Former Cleveland Guardians failed the Toronto Blue Jays in World Series Game 6

Two former Cleveland Guardians players had an opportunity to win the World Series for the Toronto Blue Jays, but came up short.

Jun 6, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Ernie Clement (22) and Toronto Blue Jays second baseman Andres Gimenez (0) celebrate after scoring the go ahead runs against the Minnesota Twins in the fifth inning at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images | Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

Cleveland Guardians fans have been forced to watch plenty of familiar faces in the Fall Classic.

While the Guardians were able to end their regular season with an exclamation point by erasing a 15.5 game deficit to win the American League Central division, Cleveland lost to the Detroit Tigers in three games during their Wild Card series.

It’s been former Guardians players including Josh Naylor of the Seattle Mariners and Andres Gimenez, Myles Straw Ernie Clement and Shane Bieber holding it down for Cleveland ever since the Wild Card series ended.

But Gimenez and Clement were unable to come up when it mattered most during Game 6 of the World Series on Friday night.

Both Gimenez and Clement have played critical roles for the Blue Jays. Famously, Toronto’s roster is littered with ex-Guardians players and constructed by former Cleveland baseball executive Mark Shapiro.

The Blue Jays looked to have a little bit of momentum in the bottom of the ninth when Addison Barger’s hit off Roki Sasaki forced the Dodgers to put Tyler Glasnow into the game for a save scenario.

Glasnow only needed three total pitches to end the inning and force the Blue Jays into a Game 7. Unfortunately, it was former Guardians players Clement and Gimenez who were retired easily by Glasnow.

Clement popped up into the infield for the first out of the inning. Then, Gimenez lined out to left field, but the ball was not very deep and Kike Hernandez was able to fire the baseball to second base to throw out Barger and cause an inning ending double play.

FULL BOTTOM OF THE 9TH: The @Dodgers sent us to Game 7 with an unforgettable #WorldSeries moment 😤 pic.twitter.com/Me1J0YbpaL

— MLB (@MLB) November 1, 2025

If Clement or Gimenez were able to keep Toronto’s momentum alive, they could have been baseball heroes and walked off the World Series as victors. While they do not deserve all the blame as Toronto was only able to muster a single run against Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, they certainly failed to come up clutch when the Blue Jays needed them most.

The former Guardians will have a chance at redemption on Saturday night in a must-win Game 7. It certainly sounds like the Dodgers are planning to start two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani since Glasnow was forced to close the game on Friday night. On the other side, the Blue Jays will start veteran pitcher Max Scherzer.

If Ohtani falters early in this start due to short rest, Toronto will need to capitalize on any opportunity they might see. Gimenez and Clement could have a chance at redemption.