As the marathon 2025 regular season wound down, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was in desperate need of a jolt. Starting with the Toronto Blue Jays playing the New York Yankees in early September, the Blue Jays slugger simply wasn't playing like his ordinary self.
Guerrero Jr. batted .213/.273/.230 with zero home runs and a paltry 40 wRC+ over his final 16 regular season games. His production wasn't carrying the Blue Jays to the AL East division title that they won over the Yankees. Combine that with his career numbers in the postseason and there were legitimate questions about what was going on.