Former Lugnut Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., leads Jays into World Series
There is an argument that the greatest Lansing Lugnut ever is ascending to baseball's biggest stage. Even before we get to this, the Toronto Blue Jays have a definite Lansing feel: - manager John Schneider was the Lugnuts' manager in 2016 - third base coach Carlos Febles was an original
There is an argument that the greatest Lansing Lugnut ever is ascending to baseball's biggest stage.
Even before we get to this, the Toronto Blue Jays have a definite Lansing feel:
- manager John Schneider was the Lugnuts' manager in 2016
- third base coach Carlos Febles was an original Lugnut in 1996
- assistant athletic trainer Drew MacDonald was the Lugnuts' athletic trainer from 2013-2017
- bullpen catcher Luis Hurtado played for the Lugnuts in 2011 and was scheduled to manage the club during the canceled 2020 season
- catcher Alejandro Kirk played for the Lugnuts in 2019
- shortstop Bo Bichette played for the Lugnuts in 2017 and was named the Midwest League's Most Valuable Player
And then there's Vladdy.
I met Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in 2016.
— Emily Waldon (@EmilyCWaldon) October 22, 2025
One of my international contacts had reached out to me the year before about a teenager “with a hack as beautifully violent as his father.”
As I covered Vladdy over the years to come, he always told me how he was “just thankful” to be able… pic.twitter.com/6dOQT0poU5
The first Vladimir Guerrero, Vlad the Impaler, played in one World Series in his 16-year Hall of Fame career. It came three years after he won the All-Star Home Run Derby, in his penultimate season, 2010, when he was 35 years old. Vlad Guerrero went 1-for-14, an .071 average, and the Texas Rangers lost to the San Francisco Giants in five games.
The second Vladimir Guerrero, Vladdy Jr., is 26 years old. It is nine years since he first donned a Lugnuts uniform to play in the 2016 Crosstown Showdown against Michigan State, eight years since he paired with Bichette to dominate Midwest League pitching, seven years since he made his Major League debut, five years since he made his first All-Star Game appearance, and two years since he won his own All-Star Home Run Derby.
It is worth re-reading Arden Zwelling's profile of the teenage Vladdy moving his way up through the system, which begins with the words, "His teammates all make fun of his bats. Black, old and worn, with pine tar stains around their necks and blemishes from foul balls dotted all over, they’re certainly not photo-ready; not top-shelf bats, primed for display. But why would they be? They’re tools, not accessories. And when one of those bats is in his hands, you won’t believe what he does with it."
On Father's Day in 2017, the ceremonial first pitch saw Vlad Sr. toss it to Vladdy Jr.
And now Vladdy will play in his first World Series beginning Friday, leading the Toronto/Lansing Blue Jays against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Vladdy Jr. wants to win a ring and give it to his dad 💙 https://t.co/225CiAVfH3 pic.twitter.com/fTnLu0uFGE
— MLB (@MLB) October 21, 2025
In 2010, Vladimir Guerrero, Sr., was an American League All-Star, his ninth All-Star nod – Vladdy still has four to go to match his dad. But his Rangers were led by a different superstar: American League MVP Josh Hamilton in his greatest season, complemented by Nelson Cruz, Ian Kinsler and Elvis Andrus, among others. (The catcher of the squad was Matt Treanor, one of the original 1996 Lugnuts.)
There's no greater headliner on the American League champs this year that Vladdy Jr., who finished in the top ten in the American League in base hits, walks, runs, batting average, on-base percentage and OPS in the regular season before taking things to a remarkable level in the postseason.
In Toronto's four-game ALDS triumph over the New York Yankees, Vladdy homered three times and batted .529 (9-for-17). In Toronto's seven-game ALCS victory over Seattle, he slugging three more home runs, batted .385 with a 1.330 OPS – and was named the series' Most Valuable Player. In all, he is 19-for-43 this postseason with three doubles, six home runs, 11 runs scored and 12 RBIs through 11 games, batting .442/.510/.930. He has been historically great.
Vlad Jr.’s 1.440 OPS is the sixth-highest ever in a single #Postseason (min. 30 PA).
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) October 22, 2025
He's two homers shy of tying the most in a single #Postseason (8). pic.twitter.com/R8Hdwh4DC0
The Blue Jays' opponent in the World Series, the Dodgers, have one Lugnut of note: pitching coach Mark Prior, who drew massive crowds to his 2004 rehab starts in Lansing on his way back to rejoining the Chicago Cubs.
The World Series broadcasters are Mid-Michiganders, too: Waverly's John Smoltz, who dropped in to Lansing last year to celebrate the opening of the John Smoltz Strikeout Baseball Stadium, and Potterville's Joe Davis, who attended Lugnuts games while growing up. Plus, 2021-22 Lugnut and current Athletics outfielder Lawrence Butler will work as a World Series Player Correspondent for Games 3 and 4 in Los Angeles. In a real sense, MLB's championship-crowning series is a Capital Classic.
And Vladdy Jr., who wore braces the first time he arrived in Lansing, Michigan, who had his grandmother living with him in The Outfield loft apartments and cooking for him, who did such damage with his old, worn black bats, will lead the American League champions against the great Shohei Ohtani and a Los Angeles Dodgers team looking for its second consecutive title.
On Friday, raise the curtain. Let it be Nuts.