If you had told me last year that the Blue Jays were going to participate in the best World Series in recent times, I would never have believed you. I’ve been watching this team since 2022, and it has been rocky. But Alex Rodriguez, hall of famer and one of the greatest American hitters of all time, said it best about their 2025 World Series loss: “Absolutely heartbroken for the Blue Jays … an incredible year from top to bottom, and they did it all in a beautiful, classy way.” He goes on to say that the Blue Jays outplayed the Dodgers in every single metric — the Jays outscored the Dodgers 34-26, their batting average was almost a full percentage higher and the Jays had eight less strikeouts than the Dodgers.
And on top of it, the Blue Jays played the best baseball that fans have seen in years. It was pure, enjoyable fun, making insane plays on defense and offense while Canada watched in excitement. Game 7 of this World Series was the most watched Rogers broadcast ever, they reported. It reached an average viewership of 10.9 million viewers, and overall, 18.5 million Canadians tuned in. That’s 45 per cent of the country.
The Blue Jays also never looked out of the fight, battling for a total of 74 innings and reduced Shohei Ohtani’s impact as much as a team can. I’d walk him again just for the joke of it. And the best joke of all, the Blue Jays dominated Ohtani enough that the best player in the world had to stand to the side as fellow national Yoshinobu Yamamoto hoisted the World Series MVP. Forcing the supporting cast to win the game is the best strategy in sports, and the Dodgers managed to do it in a heartbreaking comeback for Canadians.
John Schneider pulled an amazing turnaround from dead last to World Series runners-up, and Canada was behind him this year. He made all the right moves in my opinion last year, tackling all the major problems that they saw in 2024. And they had a problem with everything. They didn’t solve their problems with off-season additions, as we saw with Santander’s performances (ouch) and some weak pitching throughout the year.
But seven players who were already in the system stepped up to the plate and turned our year around.
These players are heroes.
George Springer is now a household name, as he sent the Blue Jays to the World Series. Ernie Clement hit an MLB record for most hits in a single postseason. Alejandro Kirk was the first Mexican born hitter to hit a home run in the World Series (and then he hit another home run). Addison Barger is the first ever pinch hit grand slam in World Series history, and Bo Bichette hit what every Canadian hoped was the nail in the coffin in Game 7. I also have to give a special shout out to Trey Yesavage and Jeff Hoffman for pitching phenomenally to bring the Blue Jays to the World Series.
And even in our halls, NAIT repped Blue Jays colours proudly. The week of the World Series may have been the first week there were more Blue Jays attire (myself included) than the Oilers, which is shocking to say. Everyone I spoke to was excited to talk about the games, and see what the next would bring.
Even though they lost, these Blue Jays made all of Canada proud. The home run jacket, a collection of countries that they wore with pride for their teammates, is a representation of Canada as a whole: a team of love, strength and resilience from countries all over that stood proudly in the face of a bigger, scarier opponent. The Blue Jays are the biggest underdog story in sports, from going from last in the league to World Series contenders, and being the betting underdog for every single series. Everyone was a fan of baseball this school year.
Feature image graphic by Alleah Boisvert via Canva
