Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews snubbed by ex-NHLers over $500,000,000 Blue Jays star, as the face of Toronto sports

The Toronto Blue Jays are currently the most talked-about team in the market, a distinction that is usually held by the Toronto Maple Leafs for most of the year. The Blue Jays' MLB postseason run has Canadian fans eagerly waiting as they look to deliver a title for the city.

Leading the Blue Jays has been Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who is hitting at .455 with a 1.470 OPS in the playoffs with 11 RBIs and a Blue Jays record 5 home runs. Guerrero was in April, signed to a fourteen-year $500 million contract by the team and made the face of the franchise.

TSN panelists Jeff O'Neill and Marty Biron accepted that as the face of the Blue Jays, Vlady had also become the face of Toronto sports, over Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews. According to them, the impact Vladimir has on the sports environment in the city was incomparable.

"Oh, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. This is the biggest layup in quiz history. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went four for four last night, almost hit for the cycle,"O'Neill said. "He's ripping homers. He's goofing on the New York Yankees and the Leaf season's only 10 days old. This is a layup. It's Vladdy Jr."

Biron also referred to his father, Guerrero Sr., who was part of the now defunct MLB franchise, the Montreal Expos.

"It's now and for the next 14 years, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. because he has 500 million reasons to be the face of sports here in Toronto," Biron said. "And also whenever I can work a Montreal Expos reference, I watched his dad play for the Expos, still love him. So yes, Vlad Guerrero Jr. If he gets into the World Series, even in March, I think it's probably still going to be Vladdy."

Their fellow panelist, Darren Dreger, differed slightly from their stances, picking Auston Matthews over him, but even he felt that, currently, the title belongs to the Blue Jays' first baseman.

"No, I mean it's Auston Matthews because we're not talking about in-the-moment face of Toronto sports," Dreger said. "So, if we ask this question again in March, are we going to say Vladimir Guerrero? Overall, I appreciate. Yeah. Today it would be Vladdy, but overall it's Auston."

Both icons played their first professional games with their respective Toronto organizations in 2016. Matthews would be fast tracked to the NHL that very year while Guerrero made his MLB debut in 2019.

In ten seasons with the Leafs, Matthews has scored 732 points in 634 games and led them to the playoffs each year. Guerrero, meanwhile, has a career .288 average with 591 RBIs and 183 home runs and a 25.8 bWAR. This year is his fourth postseason appearance with the club.

Auston Matthews and Leafs feed off Blue Jays' energy in win against Rangers

Auston Matthews and the Leafs pulled off an overtime victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday. Their game coincided with the Blue Jays' Game 4 of the ALCS. That proved to be a motivating factor for Matthews and co.

“I don’t think they put anything on the scoreboard, but you could tell that something was happening in the game cause randomly the crowd just started cheering, so it was great,” Matthews said per Leafs Nation.

”It was a grind tonight, It was back and forth, a little bit of a stalemate there at times. But you’re gonna have those nights and those games where you gotta grind it out and try to fight for that extra point. We did that tonight, so we’ll take it.”

The Leafs and the Blue Jays are both part of multi-decade long championship droughts in their respective leagues. The Blue Jays last won a World Series in 1993, repeating as champions after winning their first the previous year. The Leafs' drought