Barger’s career season continues with pinch-hit grand slam in Game 1 of World Series

TORONTO — In a lot of ways, Addison Barger is your typical 25-year-old. He showed up to work earlier this week in a free T-shirt that he got four years ago and then slept on his buddy’s pullout couch that night.

But Barger also smashed the first pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history on Friday to lead the Toronto Blue Jays past the Los Angeles Dodgers 11-4. That gave Toronto a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven Major League Baseball championship.

The shirt that Barger wore to media day on Thursday read “I Hit Balls Hard,” and he got it while playing for the Blue Jays’ single-A teams in Dunedin, Fla., and Vancouver.

“It was something that the hitting coaches gave out while I was in the minor leagues, I think, in 2021,” said Barger at a post-game news conference. “So it was a free shirt. I liked the shirt.

Added Barger with a laugh: “Yeah, the goal is to hit the ball hard, so I’ll take it.”

Barger pinch hit for Davis Schneider — the buddy whose couch he slept on the night before — in the sixth inning.

The left-handed Barger smoked an 84.5 m.p.h. slider from Dodgers reliever Anthony Banda 413 feet to score Nathan Lukes, Andres Gimenez and George Springer, and give the Blue Jays a 9-2 lead. The blast gave Toronto a 99.4 per cent chance of winning the game and had the sold-out Rogers Centre crowd of 44,353 rollicking.

Schneider explained that Barger crashed with him because Barger’s family was staying in his apartment to watch his World Series debut.

“My girlfriend’s here and he was like ‘can I sleep in the bed with you guys?’ and I was like ‘no, sleep on the couch,'” Schneider told reporters in the Blue Jays’ clubhouse after the game. “It’s a pullout couch and it was squeaking all night.

“I looked over and I just see him sleeping in there in the middle of the night. He’s a head case, but he’s funny.”

As for free T-shirts, Barger still has his standards.

MLB on FOX analyst David Ortiz, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame who spent most of his playing career with the Boston Red Sox, presented Barger with a shirt after the game emblazoned with a photo of Ortiz and the phrase “MY DAWG,” along the bottom.

Barger was gracious when it was presented to him, but he left it behind at Fox’s broadcast desk.

“It has Red Sox on it, I’m not wearing that. Are you kidding me?” laughed Barger. “I’m not wearing a team that’s in our division shirt.

“No way. It’s awesome, but no.”

This season was a breakout year for Barger, playing 135 games for the Blue Jays but 12 for their triple-A affiliate in Buffalo, N.Y. He finished the MLB regular season with a .243 average, 21 home runs and 74 runs batted in.

Barger is hitting .324 with three home runs and eight RBIs in Toronto’s run to the World Series.

“I’m trying to just put together good at-bats, left-handed, right-handed,” he said. “Lefties are definitely more difficult, usually.

“Just trying to put together good at-bats, no matter who is on the mound.”

Blue Jays manager John Schneider acknowledged on Friday that sometimes Barger doesn’t even know who Toronto is playing the next day.

“He keeps things simple,” said John Schneider. “I think he has a great back-and-forth with our hitting coaches. In this stage of the season, if you’re starting or if you’re not starting, there’s a pretty specific approach and plan with what you’re trying to do. For a young guy to go out and execute is another thing.

“Addy’s been so big for us this year, and I hope he doesn’t know who is pitching tomorrow.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2025.

John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press