When the first pitch flew to start Game 1 of the World Series in Toronto on Friday, two of the game's biggest stars were front and centre on baseball's biggest stage.
And while Shohei Ohtani lofted a two-run shot, it hardly mattered, as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Toronto Blue Jays were already up nine runs in the seventh inning in what ended as a 11-4 win.
Guerrero and Ohtani have both slugged their respective teams into the Fall Classic in spectacular fashion, setting both franchise and MLB records along the way.
Guerrero hit the Blue Jays' first-ever post-season grand slam, seized their single post-season home run record and tied the franchise's all-time post-season record, without having hit an October homer prior to 2025. That's tough to top, but Ohtani did when he became the first player to belt three home runs and strike out 10 batters in a game, doing so in the Dodgers NL pennant-clinching Game 4 win.
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The Japanese superstar has a strong argument for the most talented baseball player of all time, considering his laundry list of accomplishments includes three league MVP awards, two 50-home run seasons and the creation of the 50-50 club, all while pitching to the highest K/9 of any starter in MLB history with more than 100 starts (11.41). Plus he already has a World Series title under his belt.
But while Ohtani's resume overshadows Guerrero's career accomplishments thus far, the Blue Jays' franchise player has outperformed the Dodgers' two-way sensation this October, at least at the plate. The Montreal-born slugger leads the post-season with 21 hits, 12 RBIs, and 1.412 OPS.
Guerrero's .447 average this October is also tied with Paul Molitor's 1993 post-season for fourth-best all-time among players with more than 40 plate appearances.
Ohtani and Guerrero are now tied atop the playoff leaderboard with six home runs apiece, but Guerrero and the Blue Jays are up 1-0 in the World Series. Let's take a look at how the two stars' Game 1 performances stacked up against each other.
Guerrero's sound process
Ohtani was the only one who cleared the fence with a big fly, but Guerrero still had more of a hand in his team winning the ballgame. It started with a seven-pitch walk in the first inning.
Guerrero has consistently run better-than-average chase and walk rates in his career, particularly when he's going well, but he's taken it to another level this season, posting career highs in both categories and carrying it into the playoffs. He was thrown eight pitches outside the strike zone in this game and swung at only one of them.
While the Blue Jays stranded the bases loaded in the first inning, Guerrero's quality at-bat both increased Blake Snell's pitch count and put pressure on the formidable left-hander, contributing to his shortest and least effective start of the post-season.
Guerrero saw six pitches his next time up, didn't chase once and smacked a Snell changeup through the infield at 101.9 m.p.h. The offering has graded out as Snell's best this season with a plus-eight Statcast run value.
In the Blue Jays' historic nine-run sixth, Guerrero flared a single into centre off of ex-Blue Jay Anthony Banda and promptly came around to score on a two-run smash by Alejandro Kirk.
Ohtani's traditional counting stats (one home run, two RBIs) were better than Guerrero's in Game 1, but depth contributions throughout the roster have defined the Blue Jays' season, and they did again on Friday.
Ohtani's low-leverage home run
After the Blue Jays put up the third nine-plus run inning in post-season history, Ohtani skied a two-run moonshot over the right-field wall to cut into the steep deficit.
But it was too little, too late.
It was Ohtani's first World Series home run, but he's looking for his second World Series win. Early strikeouts and a high-leverage groundout ultimately allowed the tenacious Blue Jays to battle back in a big way after going down two early, bringing their comeback win total to 53.
In Ohtani's first plate appearance, 22-year-old phenom Trey Yesavage got ahead with a couple fastballs before getting the reigning NL MVP swinging on a splitter, a pitch he hadn't gone down waving at since May 6. Later, old friend Mason Fluharty got the best of Ohtani once again, freezing him with a sweeper at the knees.
Still, the defining moment of Game 1 for Ohtani was a second-inning groundout with two outs and the bases loaded. Of course, it rolled down the first baseline to Guerrero, who stepped on the bag to end the threat.
