Just four days ago, David “Big Papi” Ortiz was mocking his former rivals, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter, after the Toronto Blue Jays eliminated the New York Yankees in a 3-1 ALCS series. With a champagne-soaked Vladimir Guerrero Jr. by his side, Ortiz led a mocking chant of “DAAAAAA Yankees lose!” on national television. He even brought out sombreros for them and told them to join him for a vacation in “Cancun.” Fast forward to Sunday night, and the shoe was on the other foot now.

The Blue Jays, fresh off that dominant series win, hosted the Seattle Mariners in Game 1 of the ALCS. The game started with a bang. On the very first pitch, Toronto’s George Springer hit a massive home run. But then, the party came to a halt. After that first-pitch homer, the powerful Blue Jays offense completely disappeared and managed only one more hit for the rest of the game. Superstar Vladimir Guerrero Jr., the hero of the Yankees series, went 0-for-4 at the plate with three weak groundouts. And the night ended with the high-flying Jays losing the game 3-1.

And then, on the FOX Sports post-game show, David Ortiz defended the Blue Jays and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for this collapse. He argued that the three-day layoff between series killed their momentum and made them rusty.

“I don’t know if this ever happened to you guys when you guys were still playing, but when I was swinging the bat hot, I didn’t want a day off. The day off kind of cut my rhythm… It seems like the Blue Jays tonight, those three days off kind of affecting,” Ortiz explained. “For example, Vladdy was hitting ground balls to shortstop, that’s not his swing. He stays through the ball more likely. So, I would say that those three days kind of affect them for a little. Hopefully, tomorrow things will come out differently, but it seems like it.”

Alex Rodriguez, sitting right beside him, disagreed with a slight laugh.  A-Rod pushed back on what he clearly saw as an excuse for a poor performance. First, he playfully said, “Papi, that’s really interesting. You must have never had a day off because I’ve never seen you uncomfortable at the plate.” Then he pointed, that the Blue Jays didn’t choke Mariners simply outplayed them.

“I mean, it took a perfect game and the Mariners delivered a perfect game,” A-Rod started. Then he pointed, “Miller gives up first-pitch home run to Springer, and then they go 1-for-28 after that, right? So he shuts it down and pitched well; they played solid defense.” Bryce Miller, who started on just three days’ rest, came back brilliantly after giving up a home run on his very first pitch to George Springer, retiring 17 of the next 19 batters he faced.

A-Rod also noted how players like Julio Rodríguez and Randy Arozarena contributed without hitting home runs, getting walks, and stealing “two big bags.” And of course, he didn’t miss praising Polanco, who “again playing like a hero,” who had 2 RBIs of the game just after scoring the winning runs for Seattle’s 15-inning marathon game in the final game of the ALCS against Detroit. So, in A-Rod’s view, Seattle earned the win by collectively playing good, and there is no room for excuses.

And the Blue Jays’ performance showed they can be defeated

Against the Yankees, Toronto scored 34 runs and smashed 50 hits in just four games of the ALCS. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. looked like the best hitter on the planet, batting an amazing .529 with three homers and nine RBIs. So the expectations were clearly high around them. Then, against Seattle, they managed to score just one run and managed only two hits.

And the Seattle Mariners, who just got one day of rest before playing Game 1, came back brilliantly after trailing 1-0 early. Bryce Miller was brilliant, and beside him, Cal Raleigh, who entered the game with 11 homers and a 1.062 OPS against the Jays, and finished a 60-homer regular season, hit the game-tying home run in the sixth inning, his 4th career homer against the Blue Jays ace Kevin Gausman. Plus Seattle’s bullpen, from relief pitcher Gabe Speier, Matt Brash, to closer Andres Munoz, was perfect.

With a 1-0 series lead, the Mariners are now in the driver’s seat before Game 2. The only plus for the Jays is that rookie Trey Yesavage, who pitched a no-hitter for 5.1 innings against the Yankees in his last start in Game 2 of the ALCS,  will start for them. But if Seattle wins again, they will take a commanding 2-0 lead back home. And Blue Jays fans still have not forgotten what happened when the Mariners visited them last time in the 2022 AL Wild Card Series. The recent loss just deepened that scar one more time.