TORONTO (AP) — Shane Bieber and three relievers combined on a four-hitter, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. reached base three times and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the White Sox 1-0 on Saturday to snap Chicago’s four-game winning streak.
Guerrero scored the only run on George Springer’s fourth-inning single as the Blue Jays beat the White Sox for the first time in five meetings.
Click to Gallery
Toronto Blue Jays' Joe Carter, centre, is joined by members of the 1992 and 1993 Blue Jays at the unveiling of a statue commemorating the Toronto Blue Jays' 1992 and 1993 World Series wins ahead of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox in Toronto, Saturday, July 18, 2026. (Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Blue Jays alumni Joe Carter waves to the crowd while taking part in the 1992-1993 commemoration and statue unveiling prior to the Jays taking on the Chicago White Sox in a baseball game in Toronto, Saturday, July 18, 2026. (Jon Blacker/The Canadian Press via AP)
Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Davis Martin (65) throws to a Toronto Blue Jays batter during first inning of a baseball game in Toronto, Saturday, July 18, 2026. (Jon Blacker/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (27) hits a single against the Chicago White Sox during first inning of a baseball game in Toronto, Saturday, July 18, 2026. (Jon Blacker/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Shane Bieber (57) throws to a Chicago White Sox batter during first inning of a baseball game in Toronto, Saturday, July 18, 2026. (Jon Blacker/The Canadian Press via AP)
Bieber (1-1) tossed six innings and struck out six to win for the first time in five starts this season. He allowed three hits, all doubles, and walked two.
Jeff Hoffman worked the seventh, Tyler Rogers pitched the eighth and All-Star closer Louis Varland finished for his 20th save in 20 chances.
The shutout was Toronto’s seventh this year.
The White Sox are 7-13 against AL East opponents.
Bieber gave up leadoff doubles to Munetaka Murakami in the fourth and Braden Montgomery in the fifth but escaped the jam each time.
Chase Meidroth reached on a bunt single against Rogers in the eighth, but pinch-runner Luisangel Acuña was thrown out trying to steal second.
White Sox right-hander Davis Martin (9-5) permitted four hits in 5 2/3 innings, extending his winless streak to six starts. Martin walked two and struck out five.
Guerrero went 2 for 3 with a walk. He hit a one-out double in the fourth and scored when Springer followed with a grounder up the middle.
Before the game, more than two dozen players, coaches and executives from Toronto’s back-to-back World Series championship teams in 1992 and 1993 gathered for the unveiling of a statue commemorating those victories.
The statue depicts Joe Carter celebrating his 1993 World Series-winning home run off Philadelphia reliever Mitch Williams, the first time the World Series was decided north of the border.
Toronto RHP Trey Yesvage (4-4, 3.72 ERA) is scheduled to start Sunday against Chicago RHP Sean Burke (6-4, 3.41).
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Toronto Blue Jays' Joe Carter, centre, is joined by members of the 1992 and 1993 Blue Jays at the unveiling of a statue commemorating the Toronto Blue Jays' 1992 and 1993 World Series wins ahead of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox in Toronto, Saturday, July 18, 2026. (Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Blue Jays alumni Joe Carter waves to the crowd while taking part in the 1992-1993 commemoration and statue unveiling prior to the Jays taking on the Chicago White Sox in a baseball game in Toronto, Saturday, July 18, 2026. (Jon Blacker/The Canadian Press via AP)
Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Davis Martin (65) throws to a Toronto Blue Jays batter during first inning of a baseball game in Toronto, Saturday, July 18, 2026. (Jon Blacker/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (27) hits a single against the Chicago White Sox during first inning of a baseball game in Toronto, Saturday, July 18, 2026. (Jon Blacker/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Shane Bieber (57) throws to a Chicago White Sox batter during first inning of a baseball game in Toronto, Saturday, July 18, 2026. (Jon Blacker/The Canadian Press via AP)
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Expect some goals in the World Cup final. At least, that’s what history says.
