“I’d rather sit all of 2026 than play with him”—the reported Guerrero Jr. quote that could fracture the Blue Jays from the inside and force Schneider to choose sides.NL

Blue Jays Shocker: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Demands “SELL HIM!” – Reveals Teammate George Springer as World Series Disaster Culprit

In a bombshell that has sent shockwaves through Major League Baseball, Toronto Blue Jays superstar Vladimir Guerrero Jr. unleashed a torrent of fury, publicly demanding the trade of veteran outfielder George Springer just weeks after their heartbreaking World Series defeat.

“SELL HIM!” Guerrero bellowed in an explosive interview, his voice dripping with betrayal and rage.

“I’d rather sit on the bench for the entire 2026 season than play one more minute with him! Every time I see him step onto the field, I feel like I’m betraying my own career and my own dignity.”

The 26-year-old slugger, who dazzled as the ALCS MVP with a .385 average and three postseason homers, didn’t mince words in pinpointing Springer as “the source of the disaster” that doomed the Blue Jays’ 2025 championship dreams.

This scathing accusation comes amid whispers of clubhouse fractures, thrusting manager John Schneider into what insiders call the “most serious crisis” of his tenure.

As the dust settles on Toronto’s 4-3 World Series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers – a grueling seven-game epic capped by an 11-inning 5-4 heartbreaker in Game 7 – Guerrero’s outburst has ignited a firestorm.

Blue Jays Nation is reeling: Is this the end of an era, or the brutal spark needed for 2026 redemption?

To understand the venom, rewind to October’s Fall Classic at Rogers Centre. The Blue Jays, AL East champions with 94 wins, stormed into the series as underdogs against the defending champ Dodgers.

Guerrero was electric, slashing .320 with seven RBIs across the seven games, his two-run blast off Shohei Ohtani in Game 4 a highlight that evened the series at 2-2.

Bo Bichette’s three-run homer in Game 7’s third inning gave Toronto a 3-0 lead, and for a fleeting moment, the ghosts of 1993 – Joe Carter’s walk-off – seemed ready to return. But the collapse was catastrophic.

The bullpen faltered, Dodgers’ Miguel Rojas tied it with a ninth-inning homer off Jeff Hoffman, and in the 11th, Teoscar Hernández’s solo shot off Shane Bieber sealed LA’s repeat title, their third in six years.

Enter George Springer, the 36-year-old center fielder whose $150 million contract once symbolized Toronto’s 2021-22 contention push. In the regular season, Springer rebounded from injury-plagued years, hitting .264 with 22 homers and earning Silver Slugger nods alongside Guerrero and Bichette.

He was a postseason hero in the ALCS, his Game 7 three-run shot flipping a 3-1 deficit against the Mariners into a pennant-clinching 4-3 win. Teammates, including Guerrero, hailed him then: “He’s become everything I thought he would,” Springer had gushed about Vlad post-ALCS. But in the World Series? Disaster.

Springer’s stats were a nightmare: .143 average (2-for-14), zero RBIs, and a critical error in Game 3’s infamous 18-inning marathon – a misplayed fly ball that extended the Dodgers’ 6-5 walk-off victory via Freddie Freeman’s homer.

Sources say Guerrero seethed privately after that Dodger Stadium thriller, where Shohei Ohtani’s two homers set records. Game 5’s 6-1 Jays win offered hope, but Springer’s glove betrayed him again in Game 6, botching a routine catch that let LA tie it at 4-4 before Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s relief heroics.

By Game 7, with Isiah Kiner-Falefa gunned down at the plate in the ninth – a play Schneider still regrets, admitting he’d “think about it until the day I leave this earth” – Springer’s .000 average with runners in scoring position became the scapegoat.

“Vlad’s been carrying this team since Day 1,” a clubhouse insider told reporters off the record. “George’s errors weren’t just physical – they crushed morale. In the dugout after Game 3, you could hear the silence.

Vlad looked like he wanted to explode.” Guerrero’s extension through 2033 – a franchise-record $500 million deal – cements him as Toronto’s cornerstone, while Springer’s deal expires after 2026, fueling trade speculation. “He’s the anchor dragging us down,” Guerrero continued in the interview, obtained by Sportsnet.

“That World Series? It wasn’t the Dodgers. It was him. The misplay in the 18th, the strikeouts with men on – pure disaster. John [Schneider] knows it. The front office knows it. Sell him now, or we’re wasting my prime.”

Schneider, 45, finds himself in the crosshairs. Hired mid-2022 after Charlie Montoyo’s firing, he guided Toronto from a 74-win 2024 disaster to 2025’s division crown and World Series berth – their first since ’93. Postseason bullpen woes (4.50 ERA) and offensive droughts plagued them, but Schneider’s steady hand earned praise.

Now? “This is the deepest cut of my career,” he confessed at MLB’s Winter Meetings in Orlando. “Vlad’s words hurt because they’re raw, but they’re from pain. We’ve got to address the bullpen – high-leverage arms like a closer – and maybe another bat.

But trading George? That’s above my pay grade. We’re talking extensions for me, but this fractures trust.”

The fallout is seismic. Fans flooded Rogers Centre’s X account with #SellSpringer memes, juxtaposing his ALCS heroics against World Series flops.

Analysts like ESPN’s Jeff Passan called it “the most toxic teammate callout since A-Rod’s Yankees days.” Springer’s camp issued a terse statement: “George is proud of his Jays tenure and focused on winning.

Personal attacks don’t define legacies.” Yet, whispers of a trade to contenders like the Yankees or Astros – seeking a center-field vet – grow louder. Guerrero, fresh off a Gold Glove finalist nod, doubled down: “I love this city, but not at the cost of dignity.

Bench me if you won’t move him.”

For Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins, the math is brutal. Guerrero’s .312/44 HR/123 RBI line anchored a lineup that outhit LA in the series (.245 to .232), but Springer’s $25 million salary clogs the books amid pursuits of free agents like Kyle Tucker. “Vlad’s the future,” Atkins hinted.

“We build around him.” As 2026 looms, Toronto eyes bounce-back: Dylan Cease bolsters the rotation, but without resolving this rift, the “disaster” Guerrero decries could linger.

This isn’t just drama – it’s a reckoning. The Blue Jays’ 2025 run – from ALCS ecstasy to World Series agony – exposed fault lines. Guerrero’s clarion call demands action: Trade Springer, rebuild unity, chase the ring Vlad craves.

Will Schneider navigate the storm? Or will “SELL HIM!” echo as the epitaph for Toronto’s dream season? One thing’s certain: In the City of Champions-wannabes, betrayal stings deeper than any loss.