Blue Jays' superstar reflects on how he made pitchers pay the price in the playoffs

From October 4 through November 1, 2025, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was on another planet. The Toronto Blue Jays' slugger had one of the most memorable offensive post-season's in franchise history. He hit .397/.494/.795 with a 1.289 OPS. He hit eight home runs, drove in 15 runs, walked 14 times and only struck out in seven at-bats.

Despite the Blue Jays coming up just short, Vladdy is proud of the work he and his teammates put in to get to the World Series and he had some time to reflect on his post-season during an interview on MLB Network during Blue Jays' Spring Training.

Blue Jays' superstar reflects on how he made pitchers pay the price in the playoffs

Speaking with Robert Flores and Cliff Floyd, Guerrero said it meant a lot to be able to be be looked at as the leader of a team that came so close to winning the World Series. He says, "All the work you put in, during the offseason, that showed in that moment. It was an amazing run and I feel so good to be a part of this team and being able to do that last year."

Vladdy says his approach once the playoffs began was to understand that pitchers were likely going to try and pitch around him and so he had to be prepared for the pitches that came in the zone. He says, "I said to myself, if they come in the zone then I'm raking and that's what I did. In the playoffs, every time I went up to the plate I was looking to do damage. In the regular season you read the situation, if there's a guy on second with nobody out, you try to hit the ball the other way. But in the playoffs, they said to me when you go up to bat you go up there looking to do damage."

While it would be absured to think Guerrero could hit as impressively as he did in the playoffs throughout the course of the season, it's encouraging to know what his mindset is like as he approaches the new season. This will be the first year Guerrero doesn't have his long-time friend Bo Bichette in the dugout and on the field with him every day and with the 14-year $500 million extension officially kicking in, Guerrero is expected to be the leader of this team.

Manager John Schneider said earlier in camp that he expects Guerrero to be a bit more vocal now that it's "his" team, but good leaders also back up their talk and after Guerrero's incredible post-season run, he looks ready to do exactly that in 2026.