In the 22 previous World Cup men's finals (which would include the 1950 match between Uruguay and Brazil that technically wasn’t a final, but decided who won the World Cup), the winning team has averaged 2.6 goals in the title matchup. The losing team has averaged 1.1 goals.
The two most recent World Cup finals have been offensive slugfests, with a combined 12 goals. France beat Croatia 4-2 in 2018, while Argentina and France tied 3-3 in 2022 (before Argentina prevailed in a penalty shootout).
Teams scoring at least two goals have won the World Cup title 17 times; there have been eight instances of a team scoring at least two goals in the final and still falling short.
There have been three 1-0 wins: West Germany over Argentina in 1990, Spain over Netherlands in 2010 and Germany over Argentina in 2014. And there was one 0-0 tie in a final; Brazil wound up winning over Italy in a penalty shootout the 1994 final, which had been the only one played on U.S. soil before now.
If Argentina wins Sunday, Lionel Scaloni — who led the team’s push to the 2022 title — would be just the second person to coach two World Cup championship clubs.
Italy went back-to-back as World Cup champions in 1934 and 1938, with both those clubs coached by Vittorio Pozzo.
Nobody else has two titles as a coach. There are three men — Brazil’s Mário Zagallo, West Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer and France’s Didier Deschamps — to have won World Cups as both a player and a coach.
When he takes the field Sunday, Argentina star Lionel Messi will be the oldest field player to appear in a World Cup final.
Messi is 39. Sweden’s Gunnar Gren was 37 when he played against Brazil in the 1958 final.
The only player older than Messi to play in a final was Italy goalkeeper Dino Zoff — who was 40 when his club beat West Germany for the 1982 crown. But among field players, Messi will stand alone as the oldest after Sunday.
Messi is also in position to join Brazil’s Cafu as the only person to play in three World Cup men’s finals. And since Cafu was a reserve in one of his appearances, Messi would be the first to start the title game on three occasions.
Youth may be served by Spain in this World Cup final. And if La Roja prevails, experience would also have paid off.
It’s an interesting mix.
Spain is slated to have two teenagers — Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí, a pair of 19-year-olds — play Sunday against Argentina in the World Cup final, and no team has ever had more than one teen in the lineup and won the title.
So, that's the power of youth.
Here’s the flip side of that: If Spain wins, coach Luis de la Fuente — who is 65 — would become the oldest World Cup-winning sideline boss, passing Vicente del Bosque, who was 59 when Spain won its first title in 2010.
For the record, teenagers enter Sunday unbeaten in World Cup finals, according to FIFA, which says only three have ever played in soccer’s biggest game. Pelé was 17 when he helped Brazil win the final over Sweden in 1958, Giuseppe Bergomi was 18 when Italy beat West Germany in 1982, and Kylian Mbappé was 19 when France beat Croatia in 2018.
Spain is 28-0-9 in its last 37 matches, which has tied Italy for the longest unbeaten run by a European men’s national team.
Italy also went 28-0-9 from October 2018 through September 2021 — before losing to Spain 2-1 on Oct. 6, 2021 in Milan.
Argentina has a streak worth noting as well. It has won seven consecutive World Cup matches, tied with Italy for the second-longest such run in men's tournament history. Only Brazil, which won 11 straight spanning 2002 and 2006, has a longer World Cup winning streak.
The game is just the second head-to-head meeting in a World Cup between Argentina and Spain. Argentina won 2-1 in the 1966 group stage.
Across all competitions and friendlies, the sides have played 14 times. Each has won six times and they tied twice.
See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here
A man walks past a street mural depicting the late soccer star Diego Maradona and veterans of the 1982 war between Argentina and Britain over the Falkland Islands, known in Argentina as the Malvinas, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Fans climb onto a bus stop during celebrations of Argentina's victory over England in a World Cup semifinal soccer match in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Argentina fans gather for a rally on the eve of the World Cup final soccer match in New York's Time Square, Saturday, July 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Argentina fans gather for a rally on the eve of the World Cup final soccer match in New York's Time Square, Saturday, July 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Argentina fans gather for a rally on the eve of the World Cup final soccer match in New York's Times Square, Saturday, July 18, 2026 (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
