Lost in Last Night's 18-Inning World Series Classic Was Vlad Guerrero Jr.'s All-Time Clutch Defensive Play, Game 2 Was SO CLOSE To Being The Vlad Guerrero Jr. Game

When I first watched this throw, I wasn't sure how much of it appearing to be "the fastest a projectile has ever moved" was just an optical illusion. It was the perfect combination of big moment + smart play + camera work + ball skipping on the ground a few yards before it reached third base but the angle making it look like Vlady threw the ball so hard it actually started to rise at the end. It also helps that the throw was a shorter distance from 1st to 3rd, as opposed to balls that come in from deep outfield where you typically see players rear back and give it their all. But my initial reaction when I saw this play was that Vlad Guerrero Jr. had just thrown a baseball harder than any human being has ever done before.

Turns out it wasn’t even close to that. Not even a little bit. To the point that I thought about bailing on this entire blog, because I’m gushing over a player who threw a ball 87.6 MPH. That wasn't even his Vlady's hardest throw this playoffs.

In fact, Vlady's throw yesterday was nearly 20 MPH slower than the fastest recorded throw in MLB history.

So fine. Maybe it wasn't the "hardest throw you'll ever see". But it was just about the clutchest. In a world where the Blue Jays proceed to take a 1-run lead (which they did), and Shohei Ohtani doesn’t immediately tie things up with a solo home run that leads to another 12 innings of baseball and one of the greatest World Series game in the history of the sport… that throw might go down as one of the clutchest game saving defensive plays of all-time. To have the awareness to come off the bag, cut off the ball as early as possible, and put an "87.6 MPH" throw (while slipping) where the 3rd baseman doesn't even have to move his glove for the tag…

To make that play in that moment of a World Series… it's hard to have a more clutch defensive play than that. 

The Blue Jays were so close. In their very next at bat, Vlady gets up with 2 outs and nobody on. He singles to center. Then from first base, he scores on a "single" (technically) to right field, thanks to a slide into home that could be put on a poster. 

The Blue Jays had the lead in the bottom of the 7th. They had 8 outs to go. Then Seranthony Dominguez threw Shohei Ohtani a strike. 

The Blue Jays were one 97 MPH fastball down the cock away from a 2-1 series lead, and Game 2 of the World Series being forever known as the Vlad Guerrero Jr. game. All the Blue Jays had to do was start intentionally walking Shohei one at bat earlier.

Instead, we got an 18-inning classic. Which I suppose was pretty darn cool in its own right. But that should have been the Vlady Jr. game. Instead, we're going to remember it for Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman once again. 

And Shohei is pitching tonight for a chance to put his mark on this series even harder. In a series that's pitted those two players (Shohei & Vlady) against each other, it's funny how those dominos fall. It's a game of inches.