Like father, like son -- literally, in Vlad Jr.'s case

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. may have just taken the phrase “like father, like son” to a whole new level.

On Monday, the Blue Jays star played in his 403rd career game, tallying three hits, three RBIs and a strikeout in five at-bats. He also slugged his 87th career home run and lifted his career on-base percentage to .363.

Well, a little under 25 years ago, there was another fresh-faced Dominican slugger taking Canada by storm. His name was -- wait for it -- Vladimir Guerrero. Vlad Sr. made an immediate impact on the Montreal Expos, becoming one of the best players in franchise history. Through his first 403 career games, he hit 87 home runs and had an OBP of .364.

Dig even deeper and you’ll find that in his 402nd career game, Vlad Sr. had almost the exact same stat line that Vlad Jr. had in his 403rd, hitting a home run and tallying two RBIs and a strikeout in a 3-for-5 performance. Pretty cool, right?

Guerrero Sr. went on to play another 1,744 games in MLB, slugging 449 homers overall and finishing with a career OBP of .379. Guerrero Jr. will have a lot of work ahead of him if he wants to continue to emulate his father’s Hall of Fame career, but matching it almost to a tee across his first 3 1/2 big league seasons isn’t a bad start.