Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is officially the best slugger in Blue Jays playoff history

On Tuesday night in Game 3 of the World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers, Blue Jays superstar Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had a key hit in the third inning when he launched a huge home run off of Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani to put Toronto ahead 2-1. It would turn out to be a lead that they would not relinquish as they eventually beat Los Angeles 6-2 to even up the series.

But Guerrero’s heroics went beyond just helping out the Blue Jays earning the crucial victory to get back into the series. In fact, it actually made some history while becoming Toronto’s best playoff slugger ever in the process. The big blast by the 26-year-old first baseman was his seventh postseason home run, surpassing both Joe Carter and José Bautista for the all-time franchise home run record in the MLB Playoffs.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is officially the best slugger in Blue Jays playoff history

Both Carter and Bautista played huge roles for the Blue Jays in the postseason during their prime years with the organization. Bautista had his “bat-flip” home run moment during the 2015 ALDS against the Texas Rangers and of course Carter had his World Series walk-off home run in 1993 to help the Jays capture back-to-back titles.

But no matter how many big home runs that they hit during the franchise’s postseason runs, both never ended up with more than six in total. Carter achieved it over 29 career playoff games over three playoff runs between 1991-1993 with Toronto, while Bautista needed 20 games over two seasons as well between 2015 and 2016.

Guerrero, on the other hand, has amassed his seven home runs all in this current SINGLE postseason run and it took him just 15 games to overtake the franchise record. With the torrid pace that he had been hitting this postseason so far, it was really just a matter of time before the mark would fall.

After all, Guerrero has posted a blazing .419 average, 1.306 OPS, along with a whopping 16 runs scored, three doubles, seven home runs and 14 RBIs to date, capturing ALCS MVP honours in the process. Both Carter and Bautista may already have had their legacy come and gone with the Jays back in the 1990s and 2010s respectively. On the other hand for Guerrero, his time has likely just started with more than a decade left on his contract with Toronto.

But first things first, with the World Series now down to a best-of-three, look for Guerrero to continue to power the way and make some more history for the Blue Jays. In doing so, he will hope to finally bring home the championship title to Toronto back to where it belongs after 32 long-awaited, agonizing years.