Next year we might see one of the curious quirks of pro sports in North America – a Canadian team becoming champion of what is widely regarded as an American league. Due to financial realities and historical ties, there are Canadian teams in the NHL, MLS, NBA, and MLB. There are only a few, but, now and again, they receive the support of a nation as they take on a team from the US in a finals series.
Although hockey is Canada’s favorite sport, there hasn’t been a Stanley Cup winner from that country for over 30 years now. But, with the Toronto Blue Jays falling just one win short of winning the World Series and being one of the favorites to win next season after signing pitcher Dylan Cease, we now have the potential for the champion of America’s pastime coming from Canada. The top baseball betting markets might favor the Dodgers to win the title again – but anything can happen in a World Series.
With the current political and economic situation, it could be said that another US vs. Canada World Series would be more charged than ever before. But we thought we would go back to the early 1990s when Toronto won two championships in a row and Canada could truly claim to rule baseball.
First Fall Classic
By 1992, the Blue Jays were playing in their 16th season of Major League Baseball and were one of two Canadian teams, the other being the Montreal Expos. Toronto had only ever played three postseason series in its short history – and always came up on the losing side, including the previous year against the Twins.
The season began brightly, with the Jays winning their first six games. But the team experienced a lot of ups and downs before it eventually earned a playoff berth. Toronto would lose six of seven games towards the end of August, so, with Baltimore hot on their heels, it acquired the right-hander pitcher, David Cone, from the Mets in a move that was seen as a statement of intent.
Cone would make a big impression and the Blue Jays eventually won the AL East by four games. In the ACLS, Toronto faced an Oakland team that had beaten them at the same stage in 1989 and had featured in three of the last four Fall Classics. The Jays won in six to claim their first AL pennant.
In the World Series, Toronto would play the Atlanta Braves, losers in the previous year’s Fall Classic and keen to redress the balance. The Jays lost the first game in Georgia, but then won their first on the road and cemented their chances of victory by taking both games back in the SkyDome. Facing elimination, the Braves would hit five runs in the fifth innings of the fifth game on their way to a 7-2 win. Game six was a cagey affair that went to 11 innings, with the Jays scoring two runs to win 4-3 and become the first-ever non-US team to win a World Series.
Repeat Champs
Toronto found itself in the unfamiliar position of entering the 1993 Major League Baseball season as champion and lost its first game of the year 8-1 against the Seattle Mariners. It won four of the next five, however, and went on to record just one losing month all season before the last few games in October.
The Blue Jays went through the regular season in full control, experiencing particularly successful winning periods in the pivotal months of June and September. By the time it came around to the end of the campaign, they had already secured another AL East title and eventually won by seven games ahead of the Yankees in second place.
The postseason format had still not been expanded into the Wild Card games we know today, so it was the Chicago White Sox that stood in the way of the Blue Jays playing in a second consecutive World Series. Both teams lost their opening two games at home before Toronto won what would be the final two games of the series.
Philadelphia would be Toronto’s World Series opponent, with the Phillies having not won a championship since 1980. The first four games were filled with runs and saw the Blue Jays take a 3-1 lead. Philly would then come back to 3-2 with a narrow win at Veterans Stadium and then lead 6-5 in the bottom of the ninth inning in the sixth game. But it was then that Joe Carter hit a game-winning, three-run home run to claim Toronto’s second consecutive championship.
World Series Drought
Toronto’s back-to-back titles were the first time any team had managed that feat since the Yankees at the end of the 1970s. It was also only the seventh team to repeat in the history of the World Series at that time. With the Montreal Canadiens winning the Stanley Cup just four months earlier, Canada had really made an impression on US sports in 1993.
With the players’ strike ending the season early in 1994, Toronto actually held the tag of champions for two years before finishing dead last in the AL East in 1995. The second World Series win would kick off a 21-year postseason drought for the Blue Jays, and the team has only made it to the playoffs sporadically in the last ten years.
Now, there is the chance for a new generation of players to write their names in Toronto, Canadian, and baseball history. The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays in one of the greatest World Series ever. and will be overwhelming favorites to win again. But maybe the Blue Jays after reloading this offseason can take inspiration from the teams of the early 1990s and win a championship for Canada.