TORONTO (AP) \u2014 Canada\u2019s only major league team will have an entire country behind it during the World Series and has a chance of claiming the championship of America\u2019s pastime at a time when U.S.-Canada relations remain near historic lows.<\/p>\n
The Toronto Blue Jays host the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 on Friday night in Toronto after defeating the Seattle Mariners in the American League Championship<\/a> Series.<\/p>\n The once-in-a-generation MLB playoff run comes as Canadians are feeling an undeniable sense of betrayal after U.S. President Donald Trump has talked about making the country the 51st state. <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cNobody wants to be the 51st state. We\u2019re going to show America that we\u2019re going to beat them at their favorite pastime,\u201d said Geoffrey Fulton, a 54-year fan who has been sporting a Maple Leaf bandana at games.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s especially the year where we want to go all the way and win the championship. It would just be great for our country.\u201d<\/p>\n Tensions between the neighbors and longtime allies have eased slightly in recent months as Prime Minister Mark Carney tries to get a trade deal<\/a>, but American tariffs are taking a toll<\/a>. One of the world\u2019s most durable and amicable alliances \u2014 born of geography, heritage and centuries of common interests \u2014 remains broken.<\/p>\n Many Canadians <\/a> have been boycotting the U.S.<\/a> since the Trump administration started threatening Canada\u2019s economy and sovereignty with tariffs<\/a> and heated political rhetoric, most offensively of all by claiming Canada could be \u201cthe 51st state.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n But Fulton went to New York to cheer on his Blue Jays as they eliminated the Yankees in the prior playoff round. Yankees fans booed the Canadian national anthem, and Fulton had his Blue Jays wig lifted off his head and stolen at Yankee Stadium. <\/p>\n \u201cCanada needs to be together, so to have the Blue Jays go all the way and win the World Series would just be fantastic,\u201d Fulton said.<\/p>\n Unlike Canada\u2019s pastime of hockey, where there are several Canadian teams, there is only one in baseball\u2019s major leagues for Canada\u2019s 41 million people to cheer.<\/p>\n At an NHL game in Calgary, Alberta \u2014 more than 2,000 miles west of Toronto \u2014 the Calgary Flames public address announcer updated the crowd with George Springer\u2019s go-ahead, three-run homer in the seventh inning over Seattle to raucous cheers.<\/p>\n Game 7 was the most-watched Blue Jays game on Canada\u2019s Sportsnet network with an average of six million viewers.<\/p>\n In Toronto, 28-year-old Braeden McNeil was fighting back tears after attending the Blue Jays game with his brother.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s extra special. They can say what they want, 51st state. We are our own country,\u201d McNeil said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to the World Series. It doesn\u2019t matter if we\u2019re the underdogs. It doesn\u2019t matter what Americans say.\u201d<\/p>\n Toronto manager John Schneider, born in New Jersey, said he feels more Canadian than American now.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s such a fulfilling job because you have an entire country hanging on every pitch. I feel it, too. I feel like I\u2019m more Canadian. I love drinking beer, I like drinking Tim Horton\u2019s. I\u2019m one of them,\u201d Schneider said. \u201cTo have every one from coast to coast be part of this is something that is truly, truly special.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo happy for our team, our fans, our city, our country,\u201d added Springer, who is from Connecticut but is in his fifth season with the Jays.<\/p>\n The Blue Jays last appeared in the World Series in 1993 and in 1992 when they won back-to-back championships. In 1992, the U.S. Marine Corps displayed the Canadian flag upside-down at Game 2 in Atlanta, but political tensions were not an issue then.<\/p>\n Canadians have not been booing the American national anthem at sporting events in recent months as they did earlier in year at hockey and basketball games when Trump first threatened Canada.<\/p>\n When Canada defeated the U.S. in the 4 Nations Face-Off hockey tournament in February, it turned into a geopolitical brawl over anthems<\/a> and annexation as much as international hockey supremacy. The mood is as not as intense now.<\/p>\n When Carney was in the Oval Office this month Trump was asked about a 23% decline in cross border visits to the U.S.<\/p>\n \u201cThe people of Canada, they will love us again,\u201d Trump predicted.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not bad. They\u2019ll come back,\u201d Carney told Trump.<\/p>\n Carney then took the opportunity to brag about the Blue Jays.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re coming down for the World Series Mr. President,\u201d Carney said.<\/p>\n \u201cBy the way they are looking pretty good,\u201d Trump said of the Blue Jays.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n