FRIDAY IN FANDOM / VLADDY'S DAUGHTER RULES MR. TORONTO BASEBALL

Vladdy's a Great Daddy, too. 

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and daughter, Vlaimel work on making friendship bracelets at home. Vlaimel. Photo by Colton Hall/MLB 

GUEST BLOG / By Keegan Matheson, Major League Baseball--It's early August, and when you walk through the front door of Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s home, you're hit with waves of sound, people and purple. 

Eight hours from now, he'll hit a home run into the second deck of Rogers Centre. He'll be the reason that 41,492 people roar as he rounds the bases (see image at end of this article), and the reason a few hundred thousand more will hear the stadium's foghorn moan and rattle through downtown Toronto. 

He'll round second, slow his trot, then skip into the air and begin again. He'll hold one finger to his lips to shush his third-base coach and the Blue Jays' dugout while he passes, then step on home plate while another howling sellout crowd watches every little thing he does. 

This is Guerrero's city. 

He's the biggest star on the hottest show in Toronto, but this all comes later in the night. 

First, he has afternoon plans. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and his daughter, Vlaimel, make friendship bracelets. It's Vlaimel's birthday. Guerrero's daughter is turning 8 today, and on the table inside sits a floral cake bursting with every shape and color. 

There are balloons with "Princess" written across them, a big, purple bear and every candy you could imagine, mixed in with the purple streamers and purple confetti. Then comes the star of the show, Vlaimel, in her purple dress with a purple bow in her hair. 

Her mother, Nathalie, is smiling right behind her, getting everyone ready for the big day. Vladdy's moment is coming later tonight, but this one is Vlaimel's. Her father is sitting down by the pool, waiting for her. They're going to make friendship bracelets together. 

 

It's so quiet here. Look around, and you wouldn't know the address ended in "Toronto" at all. You can't see another house, no condo towers or cranes, only the trees and Guerrero's family all around him. 

Tonight, a million people will watch him, but this is where the other side of Guerrero lives. 

By the time Vlaimel bounces down across the lawn and jumps on her father, it's all laid out in front of them. There are spools of elastic string and trays filled with beads, letters, shapes, hearts and little baseballs. There's something so unique about the bond these two have. Guerrero says it's almost like they're brother and sister sometimes. 

He's still dad -- the man the entire Guerrero family and much of Toronto orbits around -- but in a way that just has to be seen and heard to really understand, they're in this together. 

When Guerrero is told that some questions will be coming in English today, Vlaimel jumps in. "I got it, I got it," she says, and she's already beaming. There are cameras to Vlaimel's left and right, but she's a natural with this. Besides, Vladdy has always credited Vlaimel for helping him with his English, which they speak at home with one another. 

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and his daughter, Vlaimel, show off their special handshake.

Suddenly, sitting at this table in front of all of these beads, Guerrero has lost his home-field advantage. This isn't his game. Vlaimel already has 13 friendship bracelets running up her left arm. 

He's in Vlaimel's house now. 

Vlaimel has one word for her dad, and that's "fun". He makes her laugh, she says, and helps coach her in flag football and gymnastics. 

When it's Guerrero's turn, he says "love," then turns to Vlaimel with that bright, boyish smile we've seen in Toronto since he was a teenager. "I say 'love,' because every time I come home from the ballpark, no matter what -- even if I go 0-for-3 or 0-for-4 -- when I see her, my day changes," Guerrero says. "That's why I say 'love.' Every time I see her, I feel love in my heart. I thank God I have my daughter with me all the time." 

The two are unmistakable together. They have so many of the same mannerisms, the same eyes, that same smile that's a little mischievous. It's like they're always in on a joke together, always scheming something the rest of the room doesn't know about yet. 

 "Every time I see her, I feel love in my heart," Vladimir Guerrero Jr. says of his daughter, Vlaimel. "I thank God I have my daughter with me all the time." 

Vladdy Guerrero rounds the bases after hitting a second deck home run off of Kansas City pitcher Michael Wacha, August 1, 2025 in Rogers Center, Toronto.