Blue Jays win Game 2 of the ALDS over the Yankees thanks to the long ball

The long ball was on full display in Sunday afternoon’s monstrous 13-7 Game 2 win over the Yankees, powering the Blue Jays to a blowout victory and giving them all the momentum heading into Game 3.

Ernie Clement, who's one of the many Blue Jays players who have far exceeded their expectations this year, got the party started in the second, golfing one of Max Fried's low curveballs over the fence for a two-run jack. Off the bat, it looked like a shallow fly ball, but with the wind blowing through the Rogers Centre, it was able to squeak over the wall at 354 feet.

Blue Jays win Game 2 thanks to the long ball, and they needed all of them

The next guy who showed up to the party was 'The Franchise', Vladimir Guerrero Jr, who's now 6-for-7 with two home runs, six RBI, and a 2.464 OPS in the ALDS, further proving that he's a Yankees killer.

Sunday's bomb went a long way, marking the first postseason grand slam in Blue Jays history as it landed in the second deck after travelling 415 feet with an exit velocity of 110 mph. His homer, which completely opened the floodgates, made it nine to nothing in the bottom of the fourth.

In Saturday's win, Vlad came through with his biggest performance as a Blue Jay, but he topped it just 24 hours later with Sunday's showing, finishing the game by going three for five with four RBI. What makes this performance especially meaningful is that in the six games leading up to the postseason, he went just six for 22 with only one RBI.

Just two at-bats later, Daulton Varsho blasted one of his two homers of the night, which solidified the fact that the long ball was the main driver of Sunday's outcome, aside from a historic night from the rookie, Trey Yesavage, of course. Varsho's first of the night extended the Jays' lead to an astounding 11-0 in the bottom of the fourth.

Through 2025, Varsho's home run stroke has completely come alive this year, and it's all thanks to a few adjustments resulting in dramatic raw hitting improvements.

Some simple tweaks, including the switch to a vertical bat position and the elimination of his toe tap, have allowed his barrel rate to improve to 15.9%, which previously sat at 6.2% in 2024. Additionally, his average exit velocity (89.9 mph) jumped nearly four mph since last year, along with his hard-hit rate, that's improved by a drastic six points. Given this, it was simple to predict that he'd be an under-the-radar postseason hero for the Jays.

Just an inning later, this year's Blue Jays MVP, 36-year-old George Springer, blasted a 403-foot shot, making it 12-0 in the fifth. He's made improvements this year in just about every stat and metric, especially considering he was one of the worst hitters in the league in 2024.

Not only has he just improved, but he now sits in 94+ league percentile in barrel rate, sweet spot percentage, chase rate, and expected batting average. In addition, his exit velocity is the highest it's ever been, along with his barrel rate (16.1%) and hard hit rate (47.6%), all helping to round out his regular season with a .309 batting average, a career high by 17 points.

If four home runs in five innings weren’t enough, Daulton Varsho added one more exclamation point in the sixth, launching his second of the night. He finished his afternoon going four for five with two homers, two doubles, and four RBI, marking it as one of the best games of his career and just a single shy of the cycle.

From top to bottom, it was one of the most explosive offensive showings Toronto has put together in a long, long while. If the Blue Jays keep hitting the long ball like this, especially against top-end arms like Max Fried (who they hit around for seven earned runs), they’ll be in great shape for the rest of the postseason. With the momentum now firmly in their corner, this team all of a sudden looks like one nobody wants to face.