Addison Barger became the first man to crush a pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history when he emerged from the bench in the sixth inning of game one
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The effects of the massive AWS outage reached the sports world on Monday.
Ticketmaster was dealing with ticket management issues as a result of the outage, according to messages shared by several sports teams hosting games on Monday, including the Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Seahawks.
The Blue Jays, facing off against the Seattle Mariners in a Game 7 MLB playoff bout at Rogers Centre in Toronto, posted a statement earlier Monday about the outage and advised fans to “hold off on managing your tickets as we work through this.”
A few hours later, the team said ticket management was returning to normal.
>World Series appearance on the line
— Morning Brew ☕️ (@MorningBrew) October 20, 2025
>AWS outage sends Ticketmaster down
>Blue Jays fans can't access Game 7 tickets
>Blue Jays opponent…Seattle
>Amazon headquarters…Seattle https://t.co/OYjjDj5cdf pic.twitter.com/rbNnwKYegG
The Seahawks, which are hosting the Houston Texans for Monday Night Football in Seattle, issued a statement about the outage “that may impact access to Ticketmaster, Seahawks Account Manager, and the Seahawks Mobile App.”
The Detroit Lions, hosting their own Monday Night Football game, also had ticketing impacted.
The outage effects went beyond just ticketing. The Premier League said its VAR tech system, used to determine offside calls in soccer, would not be available for Monday’s match between West Ham and Brentford.
Amazon’s outage began shortly after midnight Pacific in Amazon’s Northern Virginia (US-EAST-1) region, which is AWS’s oldest and largest cloud region, a popular nerve center for online services.
In an initial update, AWS said the outage was related to a DNS resolution issue with its DynamoDB product, meaning the internet’s phone book failed to find the correct address for a database service used by thousands of apps to store and find data.
Amazon later said the root cause of the outage was an “underlying internal subsystem responsible for monitoring the health of our network load balancers.”
By 3 p.m. PT, the company said all AWS services had returned to normal operations.
Major sites and services including Facebook, Snapchat, Coinbase and Amazon itself were impacted — reviving concerns about the internet’s heavy reliance on the cloud giant.
The outage suggests that many sites have not adequately implemented the redundancy needed to quickly fall back to other regions or cloud providers in the event of AWS outages.
Previously:
TORONTO — Game 7 never gets old. Nor does it ever fail to humble even the greatest players to grace the October stage.
Max Scherzer is about to embark on his 11th winner-take-all game in his storied major league career, and in the moments after his Toronto Blue Jays kept their season alive with a 6-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series, his mental record book was whirring, taking him back to his playoff debut as a 26-year-old all the way through the two World Series championships he’s netted in the past six years.
“God, another one,” says Scherzer, stomping a bit and shaking his head, as is his wont. “I’m just walking around, going through all my Game 7s, my Game 5s, elimination games, last day, all these moments and you remember all of them.
“To get another one? My gosh. These are just so special, so hard to get to, that to get another crack at it – this is what you live for.”
Scherzer kept private what he plans to impart to his mates, but it will be experience borne of seven Division Series Game 5s, one wild card game, an ALCS Game 7 and of course, Game 7 of the 2019 World Series, when Scherzer started the clincher for the Washington Nationals two days after getting scratched from a start due to a debilitating neck malady.
And that’s exactly the sort of sacrifice the Mariners and Blue Jays expect up and down the roster in what should be a titillating evening of baseball at Rogers Centre.
Let’s take a peek inside the latest installment of baseball’s ultimate win-or-go-home drama:
In the hours between the Blue Jays’ crushing Game 5 loss to Seattle and their Game 6 revival, closer Jeff Hoffman was chatting with his wife about what might be expected of him the next two nights.
“We were talking about the potential of me throwing multiple innings today, or maybe tomorrow, or maybe both. Who knows what it will call for?” says Hoffman, who in fact threw two near-perfect innings in Game 6, striking out four of the seven batters he faced.
“She asked me, ‘Are you good to do that?’ And it’s like, there’s no choice. You’re good to do it. If that’s what the team needs you to do, you go out and do it and worry about tomorrow the next day.”
With that in mind, both clubs are in decent shape. The Blue Jays did burn Hoffman for two innings and set-up man Louis Varland for four outs, but stayed away from fireballing Seranthony Dominguez, who should be available for an extended stint in Game 7.
The Mariners used top set-up man Matt Brash for an inning and Eduard Bazardo for two. But lefty Gabe Speier got a needed night off and closer Andres Muñoz did not pitch. He will almost certainly be called upon for multiple innings if the Mariners hold a late lead or – egad! – the game goes extra innings.
In short: Relievers are already built to pitch until their arms come off – and both units are in good shape.
There’s nothing that makes the heart jump in an elimination game than a starter warming up in the bullpen. And both Blue Jays starter Shane Bieber and Mariners counterpart George Kirby will have a troika of veterans behind them.
Bryce Miller, Bryan Woo and Luis Castillo will all be available behind Kirby, who gave up eight runs in his Game 3 start.
