TORONTO – Moments after the Seattle Mariners advanced to the American League Championship Series with an exciting 15-inning win over the Detroit Tigers, first baseman Josh Naylor of Mississauga, Ont., was asked about attending to play post-season baseball in Toronto.
Naylor said that playing against his hometown Blue Jays can be “just one other team we’ve gotta beat,” but that attending to see a few of his friends who’re on Toronto’s roster, guys he had give you within the Cleveland Guardians organization, that was one other matter.
“They’re an outstanding group, managed by an excellent manager, they’ve awesome players,” Naylor told Sportsnet on the sector at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park. “I’m really excited to see Straw, Gimenez, Sandlin and Ernie. Those are my boys.
“I’m blissful we’re all there. We were all Cleveland boys at one point they usually all traded us and now we’re going.”
The players Naylor listed off are Blue Jays outfielder Myles Straw, relief pitcher Nick Sandlin in addition to infielders Andres Gimenez and Ernie Clement. Pitcher Shane Bieber, who will likely be Toronto’s starter in Game 3 on Wednesday in Seattle, can be a former member of the Guardians.
“That put a giant smile on my face, and I’m sure all the opposite guys, because we love Nayls,” said Clement in the house dugout at Rogers Centre on Monday. “He’s top-of-the-line teammates I’ve ever had, and we’re all the time rooting for him, so it’s really cool to share the sector with him again.”
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All five of the previous Guardians arrived in Toronto by different means.
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Clement signed a minor-league cope with the Blue Jays in March 2023 after a stint with the then-Oakland Athletics. Gimenez and Sandlin were traded to Toronto in December. Straw was acquired in a separate deal a month after that and Bieber was picked up on July 31 ahead of the trade deadline.
“I feel the culture over there in Cleveland is basically, really good, so we’ve all form of tried to bring that here,” said Clement, noting that Blue Jays team president Mark Shapiro and general manager Ross Atkins were each previously with the Guardians.
“There’s just great people top to bottom within the Cleveland and within the Toronto organizations, so it’s not hard to have an excellent culture here. It’s nice seeing familiar faces.”
Bieber, the newest Guardians to make the move north of the border, said that having so many former teammates on the Blue Jays made the transition easier.
“I feel right after I got the decision that I used to be traded over here, I already had a handful of phone numbers that I reached out to and made a bunch text,” said Bieber. “Obviously, that was great. But at the identical time, even guys that I didn’t have their contact info, the minute I walked into the clubhouse everybody inside this organization, especially in that clubhouse, has made the transition very easy and seamless.”
Manager John Schneider said it was a little bit of a running gag in Toronto’s clubhouse.
“We were form of joking it was a prerequisite to be in Cleveland in some unspecified time in the future to be over here,” said Schneider, before adding that it’s made his team more cohesive. “It helps because this game is difficult, and everybody makes sacrifices. They’re away from their family, they’re here all day; you recognize what I mean?”
Despite the turnover in personnel, the Guardians still made this 12 months’s playoffs. Cleveland was eliminated from the American League Wild Card series by Detroit in three games.
Bieber laughed when asked the way it felt to be within the ALCS when his former team was not.
“I’m focused on where we’re at and this team,” said Bieber. “I feel you understand the business for what it’s, so the moment you get traded, you dive into whatever organization you only moved to.
“In order that’s what I’ve tried to do, and that’s what my family has tried to do.”
The Mariners grabbed a 2-0 lead within the best-of-seven ALCS with 3-1 and 10-3 victories in Toronto. Seattle hosts the subsequent two games, and a 3rd if mandatory. Games 6 and seven, if mandatory, will likely be played in Toronto.
No matter how the ALCS pans out, Naylor said he was blissful to reconnect with so lots of his old friends through the two games at Rogers Centre.
“We just talked about how our families were, how we’re doing as individuals,” said Naylor. “We were all really super, super close after we were there, and people memories last perpetually, those friendships last perpetually, and I’m super grateful for the moments all of us had together, whether or not they were on the sector, within the hotel, at dinner, on the bus. Wherever they were, I’m super, super grateful for those moments.
“We had so many awesome memories on that team, and we’ll carry those memories perpetually. It’s form of shocking that all of us got broken up and now we’re all almost to the World Series.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 14, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press