Blue Jays. World Series. Finally.

The juggernaut doesn’t always win, in other words. And greatness comes in many shapes and sizes
— Andrew Stoeten, The World f*ckin' Series!

The Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers play Game 1 of the World Series tonight.

I have been waiting 32 years to watch the World Series with the Blue Jays involved. That’s a really long time, a significant number when you start thinking about all the changes that have happened since then, with the team, personally, and the larger world. The personal changes are documented well through the 15 years of writing on my blog and don’t need to be rehashed. The real Blue Jays fans will know all the changes that the team has gone through the years, and the casual fans will be bored reading a list of the names that have come and gone.

But, consider the changes that have happened in the world since that time:

• The internet barely existed then and was not a common thing until later in the 1990s. For example, bluejays.com wasn’t registered until 1995.
• Apple was facing bankruptcy around that time and brought back Steve Jobs in 1997 to save the company, then introduced the world to iPad, iPhone, iPad, etc.
• Landline phones were still land lined and started moving to wireless within the home, and then cell networks expanded rapidly afterwards. Now, it’s rare to find people who only have a landline and not a cellphone. It is even less common to find a public phone anywhere.
• The city of Toronto’s population grew from over 4 million people in 1993 to over 7 million in 2024. The world population grew by around 3 billion in that same time.
• Taylor Swift was 4 years old, Kurt Cobain died the next year, and Justin Bieber hadn’t been born yet.

The changes have been numerous.

When the Blue Jays last played in the World Series, I was about to turn 14 years old. My interest in baseball started years earlier, influenced by my cousin Peter in Minnesota who was a year older and very active in sports, and my dad who took me to a Blue Jays exhibition game in Regina, Saskatchewan in 1989. My cousin was also a big card collector, which turned me into a minor collector and more importantly, created an interest in the stats and information on the back of the cards. I played one summer in Little League before I moved to Whitehorse in the fall of 1989.

That fall was a big year for the Blue Jays. They were one of the top teams in the league, advanced to the American League Championship Series, where they lost to the eventual world champion Oakland A’s. I watched some of those games because the male babysitter was glued to the television watching. I can’t remember his name, but I do remember the reactions, the highs, and lows, of watching baseball. A peculiar thing then for a 9 year-old to watch. A much more common feeling now as a nearly 46 year-old.

The memories of the World Series in 1992 and 1993 are unclear. After watching the replays of the full games (which Sportsnet played on the anniversaries a few years ago) and the numerous highlights over the years, I can’t recall how much I watched. I watched baseball on TV through the years as a casual fan. I was fortunate enough to be able to go to Wrigley Field in Chicago with my aunt Debbie and uncle Bob for my first baseball game in person in 1998 or '99 during the Slammin' Sammy Sosa years. An absolute thrill. A few years later, I went to the original Yankee Stadium on my own to watch Roger Clemens, Ichiro Suzuki, Derek Jeter, and other legends play in the summer of 2003. An unforgettable experience.

Jump ahead to 2015, the first time the Blue Jays were in the playoffs since those World Series, and I remember. Ever since Kylie was born, I started watching more baseball games at home (what else was I going to do with a newborn laying on a blanket and sleeping?) Those early years helped a deeper appreciation for the game and the team. I followed the season, how well players were doing, showed more interest in the younger guys in the minor leagues, and read recaps of games I just watched on Bluebird Banter.

All those years invested in the team built up a lot of tension and disappointment that were suddenly released when Jose Bautista launched his 3-run homerun in the Division Series that year. It was purely cathartic. Besides my daughter’s birth, there are only a few moments that match that emotional release. The most recent example is when George Springer hit his 3-run homerun on Monday to send the Blue Jays into the World Series.

I was listening to the game on the radio while at work. Hearing Ben Shulman’s voice nearly crack during his excitement over the homerun and victory had me pumping my fist in my seat so many times.

It felt surreal. The Blue Jays aren’t supposed to be playing in the World Series. The Yankees were heavily favoured to beat them. Then they were down 2-0 in the series to the Seattle Mariners and then 3-2 (meaning they had to win 2 games in a row to move on).

And now, they face the Los Angeles Dodgers who are heavy favourites and a lot of people are predicting a sweep. With how hard the Blue Jays have been playing and coming back to win through the postseason and the regular season, I can’t see this being an easy series at all. I believe in this team.

Blue Jays win in 7 games.
#WantItAll → #GotItAll