Copyright yardbarker
Anyone who says Toronto is not a sports city or doesn’t love its sports teams is lying. Living in Toronto this October has demonstrated the fulsome support that this city gives to its cherished franchises. On every single street corner, walking around, it doesn’t matter if you’re in downtown or the suburbs of Markham, you will see Blue Jays gear being worn loudly and proudly. But these last couple of weeks, for me, have also been a tale of two teams. At the start of this piece, let me just say that I generally don’t follow the Raptors. This is not out of any sense of animosity with the team, basketball has just never been a preferred sport of mine. However, I did very gladly and willingly jump on the bandwagon in 2019. That experience showed me that Toronto will love those teams that show love back. Kawhi Leonard, Masai Ujiri, and Kyle Lowry will always be heroes in this city, as will every single member of that 2019 team. If the Jays manage to do the impossible, to fully embody David in his fight with Goliath, to top what is sure to be a baseball dynasty in the Los Angeles Dodgers and win the World Series? Toronto will show its appreciation. Leafs parallels The Jays’ season began very similarly to how the Leafs’ season has started. The Jays were coming off a disappointing season, finishing last in 2024. While the Leafs’ regular season last year was anything but underperforming, it still ended in the classic heartbreaking fashion that we have become accustomed to over the past decade. The Blue Jays’ star first baseman, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., did not have a good regular season coming off signing a massive extension with the team. And look where we are now. The difference in vibe between these two teams could not be more apparent. The Jays play with joy, not necessarily for the crest on the front of the jersey, but for the name on the back of the jersey of the guy who comes next. That’s the difference. The Leafs are playing joyless hockey. They lack an identity. Their star centre, one of, if not the best, goal scorer in the league, doesn’t look like himself. Their star goaltender called out the team in a rare moment of unbridled honesty, only to then not put his money where his mouth was. I was at the game yesterday. A game on Hockey Night in Canada, which was moved up two hours because the main event, Game 2 of the World Series, was being played in the same city mere hundreds of metres away. For almost the entire game, the same issues persisted. The Leafs played limp hockey (except for Jake McCabe, God bless his soul). They made bonehead plays on both ends of the ice. I’ll never forget both Max Domi and Philippe Myers pointing at Tage Thompson coming down the rush, after which neither player took him, and he scored easily. The pattern from Friday night, however, did not repeat itself. On Friday night, the Leafs lost at the same time as the Jays upset the Dodgers in a blowout fashion. On Saturday night, it was the Leafs who emerged triumphant while the Jays ran into the hottest pitcher in baseball, who pitched his second consecutive complete game. Not done quite yet John Tavares’ overtime winner might be a watershed moment for this team. It might signify that the Leafs are ready to turn their season around and go back to playing the kind of hockey that we are accustomed to. It certainly felt as if it were a necessary goal in the grand scheme of things. Losing back-to-back in a home-and-home against a divisional rival, taking either one or zero points out of four? It would have felt like, perhaps not the final, but certainly one of the nails in the Leafs’ coffin. I’m not sure how the rest of the season will go. Maybe they’ll take inspiration from the Blue Jays after their rocky start to the season. Maybe they’ll find the power of friendship, fix the truly atrocious vibes around this team, and go on a magical run. Or maybe we peaked last year, and we’re watching the last legs of what was a good team in the NHL. What I do know is that the Leafs were given a gift by this Blue Jays team, a chance to right the ship and put this train back on the rails while most of their fanbase’s attention is distracted, this fan’s included. I hope they make the most of this opportunity, but in the meantime, let’s go Blue Jays!
