LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 28: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. #27 of the Toronto Blue Jays celebrates after hitting a two-run home run in the third inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in game four of the 2025 World Series at Dodger Stadium on October 28, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
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The Toronto Blue Jays had a season to remember, even if they didn’t bring home the World Series trophy. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ascended to Canadian folk hero status with an incredible postseason, uniting an entire nation. It never could’ve happened without the contract extension he signed in April, which almost didn’t come to pass.
Shortly after the regular season began, the Blue Jays and Guerrero came to an agreement that would keep him in Toronto through 2039 on a 14-year, $500 million deal. Including the 2025 season, he has a .288/.366/.495 batting line over his seven-year career with 25.8 WAR (Baseball-Reference version), five All-Star appearances, two Silver Sluggers, a Gold Glove, and now an American League Championship Series MVP.
The extension set up the postseason in which Guerrero cemented himself not just as the Blue Jays’ superstar, but as their emotional center. He batted .397/.494/.795 in the playoffs, trolled the Yankees after the Division Series victory, and was witnessed openly weeping as the last player left in the dugout following their World Series defeat.
Throughout the spring, it looked like the extension would never happen. Over the winter, he issued a deadline for extension talks of the beginning of spring training in mid-February. That deadline came and went with no deal in place. All through spring training, he and the Blue Jays executives had to answer questions about his future, and it looked like he would become a free agent after the 2025 season.
Things seemed especially bleak when the regular season began in late March with no extension. The two sides finally signed the largest contract in franchise history on April 7.
While the deal practically guarantees that Guerrero will be a Blue Jay for life by keeping him in Toronto through his age-40 season, it wasn’t an immediate success. On May 27, the team was 26-28, eight games behind the first-place Yankees in the American League East, and Guerrero wasn’t hitting for power with only a .418 slugging percentage. Since the ballclub had finished in last place at 74-88 the prior season, it looked like the team had signed an overlarge, disastrous contract with a player who wasn’t a consistent difference maker, and wouldn’t spur them to glory.
Things obviously improved from there, as they ended the year with the best record in the American League at 94-68. Guerrero posted a .292/.381/.467 batting line, 4.5 WAR, and a 133 OPS+, indicating his offense was 33% better than the league average.
The Blue Jays have never had a franchise player like George Brett with the Kansas City Royals, Robin Yount with the Milwaukee Brewers, or Tony Gwynn with the San Diego Padres. The position player with the most career WAR in team history is José Bautista with 38.4, but he’s nowhere near a Hall of Famer and Toronto was one of eight different MLB teams he played for in his 15-year career.
The extension makes it a near certainty that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will be the most prominent player associated with the Blue Jays for decades to come, and will retire with his name atop the franchise leaderboards in most offensive categories. Keeping him in Toronto long-term bought goodwill that paid off in the postseason, and it looks like it will keep yielding dividends long after he retires.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/danepstein/2025/11/04/vladimir-guerrero-jrs-extension-set-up-torontos-world-series-run/
