George Springer etched himself into Toronto Blue Jays history in Game 7 of the ALCS on Monday night versus the Seattle Mariners.
The Blue Jays appeared to be in trouble in this one, as they found themselves down 3-1 in the seventh inning and were struggling to get on base. That all changed when Springer stepped to the plate.
This wound up being all the Blue Jays needed, as they wound up keeping the Mariners off the board in both the eighth and ninth inning thanks to some great pitching from Chris Bassitt and Jeff Hoffman.
"I'm just so happy for everybody here. Our fans, our city, our country. This is for them," Springer said in an interview with Sportsnet's Hazel Mae.
"I just tried to get the guy into third, honestly. The at-bats before me were unbelievable, the bunt from [Andres Gimenez] was huge. That's such a hard thing to do in that spot. If it's not for those three guys, who knows what happens. I owe it to them."
What made Springer's home run all the more impressive was that he was gutting out a knee injury. The 36-year-old, who has been incredible for the Blue Jays all postseason long, took a pitch to the knee in Game 5 that left him in clear distress.
Though he was in noticeable pain in both Game 6 and Game 7, he was able to gut it out and hit one of the biggest home runs in franchise history. Thanks to his effort, the Blue Jays are now off to their first World Series since 1993.
The Blue Jays will rightfully celebrate tonight's victory, before preparing to take on the LA Dodgers, who were able to win it all last season. The two sides will begin the best-of-seven match up on Friday, with the first two games taking place in Toronto.