As for the Blue Jays, Scherzer, Kevin Gausman and Chris Bassitt are all available to provide length if Bieber hits the wall early. Or, to put out a fire as needed.
“If you like postseason baseball, this is what it’s all about,” says Gausman. “You might see Max Scherzer in the fifth inning. You might see me later in the game. This is kind of what it is.
“As a player, this is what we want. We’ve all been grinding since Feb. 1st, even before then, so now we win one game, we’re going to the World Series.”
Game 6 was a balm for Blue Jays manager John Schneider, whose decision to deploy inconsistent lefty Brendon Little in Game 5 blew up and put his club in a win-or-go-home stance.
Now, the mental edge may have shifted, what with the Blue Jays having already stared down their mortality.
Heck, Schneider himself sounds like a dude who just got a stay of execution.
“It's pretty frickin' cool that we are where we are. I'm not going to lie,” he said after Game 6. “You got to keep your foot on the gas and get ready for tomorrow.
This is what we sign up for. Whenever you can play for Game 7 to go to the World Series, it sounds kind of cool to say it, you know. But this is why we sacrifice everything. It's why players sacrifice everything.
“This team, this group of men, are special. You never know where the journey's going lead. It leads to a Game 7 in the ALCS and that's frickin' awesome.
“Again, man, when spring training starts, and you say, hey, you got one game to win to go to the World Series, you take that every single time.”
For the record, that’s two “frickins” and one “cool” and “awesome” apiece.
How about you, Seattle manager Dan Wilson?
“So we'll make our adjustments offensively tomorrow, and we'll be ready to go Game 7,” he said after a night the club grounded into double plays in the third, fourth and fifth innings.
“I mean, this is the time to make those adjustments and baseball's a game of adjustments, and they will be able to do that tomorrow night and ready to go.”
Vibe check? Advantage, Blue Jays.
Both clubs were born in 1977. Yet the Mariners have never played in a Game 7.
Toronto has a more storied history, with consecutive World Series titles in 1992 and ’93. Yet it’s been 40 years since they’ve played a Game 7, when they blew a 3-1 lead to the Kansas City Royals in the 1985 ALCS.
The ALCS has been an unkind hurdle to both clubs the past quarter-century. Toronto lost in six games to Kansas City in 2015 and five games to Cleveland in 2016, while Seattle succumbed to the New York Yankees in 2000 and 2001.
They’d never been one game away from a World Series in their history, until Eugenio Suárez’s grand slam won them Game 5. They’re still waiting, and now must contend with what could be an evenly-matched and excruciating Game 7 for both squads.
See all available tickets for Blue Jays vs. Mariners ALCS Game 7.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mariners-Blue Jays Game 7 could be all-time MLB classic
Tennessee's Tony Vitello reportedly 'torn' over historic Giants managerial opportunity originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The San Francisco Giants appear to be all in on Tony Vitello — a move that, if it happens, would be monumental. The Giants clearly like what Vitello is preaching, and in particular, Buster Posey seems to be captivated by the Tennessee head coach. While no formal decision has been made, Vitello has reportedly pitched Posey on a vision centered around beating the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“He’s the guy who probably convinced Buster Posey he could beat the Dodgers,” an industry source said. “No doubt in my mind that he walked in and said that. Just give me the horses.”
If Vitello does end up going to San Francisco, it would be an unprecedented move. However, on Sunday he was still at Tennessee, attending Volunteers practice in Knoxville. This is because Vitello is genuinely torn between staying at the program he built or accepting what many believe is his dream job.
“I don't think some understand how odd it is that Tony Vitello didn't immediately accept an offer to become an MLB manager. For a college coach to even consider staying is testament to how torn he is about the decision. Giants are a good org with arguably the world's best park,” WBIR’s Wes Rucker wrote.
Vitello is facing what may be the toughest decision of his life. It won’t be easy.
“Hard to think of many college coaches who wouldn't accept that offer while ripping off the arm of whoever extended it to them. Vitello loves Knoxville. He loves UT. This is HARD for him,” Rucker posted.
Vitello is simply the best thing to happen to Tennessee baseball in years, and he’s deeply beloved there. Still, the Giants present a truly attractive destination. He’s expected to make his final decision within the next day or two.
This entire situation is a calculated risk for the Giants. If Vitello is hired, it would mark a leap no one in MLB has made before. But if he turns them down, the Giants will have spent valuable time waiting — and that could cause them to miss out on other highly sought-after candidates.
More MLB news:
TORONTO — Julio Rodriguez took ball four, tossed his bat away, clapped twice and exhorted his teammates in the Seattle Mariners dugout. Sure, they were in a four-run hole in the third inning of Game 6 in this American League Championship Series, but Cal Raleigh, the likely AL MVP, was coming to the plate.
The score was fixing to be tied with one swing from a man who’s hit 64 home runs through the playoffs. Just one hanging splitter or mislocated fastball or cement-mixer slider from a 22-year-old rookie who was in Class AAA ball a month ago, and the Mariners would be on track for their first trip to the World Series.
