TORONTO — It’s now a four-team race for three remaining post-season spots.
Entering WestJet Thanksgiving Weekend, the BC Lions, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Elks are fighting for their playoff lives.
While two of these teams are going to make it there via the West, the one that finishes fourth within the division is going to crossover into the East to visit either the Montreal Alouettes or Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
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That means for the first time since 2019, we’ll have a west-east matchup in the post-season. The last time that happened it was Edmonton crossing over to the East to face the Alouettes. The Double E came away with a 37-29 win, advancing to battle the Tiger-Cats in the Eastern Final, where they were eventually eliminated.
The crossover rule was created in 1996, but was first invoked in 1997, when the Lions traveled east to play Montreal, where they were eliminated with a 45-35 loss. The rule was invoked again 11 other times (2002, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019), but no crossover team has ever made the Grey Cup, with the Eastern Final being the furthest anyone has ever gone to.
That means the Lions, Stamps, Bombers and Elks could make history in 2025 by traveling east and finding a way to take down both the Alouettes and Tiger-Cats to advance to the 112th Grey Cup.
Let’s take a look at how these four teams fared in the regular season when faced against their potential East Division opponents.
BC LIONS
BC will bet on Nathan Rourke and an explosive offence to improve their chances of a successful crossover if they are the ones to play in the Eastern Semi-Final.
The Lions have gone 2-0 against the Alouettes and 1-1 against the Ticats in 2025, and will look to have similar success if they are the ones flying east.
The Leos currently sit second in the West Division with a 9-7 record and are the only team on a bye during WestJet Thanksgiving Weekend.
CALGARY STAMPEDERS
Vernon Adams Jr. and the Stamps are 0-2 against the Alouettes and 1-0 against Hamilton, whom they face this week.
The Stamps started the season on fire, winning eight of their first 11 matchups, but have lost their last four games and currently sit third in the West Division with an 8-7 record.
There’s still time for a turnaround for the Red and White, starting with their final matchup against their former quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell and the Tabbies on Saturday.
WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS
Zach Collaros‘ Winnipeg split the season series with Hamilton (including a 40-3 win in Week 18) and is 1-0 against Montreal, with a Week 21 matchup between the two teams remaining.
The Bombers are fighting to reach their sixth straight Grey Cup, this one to be played at Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg.
The Blue and Gold are tied with the Stampeders with eight wins and seven losses, but are currently riding a two-game winning streak as they head to Edmonton to face the Elks.
EDMONTON ELKS
Finally, Cody Fajardo and the Elks split the season series with Montreal and lost both matchups with Hamilton.
The last two times the Elks faced these two teams the game came down to the wire. Edmonton lost a 29-27 nailbiter against the Tiger-Cats in Week 16, on a walk-off field goal by Marc Liegghio, and won a 23-22 matchup against the Als in Week 12 on a Fajardo touchdown pass to Kaion Julien-Grant with 15 seconds left.
The Elks can’t afford to lose anymore if they want to stay in the race. Edmonton still has a game against each of the other three teams in contention, starting with the visiting Blue Bombers on Saturday.
DON’T MISS THE ACTION
With time winding down, there’s no more room for error for any of these teams, especially during WestJet Thanksgiving Weekend. Outside of the Lions, who are on a bye week, the other three teams take the field during Saturday’s doubleheader.
Calgary’s battle with Hamilton is set to kick off at 3:00 p.m. ET and can be watched on TSN, RDS2 and CTV in Canada or CFL+ in the U.S. and internationally. Winnipeg meanwhile travels to Edmonton to face the Elks. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET and can be watched on TSN in Canada or CFL+ internationally.