Oct 8, 2025; Bronx, New York, USA; Toronto Blue Jays right fielder George Springer (4) celebrates after hitting a double during the first inning against the New York Yankees during game four of the ALDS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
Some birds aren’t meant to be caged, especially if they’re Blue Jays buzzing around the Bronx.
The New York Yankees’ 2025 season is over far earlier than expected after they were eliminated in Game 4 of the ALDS by the Toronto Blue Jays 5-2 on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium. In a bullpen game in which they faced eight different Toronto pitchers, the Bronx Bombers could only muster six hits, ensuring their year ended with a whimper.
The Blue Jays are winners of their first postseason series and off to their first ALCS since 2016, where they will face either the Seattle Mariners or Detroit Tigers. A winner-take-all Game 5 of their ALDS is Friday in Seattle.
Four different Blue Jays drove in runs, though Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s inclusion was the most predictable of the bunch. The slugging first baseman put his side ahead within the game’s first three batters against New York’s rookie phenom, Cam Schlittler.
After George Springer’s lead-off double, Guerrero lined a single the other way to right for his ninth RBI of the series.
While Schlittler could not replicate the magic of his heroics from Game 3 of the Wild Card Series against the Boston Red Sox, in which he went eight shutout innings with 12 strikeouts, he still hung tough. The 24-year-old went 6.1 innings, allowing two runs on eight hits with two strikeouts and no walks.
Ryan McMahon drew the Yankees level with a solo home run in the third against Mason Fluharty, but it would be their last hit until the seventh inning.
Meanwhile, the Blue Jays took the lead in the fifth. Following lead-off singles from Ernie Clement, who went 2-for-3 in Game 4, and Andres Gimenez, Springer drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly.
That same combination of Clement and Gimenez teamed up to create some breathing space for the Blue Jays in the seventh. Following Clement’s single with one out, Gimenez’s sharp grounder to second looked destined to be an inning-ending double play, but Jazz Chisholm could not get his glove, which was in the forehand position, over quickly enough, and it glanged off his leather and into the outfield to put runners at the corner.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone gave Schlittler the hook for former closer Devin Williams, who got Springer swinging for the second out while Gimenez stole second. But Nathan Lukes, who spent a decade in the minors, came through with a liner over shortstop to score a pair.
Toronto added a fifth in the eighth after Alejandro Kirk snuck a double past a diving Rosario, who pinch-hit for the defensively superior Ryan McMahon just a half-inning earlier. Myles Straw drove him in with a one-out single.
The Yankees stranded seven men on base between the sixth and eighth innings. The final stanza of that stretch saw them load the bases with two outs against Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman, only for Austin Wells to fly out to left on the first pitch he saw.
Aaron Judge picked up a consolation RBI with two outs in the ninth, his sixth of the series.
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