How Vladimir Guerrero Jr. became the face of the Blue Jays

If there was just one person central to the Blue Jays pursuit of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ten years ago, that was a scout named Ismael Cruz. Article content

Cruz is now the Vice President of International Scouting for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Article content Article content

Alex Anthopoulos, then general manager of the Blue Jays, will tell you they couldn’t have signed Guerrero without the work Cruz put in. Paul Beeston, then president of the club, will tell you something similar.

“I knew someone was going to ask about this,” Cruz said in a telephone interview from the Dominican Republic.

He is arriving in Toronto on Thursday with the rest of the Dodgers contingent for Game 1 of this still rather stunning World Series matchup.

He is, in a way, coming home — to where he used to work,