Yet the Toronto Blue Jays were thinking something entirely different: Trey Yesavage, with all of six major league starts behind him, is no ordinary newcomer.
“When he has the ball,” Max Scherzer, the 41-year-old future Hall of Fame right-hander tells USA TODAY Sports, “we all believe in him.”
And so Yesavage threw just one split-fingered fastball to the MVP, and Raleigh scorched a 100-mph worm burner right to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., beginning a fundamentally gorgeous 3-6-1 double play that finished with Yesavage blindly finding the bag with his right foot.
It ended the threat and began an almost absurd sequence of three double-play grounders in three innings, guiding the Blue Jays toward a 6-2 victory that squared this series 3-3 and set the stage for the most pulsating delight in the sport.
Game 7, winner to the World Series, loser left with a winter of regrets.
For now, that loser won’t be the Blue Jays, who overcame a desultory Game 5 defeat to keep their season alive.
Give some flowers to Guerrero and Addison Barger for their home runs and Barger’s three RBIs, and closer Jeff Hoffman for his two near-perfect innings of relief.
But know this: The Blue Jays are a win away from their first World Series since 1993 because of a kid drafted 20th overall barely more than a year ago, who started the year in lowest Class A, climbed the ladder all the way to Toronto in September and has faced down October’s biggest demons to gain the trust of a veteran clubhouse and, in Game 6, the entirety of Canada’s baseball-watching population.
But how?
“He has this silent confidence,” says Blue Jays ace Kevin Gausman. “He’s kind of jokingly said he’s pitched in a lot of big games before (turning pro), and it’s funny that he thinks those were super-big games. But he really looked back on those and how he went about these, just with a bigger crowd.
“He’s not scared of anybody. Maybe he’s a little young and maybe naïve, but he’s just going to go after guys.”
That was the only way to escape the trouble that found him in Game 6.
An inning after Raleigh’s double play, the one-out drama returned, Seattle going single-single-walk to again load the bases. Now talk about going right at ‘em: Yesavage jumped ahead of J.P. Crawford with two quick strikes, and the splitter was back, Crawford grounding a one-hopper to Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who snagged it, threw to second and was already pointing to the sky before shortstop Andrés Giménez made the turn.
“His splitter is next level,” says Scherzer. “He’s making the best hitters in the game look foolish on it. It’s such a big pitch, it gets him out of so many dangerous situations.”
Blue Jays force another inning-ending double play!!
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 20, 2025
📺: FS1 pic.twitter.com/0F9jFWYGiD
Want one more? Fifth inning, a Dominic Canzone single, a Leo Rivas strikeout on a split, but now the lineup turned over. Yesavage’s pitch count had hit the 70s, and he’d suffered diminished velocity from his first playoff start against the Yankees (historic) and his second one in Game 2 against the Mariners (terrible).
What’s more, Rodriguez had scored a three-run homer off Yesavage in Game 2
So, how was your mental state at that time, John Schneider?
“Not great,” says the Blue Jays manager.
Not to worry. Rodriguez swung at a first-pitch fastball and this time it was Giménez turn to initiate, the 6-4-3 DP keeping the emotional edge – and the momentum – in the third base dugout.
That’s no small thing in an ALCS that, from the Blue Jays’ perspective, has gone loss-loss-win-win-loss-win. Lesser players might be dizzy from such a whirlwind.
“It’s everything. It’s such a momentum game,” says third baseman Ernie Clement, who had two more hits, giving him eight in the series. “You can see it the last couple games: Whoever has the momentum kind of rises and gets it done.
“For (Yesavage) to make those pitches in those situations show a lot of poise and maturity.”
He gave them 5 ⅔ innings, gave up two runs, struck out seven, setting down six in a row to set the tone before dodging trouble in epic fashion come the middle innings.
And with each escape, the 44,764 fans who stuffed Rogers Centre roared, the tension of the night releasing with each inning.
Not exactly East Carolina, where Yesavage was pitching a year ago. Not that he tried to block out the noise.
“It wasn't really how I had to deal with it,” he says. “It was how I could use it to my advantage.”
That’s one way to handle the stress, an ability that’s jumped out to his far more veteran teammates since the Blue Jays recalled him in September, hoping to workshop an October weapon out of a guy who ascended A, AA and AAA ball in just a few months.
“That’s what strikes you right away when you meet him: He’s very levelheaded, very calm,” says Hoffman. “He’s got a great presence about him and the fact he holds it in big games like this is a really good sign, a really cool thing for the Blue Jays for the future.
“You can see the makeup. And he’s got what it takes, and he’s got a great group of guys around him to help him any way we can moving forward.”
Yesavage’s work, finally, is done for the year. Every member of the Blue Jays pitching staff expects to be available for Game 7 except Yesavage, who can simply watch and learn, and marvel at this amazing opportunity to win a championship ring before he’s even spent a month in the big leagues.
At the same time: He’s the reason they’re still alive.
Says Guerrero: “I’m very proud of him: 22 years old, young, hungry and you can tell he goes out and does everything he can to win the game.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Blue Jays' Trey Yesavage dominant stats in ALCS Game 6 vs Mariners
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