Overview
- Eduard Bazardo yielded a three-run homer to George Springer in the seventh inning, and Toronto held on for a 4-3 Game 7 win in Seattle.
- Manager Dan Wilson went to Bazardo with runners on second and third and one out rather than Andrés Muñoz or Matt Brash, drawing sharp scrutiny of the matchup choice.
- Wilson defended the move by saying Bazardo has handled those tight, pivot situations for Seattle throughout the year.
- Bazardo had thrown two innings in Game 6 and had been used eight times this postseason, while Muñoz and Brash carried stronger playoff stat lines.
- Analysts pointed to earlier sequencing — skipping Gabe Speier despite multiple warm-ups and turning to Bryan Woo for the fifth — and noted uncertainty over whether using Muñoz in the seventh would have left a viable plan to finish the final outs.