The Toronto Blue Jays might have missed out on Kyle Tucker, but they have done a great job of moving on from their loss in the World Series with some significant additions.
The team has landed frontline starter Dylan Cease, star reliever Tyler Rogers and Japanese slugger Kazuma Okamoto in a free agent spending spree that has already exceeded $300 million. That kind of spending should help fans get over Tucker’s decision to join the Los Angeles Dodgers and their disappointment over losing the Fall Classic in extra innings.
But even though the future is bright in Toronto, there are some moments from last season that fans, players and coaches won’t ever be able to forget.
Toronto Blue Jays’ Former Bench Coach Don Mattingly Opens Up On ‘Crash Landing’
That’s clearly the case for Don Mattingly, a standout New York Yankees infielder who was a bench coach for the Blue Jays last season before joining the Philadelphia Phillies for next season.
As he discussed his new role with the Phillies, Mattingly spoke about reaching the World Series and coming up short against the Dodgers.
“To be able to win a few rounds and get to the World Series, incredible feeling, obviously I’ve never experienced that before… exhilarating,” Mattingly told WFIE’s Max Parker.
Despite Mattingly’s delight at reaching the Fall Classic with the Blue Jays, the coach did highlight that the final heartbreaking moment — when Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk came up short in the team’s last at bat in extra innings in Game 7 — still sticks with him.
“Your season comes to a crash landing, because even up to the last at-bat, Kirk is up, we’re down a run, one out,” Mattingly recalled. “Kirk is going to get this run in. It’s going to happen. Then a pitch later, the season is over.”
Toronto Blue Jays’ Alejandro Kirk Was Heroic, But Came Up Short In World Series Game 7
Mattingly was likely echoing the heartbreak felt by many Blue Jays’ fans, who had good reason to believe Kirk could still change the outcome even while just one out away from defeat.
The team repeatedly mounted comebacks throughout its Cinderella postseason run last year and the catcher had already emerged as a playoff star. In Game 1 of the World Series, Kirk hit a home run in the sixth inning that made him the first Mexican-born player to hit a Fall Classic homer in Major League Baseball history. And his slugging heroics just continued from there.
“Kirk then added his two-RBI homer to cap off a nine-run inning that marked one of the highest-scoring frames in World Series history,” Julia Stumbaugh noted for Bleacher Report. “That isn’t the only time Kirk has put a hit over the wall during the 2025 Fall Classic. He also erased an early two-run deficit in Game 3 with a three-run homer in the top of the fourth inning on Oct. 27.”
Unfortunately for Mattingly, the Blue Jays and their fans, though, Kirk was unable to go yard or change the outcome in his final chance in the World Series.