It’s the hope that kills you, they say. After the Toronto Blue Jays lost the World Series in a riveting yet nail-biting game, I texted friends and commiserated with other shattered hearts online. My cousin messaged me and said her seven-year old son cried himself to sleep.
Not a usual fan of baseball, young soccer-obsessed Zidane (aptly named after a champion) got caught up in the excitement and started to follow Canada’s beloved Jays. He learned the players names, learned the positions, appropriately vilified the opponents, and most importantly, he hoped. He hoped for a win.
He fell in love with a team of men who publicly lauded the power of friendship, and who went from last place in regular season to possibly clinching the championship from a monstrously expensive team from California.
He rallied along with the rest of the nation behind a team of heroes who played baseball in a way that made us love and hope. For many — myself included — jumping on the Blue Jays bandwagon was a thrilling ride. There was a beautiful balance of tension and joy.
There was Canada’s team with a foundation of camaraderie and possibility facing off against the reigning champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and their multi-billion dollar team. I’ve been to enough games at the Rogers Centre to appreciate the atmosphere and the experience but I am no way a hard core baseball fan.
But this wasn’t only about baseball. It was about a nation feeling excited and connected to a sport that isn’t hockey. In fact, the Jays team is made up of players of different hues and with varying types of accents. One of the things they have in common is that they may not be from Toronto, but they love Toronto and Toronto loves them.
In a heated political climate where we people are not welcome where they live (see Los Angeles), the Jays offer us a type of playbook where we can appreciate different cultures of music, their unique baseball habits, their dedication and also embrace them into the fold of a city that has a rich history of implants and newcomers.
In no way am I suggesting that Canada doesn’t have its own issues, racist systems and atrocious behaviour towards immigrant communities. But when there feels like a stronghold of difficulty in the society, this October 2025 Blue Jays run provided not just an escape but a wildly beautiful look at sport and at life.
Throughout this precious Blue Jays World Series, I told myself that Toronto deserved this happiness and a win. After Saturday night I couldn’t help but think about the struggles of the people of Los Angeles this year like the fires in the Pacific Palisades and unrelenting ICE raids.
Would Angelenos be allowed to celebrate this joy? Will they be able to congregate in their communities without fear of violence and police brutality? Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles was reported to have said that she was hoping for a victory that would bolster morale in her city. I hope it does.
At a time when unfettered joy is so hard to come by, it’s not difficult to imagine that a child as young as Zidane wanted to experience some happiness, too. The conduit happens to be a sport connected to (some argue invented by) Canada, and represented by a very cute bird.
So many of us went all in, hoping, praying and believing in the power of sport to offer some light in what feels so dark in the world. We see grief all over our social media feeds in an unprecedented manner so it’s not hard to understand why we would want the Jays to succeed. Who knew that hitting a ball with a bat and running around a dirt diamond would offer anyone in Canada a chance to feel included, happy and yes, hopeful?
Hope that something better, beautiful and positive is coming. That we could engage in an extraordinary sport without judgment or prejudice. A logo we could wear and a colour we could model that would immediately include us in a historic moment not seen in over three decades. It was a new type of history being written in which outliers could participate. What is more beautiful than that?
I was a teenager in Halifax and fondly remember the 1992 and 1993 World Series wins. After moving to Toronto, I was a working journalist in 2019 and covered the NBA championship when the Toronto Raptors won, and again when the Toronto Six won the now-shuttered Premier Hockey Federation championship.
I am covering the first season of the Northern Super League of which AFC Toronto has won the Supporters Shield and has already won the first game in the semifinal playoffs.
Dare I say that, unfortunately, league and championship wins by Toronto’s adored sports teams are, well, infrequent.
I called Zidane the next morning to check in and gently tried to advise him to perhaps not love Toronto teams so much. He laughed. I knew he was hooked. Part of being a sports fan here is having your heart broken again and again.
But it’s better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all, right? Even if that love is marinated in grief and frustration. Would a single Jays fan tell you that they would rather not have won the ALCS? No. Devastation notwithstanding, we are all proud and grateful.
What the Blue Jays gave Toronto, and all of Canada, is not only an amazing journey but an opportunity to know, to understand what community connection really feels like; that we can selfishly unite in hope and the chance of success. And for that the Jays have definitely won. We all have.
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