Toronto Blue Jays supporter Brock Meehan Taus reacts while watching Game 7 on Saturday at the Rec Room bar.Carlos Osorio/Reuters
For millions of people in this country, the World Series that the Toronto Blue Jays heartbreakingly lost early Sunday morning will forever be associated with a handful of memories – ones eternally seared into their minds.
For some, if not most, the end will never be forgotten: the double play that ended a dream that favoured the Los Angeles Dodgers from the start. Few will forget the sadness etched on the face of Jays superstar Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who had hoped to hoist the trophy his father never got a chance to with the Montreal Expos.
Others’ favourite memories will not be from Game 7 but from ones that preceded it. Trey Yesavage’s mesmerizing 12-strike-out performance in Game 5. Addison Barger’s pinch-hit grand slam in Game 1.
And for still others, it will be George Springer’s three-run homer in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series against Seattle that put the Jays in the World Series.
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For me, as admittedly soppy as this may come across, it wasn’t Springer’s hit that got me – although it was an incredibly emotional event, and how could it not be, given what was at stake? It was what happened later, when Springer was interviewed on the field after helping his team punch their ticket to the biggest show in baseball, that I won’t soon forget.
“I’m so happy for our team, our fans, our city, our country,” he told interviewer Ken Rosenthal, his voice quivering with emotion.
Our country? Our Country?
Indeed, that’s what the American from New Britain, Mass. said, not just to a deliriously appreciative city, but to an extremely grateful country as well. And I guess why that moment has stuck with me is that it demonstrated how much this team, made up almost entirely of foreigners, bonded with not just Toronto, but with Canada.
Saying the Jays are “Canada’s team” is easy. Making it real is far more difficult. It doesn’t happen with mediocre seasons. Yes, there are Jays fans from Pouce Coupe, B.C., to Mount Pearl, Nfld. But it takes something truly momentous to fully charge up an entire country – something like a World Series run.
Fans cheer at the top of the eighth inning during Game 7 on Saturday.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
The Blue Jays may have lost their rights to hoist that gorgeous World Series trophy and the diamond-encrusted rings that would have adorned their fingers. But they won, or more aptly won over, generations of new fans.
Folks who are now fully invested in how Yesavage’s career pans out, not to mention the loveable Dominican they are now on a first-name basis with: Vladdy. There are barstool regulars who ordered Alejandro Kirk jerseys because, well, the pudgy catcher looks like one of them. There are people who didn’t really know who Bo Bichette was a month ago but will now be nervously waiting to see if the Jays re-sign him. It’s easy to get excited about what the future might hold for this team, given the young talent that has been on display the last several weeks. Oh, yeah, outfielder/infielder Barger is a budding superstar.
The only thing I have to compare the last month to, in terms of what I saw around me – the sense of pride you could feel from coast to coast – is the 2010 Olympics. We, as Canadians, felt so invested in our performance in those Games, so delighted that we had competed so well, had more than held our own against the best in the world. That fortnight ride was so much fun we didn’t want it to end.
And I think that’s how many of us feel about this Blue Jays run, despite the ending.
I think it also has something to do with the times in which we find ourselves as a nation. Let’s face it, they’re tough for a lot of people. The neighbour to the south that we used to get along so well with, well, we don’t as well anymore, and it’s caused a lot of grief and anxiety. It sort of felt like the Dodgers represented the big, bad American Empire – the best team money could buy. No one gave the Blue Jays a chance against a team full of exceedingly rich, first-ballot Hall of Famers. The only ones who believed they had a fighter’s chance were the Jays themselves.
And boy, did they believe. In the process they became a symbol of perseverance, a symbol of the power that resides in the collective will over the individual accomplishment. They demonstrated what can happen when you stick together, believe in one another – when you tune out the doomsday prognosticators.
What the Blue Jays have given this country is a blueprint worth following in the months and years ahead, one that extends far beyond the ball field.