The Year the Toronto Blue Jays (Almost) Won the World Series

A full 48 hours has passed since the third out in the bottom of the eleventh inning of game seven in the 2025 World Series of baseball between the heavily favored Los Angeles Dodgers and our favourite Toronto Blue Jays. The game spelled the end of the Blue Jays magical 2025 Major League Baseball season. As an aside, that third out also put an end to the Los Angeles Dodger’s season, and an end to the Major League baseball season in general. That "end" however, did mark the beginning of some bright things to come in future editions of the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Blue Jays played more baseball games this summer than any other team in the Major Leagues – 30 pre-season games in February and March in the Grapefruit League in Florida (where they finished in first place), 162 regular season games through the months of March to October (where they finished first in their division and first overall in the American League), and finally 18 post-season games in October and November (which eventually led to them playing in Game 7 of the World Series), for a total of 210 games. If the world championship of baseball were to be given to the team that plays the greatest number of games, the Blue Jays would be the rightful owners of the crown.

Each of this season’s games was televised (mostly via a Sports Net feed), but a few were exclusive to Apple TV. Unfortunately, the Apple TV games were outside of my limited viewing capabilities, but I was able to see the remaining 205 games in their entirety mostly in the comfort of our own television room alongside my viewing partner (and life partner) Patti, who is also an extremely animated Blue Jays fan. Many games were also watched again the next day, in summary on “The Blue Jays in 30”. In those 210 games, the Blue Jays played over 1900 innings, with approximately 39 of those innings being of the "extra" variety, and with 11 of those extra innings coming in the World Series against the Dodgers, and, of course with nine of them taking place famously in Game 3 of that series.

With all of that Blue Jays’ baseball taking place in the summer of 2025, and almost all of it being watched by myself and millions of other Canadian fans, for the bulk of the summer season, it was nearly impossible for all of us not to feel a sense of attachment toward the team, it’s players and the broadcasting team that brought these games to life.

It was almost ritualistic to tune into Blue Jays Central every day this past summer to hear Jamie Campbell and Joe Siddall discuss and analyze in the pre-game (with Madison Shipman coming along later in the season).

During the game, Hazel Mae and Caleb Joseph, and later Kevin Pillar, spiced things up with interviews and meaningful comments as they enlightened us with their original and unique takes on the games at hand.

Arden Zwelling, and Ben Nicholson-Smith also chimed in from time to time.

And, no Blue Jay game would have been complete without the vocal maestros of the team, bringing us the play-by-play and color commentation and brilliant analysis. Dan Shulman and Buck Martinez and occasionally Ben Shulman and Chris Leroux were voices that I could almost hear in my sleep.

Even being a little hard of hearing, I could discern the tone of their broadcasts from several rooms away.

It was like a lullaby that would bring me mindlessly back, face to face with the television to begin my almost daily fix of Blue Jays baseball. Games were won and lost right there in front of me for the better part of nine months. I reveled in the wins and disappointedly turned off the TV with each loss. But I always came back the next day for more. Somewhere in mid-summer, I realized, that it wasn’t the wins or losses that I sought in the games I watched – it was the team itself and the individual players and coaches and broadcasters and reporters involved that drew me back each day. It was summer and these were my summer-time friends. Like so many summers before in my life, I delighted in the long hot days and the thought of baseball and how the two entities were really synonymous with each other. I didn’t think about it much during the games nor through the summer, but I sensed deep inside as the summer wore on, that there would come a day when I would feel the pain that accompanied the end of both.

As the most recent season began with new hope and freshness, I ecstatically watched as Daulton Varsho and George Springer made unbelievable (and sometimes behind-the-back) catches in the outfield. Bo and Jimi combined for so many wonderful double plays with Vladdy, of course, adding the finishing punctuation to the plays.

Home runs and Grand Slams by Davis Schnieder and Addison Barger and just watching Ernie Clement’s utter joy of baseball were all the factors that drew me back day after day after day. Even though the season started slowly, eventually the team became more of a team. You could see them jelling as players and friends and one could watch as they evolved into, well, er, almost 'Canadians'. They became the talk of the town and the subject of all the morning conversations around the water coolers at work. Their winning ways, raised the interest of old fans and helped to develop the interest of new fans as well. But, as often as not, it wasn’t the wins and losses that people talked about, but rather the personalities of the players, and their coaches.

Their antics in the dugout, the wearing of the home-run jacket.

The routines of batters at the plate, and pitchers on the mound. The Blue Jays and their entourage were, by August, Canada’s team. I watched through the late regular season, always hoping for a win, and I was most often rewarded with one. But, truly, it was the broadcast itself and the players that I was there for. Buck and Dan and Hazel and Jamie and Joe and Caleb could say the same things about Kevin Gausman and Chris Bassitt and Nathan Lukes and Myles Straw and Anthony Santander every day, and still I wanted to hear it all again and just simply more of the same.

I could not get enough of my Blue Jays. By the time that the post-season rolled around, and the team had finished in first place at all levels and they had gone on to defeat the always-dreaded Yankees and then the Mariners, I was convinced they could do whatever they put their minds to on a baseball diamond.

But I didn’t care about that – I just wanted to see them play. I wanted them to win so that I could see them keep playing. I wanted every series to go to a game seven. I didn’t want Blue Jays baseball to end. I wanted this assembly of characters in my living room, in my house, in my life, every single day, for as long as possible. I did not want my summer to end, period.

And so it came to pass. I got my wish. The Blue Jays season lasted longer than any other team’s in baseball. They played more innings and more games than any of the other teams. When the Blue Jays were done playing on the evening of November 1st, 2025, everyone else was done playing as well. Baseball season had ended. Summer was officially over.

And that is why I felt disappointment and dismay at the end of Game Seven in this year’s World Series. My feelings of loss and sadness, I’ve come to realize, as the Blue Jays’ opponents rushed the field to celebrate their win, did not stem from the loss of the World Series so much as from a loss of this most recent baseball summer, a loss of this team in my daily life and a loss of the players and the family of announcers who joyfully brought these games into my home almost every day from sometime back in February until the first day of November. I have come to realize that I would have had the same feelings and emotions, even if the Blue Jays had won the World Series. A victory in Game 7 would have only served to postpone the feelings of sadness and depression that would have eventually come over me. Don't get me wrong - the Blue Jays winning the World Series definitely would have been a bonus for the season, some extra sprinkles on the already-high-calorie cake. However, if they had won, it would have only taken me two more days to be feeling the same way I do right now. Winning and losing are passing adventures, fleeting moments that we can call on from time to time whenever we wish to indulge in the emotions surrounding victory or defeat, but even when these feelings are recalled, it is not the win or loss that is brought back, it is the shared feeling of team togetherness that comes to mind - the struggles and successes that happened along the way to whatever end result. I honestly believe that all the members of the Blue Jays team and extended families including reporters and fans will look back on this 2025 baseball season as one to remember forever – not just for the wins and losses but for the relationships that were forged amongst that entire extended family. My sadness comes from knowing that I may never get to see and be a fan of another team like this one, another summer like this one. It’s sort of like graduation day in high-school. It has come to an end. You have gone as far as you can go and things just won’t ever be the same again. That’s what gets me – not losing the World Series.

Finally, I need to say, that at my age, I don’t necessarily relish the idea of wishing away any of my remaining time on this earth. However, I can hardly wait until February, 2026 when hope, once again, will spring eternal in the human breast and the baseball season will shake off the last remains of it's chrysalis and emerge from its long winter nap and burst into another summer season, like so many before, with our Blue Jays leading the way.