Toronto Blue Jays fall short but captivate a nation with a thrilling run.
I was born ready,” said 26-year-old Blue Jays superstar slugger Vladdy Guerrero Jr. when asked if he was ready to play in his first World Series.
“I was built for this,” said 22-year-old Jays rookie pitcher Trey Yesavage when asked if he was nervous about starting the first game of the World Series.
Those two young stars led the Jays to their first World Series after an absence of 32 years and 5,059 games. Ultimately, the team lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers 5–4 in an epic Game 7 at home in what baseball pundits are already calling “One of the Best World Series Ever Played.” The game ended after midnight on November 2nd — so much for that extra hour of sleep!
It’s difficult to capture how thoroughly the Jays captivated a nation during their thrilling autumn run. From coast to coast to coast, watch parties sprung up. When the Jays played three games in Los Angeles, Toronto’s Rogers Centre, their home park, was sold out just so fans could watch the game together there on TV. Baseball is a communal experience with an easy rhythm and flow, and since we all probably played softball as kids, we all understand the game. The rules are simple: throw the ball, catch the ball, hit the ball, run around the bases, touch home plate. When the Jays returned home for Game 6 and Game 7, watch party tickets at the nearby Scotiabank Arena sold out in only seven minutes. During this fall season, nearly every conversation began and ended with the Jays.
Expectations for the 2025 Blue Jays were quite low at the beginning of the season, since a year earlier, with only 74 wins, they had finished last in the American League East Division. The Jays’ win-loss average puttered around .500 for most of the spring of 2025, but something clicked in late May and they began to rack up wins through June.
With a Canada Day weekend sweep of the New York Yankees, the team took over first place, caught the attention of the rest of Major League Baseball and became a ray of sunshine for Canada just when our country needed it most. They held on the rest of the way and won the AL East with the best record in the American League, thereby avoiding having to play in the Wild Card Series, where for two straight seasons they had previously met their demise.
The Blue Jays quickly dispatched the dreaded Yankees in the American League Divisional Series, a rivalry that always awakens the American media. Then, in the Championship Series, despite losing the first two games at home to the Seattle Mariners, the Jays recovered to oust the Mariners in a decisive seventh game after George Springer’s dramatic “Springer Dinger” three-run home run in the seventh inning. It was Toronto’s biggest home run since Joe Carter’s “Touch ’Em All Joe” 1993 World Series winner.
This year, the Dodgers were the heavy favourites in what was billed as a David versus Goliath matchup (but, as the Jays liked to point out, David won that one). The Dodgers have the highest payroll in baseball, at $350 million, and featured the game’s best player in double-threat Shohei Ohtani, who does things mere mortals can’t even imagine. Los Angeles has two other future Hall of Famers, Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts, along with a lineup of battle-tested veterans.
The Jays lineup was a few stars, including Guerrero Jr., Springer and Bo Bichette, surrounded by unknown utility players from the Island of Misfit Toys. But these 26 men were a band of brothers who personified the very definition of the word “team,” always stepping up to help each other out in whatever way possible in the pursuit of their common goal. Whatever endeavour you may be involved in, the 2025 Blue Jays are a terrific example of what working together with a team mindset and approach can achieve.
Jays baseball is about discipline, making contact, putting the ball in play, moving the line along, running up the pitch count with long at-bats and tiring pitchers out. With 29 other teams watching, Toronto’s success may actually be changing baseball back to an old-school approach — who can put the ball in play, rather than who can hit it out of the park. That may be the legacy of the 2025 Blue Jays. For enthralling entertainment, you simply couldn’t look away.
The Jays shocked the Dodgers with an electrifying 11–4 victory in Game 1, highlighted by Addison Barger’s grand slam, the first pinch-hit slam in World Series history. Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s complete Game 2 3–1 gem evened things up before the Series moved to Los Angeles. There, the teams played a ridiculous 18-inning Game 3 before Los Angeles won 6–5 in a game that ended at 2:53 a.m. Toronto time.
The Blue Jays’ never-say-die grit and unflappable resilience was tested in Game 4, where outstanding pitching gave them a 6–2 victory. They followed that up with a resounding 6–1 win in Game 5 highlighted by Davis Schneider and Guerrero Jr. hitting two home runs on the first three pitches of the game. The game also marked a remarkable pitching performance by Yesavage, who baffled the Dodgers over seven innings, throwing 104 pitches, 71 of which were strikes, with no walks. He struck out 12 men, the most by a rookie pitcher in World Series history.
Yesavage started his season in Single-A ball, pitching for Dunedin, Florida, against the Jupiter Hammerheads in front of 327 fans in April. He played all levels of Minor League ball before being called up to the Jays in September. The bright lights of Hollywood at Dodger Stadium did not faze Yesavage, even with Brad Pitt in his Dodger jersey glaring at him from the fourth row. His maturity was amazing, even though he’s so young and green — he can remind you of a kid wandering around the clubhouse secretly wondering if the food is free. What a future.
The Jays have come a long way since Bill Singer threw the first pitch for them at a snowy Exhibition Stadium on April 7, 1977 (an obvious ball, which was called a strike, naturally). From Singer to Springer, from Joe to Bo and every player and coach in between, fans and a country can easily love this franchise.
“Born ready.” “Built for this.” It’s the story of the 2025 Toronto Blue Jays. Pitchers and catchers report in just two months. The country will be watching again.
