Blue Jays' Bo Bichette discusses disastrous collision with teammate Springer

Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette was running real hard on Saturday night.

Too hard, it seemed.

In the top of the eighth inning of Toronto’s eventual loss against the Seattle Mariners in Game 2 of the American League Wild Card Series, Bichette collided with teammate George Springer while tracking down a ball in centrefield.

With the ball rolling around on the Rogers Centre turf, Seattle managed to score three runs and complete an improbably comeback from down 8-1 to tie it at 9-9.

The Mariners tie it after a scary collision between Springer and Bichette. pic.twitter.com/tByWxOcoPA

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 8, 2022

One inning later, the Mariners would take the lead, and eliminate the Jays from the playoffs with a 10-9 comeback win.

It’s a play that will live forever on blooper reels and in Toronto sports infamy.

“It was just right in the perfect spot for them,” said Bichette of the collision, per Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi. “I had no chance to slow down or look and he had no chance to do it either. It sucked.”

Springer left the game with an undisclosed upper body injury after spending a few minutes on the turf.

Bichette didn’t see Springer pumping up the crowd while being carted off the field.

Prayers up for George Springer 💙 pic.twitter.com/5WYmtISc32

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 8, 2022

“I was just getting ready for the next play,” Bichette added in a post-game scrum in the Jays’ clubhouse following the loss.

A clearly emotional Bichette had plenty of kind words to say about his teammate.

“He’s meant a lot, especially going down this stretch,” Bichette said of Springer. “He really steps up and he was one of the few people here that had been in these situations before. I think he brought kind of a constant [presence] and [he was] just a staple to us.”

Bichette also touched on the message that Toronto manager John Schneider shared with the team postgame, despite the loss.

“I think he just wanted to tell us that he’s proud of the work we put in, the effort we put in and that this stuff is gonna be beneficial for our future and we have a lot of good things coming up,” Bichette added.

Bichette was also complimentary of Schneider himself, who has an uncertain future with the Blue Jays after being named the interim manager midseason.

“He works hard. He really wanted to win. He had a lot of passion and energy. He was put in a spot as a rookie manager, a young manager to meet a team with World Series aspirations, and he did a good job,” Bichette added. “So it’s not easy for him to do. So yeah, he did a great job.”