TORONTO — In a postseason that has included the likes of Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh, the Toronto Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has been the best hitter — to the degree that the biggest question going into Game 7 of the American League Championship Series is whether the Seattle Mariners will give him opportunities to swing the bat.
Rather, it's possible they will simply pitch around him, sometimes with intentional walks.
Guerrero is batting .462 in the playoffs, with nine extra-base hits — six homers among them — and just two strikeouts. Mariners manager Dan Wilson was asked before Game 7 if his perspective on Guerrero has changed from the beginning of the postseason.
«He's definitely hot right now,» said Wilson, nodding. «You look at a lineup, and you definitely don't want him to beat you… You want to make somebody else beat you.»
Every possible strategy, Wilson said, «is on the table.»
In this era of enhanced use of analytics, the deployment of the intentional walk has diminished because numbers captured over a broad spectrum of games suggest it is more of a disadvantage than an advantage. But there are situations when even the most stats-oriented managers will want their pitchers to work around a particular hitter. For example, in 2019, then-Astros manager A.J. Hinch called for his first intentional walk of any batter that season rather than pitch to blistering hot rookie Juan Soto.
Guerrero might be given similar treatment in Game 7, given how he seems to be covering all parts of the strike zone. Earlier in the postseason, he hit a 97 mph inside fastball for a grand slam against the New York Yankees, and in this series, he is 9-for-22 (.409), with 3 doubles, 3 homers,
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