Rosie DiManno: George Springer leaves the Blue Jays with no regrets. That’s all he ever wanted - Toronto Star

After six years in Toronto, the Springer legacy is far wider and deeper than one magnificent homer.

George Springer salutes the crowd before his first at-bat in his final game as a Blue Jay at the Rogers Centre on Sunday.

Rosie DiManno is a Toronto-based columnist covering sports and current affairs for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @rdimanno.

On his first day as a Blue Jay, in a Zoom session with reporters, George Springer was all wide grins and eager anticipation.

“At the end of the day, I wanted to go where I believed I was going to be happy. And I believe I am.”

On his last day as a Blue Jay, in a poignant scrum with reporters at his locker, it was all gratitude and tears.

“Getting to wear this beautiful jersey every single day for the last six years. Obviously it’s not going to end the way we all would want it to, but at the end of the day I could not be more thankful to have been here.”

As the curtain fell Sunday on the 2026 Jays — an emotional and even forgiving coda — so too did the George Springer era. Likely never again will I be able to write those delightful words: Springer Dinger.

George Springer walks off the field for potentially his final time as a Blue Jay 🥲 pic.twitter.com/v0wx0XEGtG

There were 134 regular-season Springer Dingers for Toronto. And one magnificent three-run Springer Dinger in the seventh inning of Game 7 against the Seattle Mariners last autumn, launching the Jays into their first World Series in more than three decades: Springer dancing up the first-base line as he watched the ball streak over the wall.

“That inning (was) a microcosm of who we were as a team,” Springer was recollecting about that magical game in a magical series in a magical post-season, amidst his own magical career resurrection from a flatlined 2024. “We had to have three really good at-bats to get to that moment against a really good pitcher.”

Addison Barger walk, Isiah Kiner-Falefa single, Andrés Giménez sacrifice bunt. And then Springer cranked a three-run shot off reliever Eduard Bazardo, turning a scoreboard deficit into a lead that stuck.

“For me, that moment will sum up our team in a nutshell that year,” says Springer.