Mariners' season ends in heartbreaking Game 7 loss to Blue Jays

Adam Jude, The Seattle Times on Oct 20, 2025

Published in Baseball

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TORONTO — For a franchise steeped in pain and misery, this was an entirely new sensation for both.

Heartbreak isn’t a strong enough word to describe what happened to the Seattle Mariners on Monday night.

Just eight outs away from the first World Series appearance in Seattle history — closer than they’ve ever been — the Mariners coughed up a two-run lead in the seventh inning of Game 7 and watched as the Toronto Blue Jays celebrated their first American League championship in 32 years.

Final score: Blue Jays 4, Mariners 3.

The greatest season in Mariners history ended, effectively, when George Springer launched a three-run home run into the first row beyond the left-field wall with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, turning the Mariners’ 3-1 lead into a raucous party for the 44,470 fans inside the Rogers Centre.

A stunning turn of events, and a stunning ending for the Mariners in the first Game 7 in club history.

They had everything lined up just as they’d hoped.

Julio Rodríguez had set the tone early, leading off the game with a double, scoring the first run and the hitting a massive solo homer in his second at-bat.

Cal Raleigh delivered a solo blast of his own in the fifth inning to stake the Mariners their 3-1 lead, and four strong innings from George Kirby and two more from Bryan Woo got the Mariners into the seventh inning.

This looked like a vintage Mariners performance in 2025. Until it wasn’t.

Woo, back out for the seventh inning, walked the leadoff batter, Addison Barger, and then gave up a ground-ball single to Isiah Kinger-Falefa.

After a sac bunt, M’s manager Dan Wilson called to the bullpen for Eduard Bazardo, one of the great success stories of this breakthrough season for Seattle.

But Bazardo, after missing on a first-pitch sinker inside to Springer, tried to go back to the inside corner with a second sinker — and missed.

Springer belted it out to left field to give the Blue Jays a 4-3 lead, putting the Mariners’ season on the ropes.

That Wilson didn’t turn to closer Andrés Muñoz in that situation — even in the seventh inning — will surely come under fire.

Chris Bassitt pitched a scoreless eighth inning for Toronto and Jeff Hoffman closed it out in the ninth, striking out Rodriguez on a slider in the dirt to end the game and set off a wild celebration for the Blue Jays.

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