Blue Jays’ Addison Barger Made Surprising Change Before Game-Winning Laser

Thank goodness the Toronto Blue Jays’ equipment staff isn’t in the habit of quickly donating old gear.

The Blue Jays secured a massive 9-8 win over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night, erasing a three-run deficit to win the deciding game of the series. Addison Barger, who’d been scuffling in August, played the role of late-game hero.

With runners on first and second in the bottom of the eighth, and Toronto still trailing 8-7, Barger roped a 110-mph line drive off the top of the right field fence, bringing in the tying and go-ahead runs and shaking the Rogers Centre to its core.

It was a signature moment for the 25-year-old, who is still enjoying a breakout campaign despite a .573 OPS in August. And it happened in part because a bat Barger once cast aside was still around when he needed it the most.

Barger admitted after the game he switched back to a bat he’d used last season for the decisive at-bat, after first baseman Ty France found a box of them and used one to hit his pinch-hit home run three batters prior.

“I was just trying to get something in the middle — honestly, I used a different bat,” Barger said, per Keegan Matheson of MLB.com. “My bat was not working. It hasn’t been working.

“Ty France actually picked up one of my old bats in the cage and randomly decided to use it. I hadn’t seen the bat since last year, but he hit a homer with it. I was like, ‘Oh, shoot, I’ll use that.’ It worked.”

Is this superstition or the complete opposite? Barger was 0-for-4 on the night, so switching up the mojo had to be on the table. But grabbing a bat because you just saw a teammate go yard with it reeks of a message from the baseball gods.

It’s exactly the type of thing that’s happened all year to the Blue Jays, who have become one of the tightest-knit teams in baseball and one of the toughest to compete with.

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