It was always going to end like this, except when it wasn’t. One year ago, there was still some/considerable doubt about what Vladimir Guerrero Jr was and what he might achieve at the big league level.
Now, he’s the MVP runner-up, the second place finisher to Shohei Ohtani’s unanimous selection. The only real suspense was if Vladimir Guerrero Jr would receive all 30 second place votes, which he did not.
Awards are nice and, even though Vlad Jr already claimed his share of accolades of late, an MVP award is an incredible capper on a great season. But there is zero shame in finishing second to the single greatest season in big league history. More to the point, Guerrero should be nothing but pride about how far he came and how quickly.
He turned his career around before he turned 22, dedicating himself to a game that rarely asked much of him before reaching the big leagues. After learning what it means to struggle, he learned what it’s like to play 160 games in a season and what kind of adjustments are required to not only keep hitting the best pitchers in the world but what he needs to do to continue keeping his body ready for that grind.
His season — with his personality serving as a window into it — won’t soon be forgotten by Blue Jays fans, even though he’s likely to repeat it in 2022, 2023 and beyond. While Ohtani is often compared to unicorns and aliens, Vlad Jr is a juggernaut, a wall of onrushing water that will forever change the landscape around him.
Nothing about what he achieved in 2021 feels unsustainable or fluky. Everything he did was everything he’s always done, just a bit better, more mature, more physically equipped to align his innate/pre-established skills with preparation and strength. Hitters hit. Vlad Jr does, and will, hit just about anything you throw his way.
Vlad Jr is inevitable. He’ll get as least one of these, just not this year. And that’s fine. What Ohtani did is truly special, an unbelievable feat of strength, preparation and focus. An unprecedented and unrivalled triumph in a game with more than 120 years of history behind it. An achievement that in no way invalidates what Vlad Jr did, as though the transcendent masterstroke of one great artist somehow erases the great work of another.
More to the point, both he and his team are in their ascendency. If it’s hardware we’re after, I’m sure we’ll see a steady stream headed towards Toronto, year after year. But for now, Blue Jays fans and generational talents alike can take solace in one of the finest offensive seasons in club history. We must settle for a coming out party like no other. Hopefully the first taste of greatness makes for an insatiable appetite, now and forever.