Copyright thestar
My inexperience as a fan showed almost immediately. It was the first inning of Game 1 of the World Series and I was in unfamiliar territory. It’s not baseball that’s unknown. In fact, I know baseball, and specifically, these Blue Jays very well. I spent seven years as a beat writer for the team from 2018-2024, working for The Athletic. Including spring training, regular season and playoffs, I’ve probably watched more than 1,000 Jays games. But earlier this year, I left my position — and journalism altogether — for another opportunity. That’s why, 10 months later, I was in the left field bleachers instead of sitting in the press box, asking my fiancé, “Do I really have to stand up every time there are two strikes?” Beat writers don’t experience games like fans do. The old saying, there’s no cheering in the press box exists for a reason. But, in my time around the team, I did get to know some of the players — at least as much as any journalist can know a professional athlete. I’ve watched this Blue Jays team go through life stages — from navigating early growing pains, to facing challenges just when they were maturing into a winning team, to finally, thriving in their prime, once they had the requisite experience to draw from. Years before Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was putting together a post-season for the record books, I watched him play in minor-league ballparks. Even then, he would hit rockets off the bat and it was easy to imagine him doing so one day against the backdrop of a raucous Rogers Centre on the sport’s biggest stage. I interviewed a young Bo Bichette, who, at 21, was convinced he was meant to do great things on a baseball field, too. Other players come along, too, like Davis Schneider, the unheralded, 28th-round draft pick, who became a fan favourite after a sensational start to his career and then settled in as a role player, always willing to do his part to help the team win. Those Blue Jays had all the makings of a great story. A team built around generational young talent, supported by veterans and key bench players. A fan base craving a winner. But when I was writing about them, the team could never quite put it together. Every year, there were new misplays, mistakes and misfortunes. I covered six Blue Jays playoff games on the beat. They lost them all. This year, however, has been different. Guerrero is among the leaders in nearly every offensive statistical category this post-season. Bichette, while clearly limited by a knee injury, is still contributing. The whole team has come together in its greater-than-the-sum-of-our-parts fashion. The Blue Jays have been the great story of the MLB post-season. I always knew they could do it. Selfishly, I just wish, maybe, they had done it last year. This Blue Jays run has left me in something of a liminal space. I have no professional obligation to be objective anymore. But after seven years as a Jays reporter, I don’t really know how to be a fan. I still feel weird wearing a Jays jersey to a game and while I’m not immune to humming along, I don’t participate in the “OK Blue Jays” dance. But at the same time, I know this is a special moment, not just for the franchise, but for the city and the entire country, too. Even without daily deadlines tethering me to the team, I wanted to experience this moment. So, I went to Game 1. Despite my trepidation at this whole fan thing, I stood up when rookie starter Trey Yesavage was a strike away from retiring Shohei Ohtani in the first inning. And I cheered along with the other 44,000-plus in the Rogers Centre when he struck him out. As the game wore on, I learned another valuable lesson. There is no line between stranger and friend in the World Series. When Toronto put up a nine-spot in the sixth inning, capped by Addison Barger’s historic pinch-hit grand slam, I watched people high-fiving everyone and anyone sitting around them. My fiancé and I embraced and jumped up and down in celebration. This is one experience I would never have in the press box: Watching someone I love bask in Blue Jays-fuelled joy. No one knows yet how this Blue Jays season will end. And for the first time in a long time, I won’t be writing about it. I’m still adjusting to being a fan, but this playoff run has taught me one key lesson. Always stand up and cheer.
