoyed this line: "While most franchises prefer offensive gurus, the Jets are still seeking a head coach who can develop a young quarterback by scowling at him" (Too Deep Zone).
• This past summer, I wondered if MLB teams even practice bunting anymore. After a failed bunt took the air out of a Phillies rally in their playoff series with the Dodgers, Kathryn Xu makes a simple case: teams should just never bunt (Defector).

Have you seen how happy Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski was when he recorded the final out of his first inning of postseason baseball? He was so happy. It will make you happy, too.