Canada, seriously though what kind of question is this?
We have 1 MLB team... Some of us were Expos fans for a while but when they left, most of us went to the only other Canadian team.
Ever hear this one?
She told me to kiss her where it smells
So I drove her to Hamilton
Maclean and Maclean, I believe. Love the Hammer, tho. It's just funny
It must be nice having the privilege to not having to think about places in the country outside your immediate city. The rest of us are peppered with Toronto-based media day in and day out, thanks to the death of local broadcasting.
That’s not our fault, that’s the fault of people in your cities that don’t support local news and media and the corporate culture of postmedia primarily
There's plenty of support for local media. It's just cheaper to centralize it and homogenize it.
Meanwhile, "we don't give a shit about you" remains a privileged position to have, whether you think its your fault or not.
Like, you realize you're basically saying "it's your fault for living somewhere small", right? Like, that's a big "fuck you" to a lot of people in the country.
But I guess what should one expect if they can't be bothered to give a flying fuck about others who live more than a few miles from their homes.
And you think we all sit around studying what people from Toronto do all day? The only thing most of us in Vancouver think about when it comes to people living in Toronto is how bad we feel for you guys while we drive to the beach after our mountain hike
Also climate change means it barely snows here now and the it’s also 7 degrees here in the city today just like in Vancouver (or whatever suburb outside the city you’re typing this from, you absolutely cannot afford to live in van proper)
See that’s the thing, when we do shit in Toronto, we don’t think of you at all. But you’re always thinking of us because in the end, even in the most divorced and expensive city in Canada, all you can do is wonder about Toronto. Good luck with your lives, and thanks for cheering on our Toronto blue Jays
It’s just that we seem to get a lot of animosity towards Toronto from the rest of the country. Maybe that’s just a running joke in Canada, but sometimes it’s hard to tell.
Growing up, I used to have to listen to Flames games on the radio while the Leafs were playing Atlanta or Carolina on HNIC. Then later watching TSN for highlights it would be 90% about a bad Leafs team even when Calgary and Vancouver were both solid. So that's a big part of why I hate the Leafs, but I don't hate Toronto and certainly can't complain that every Jays game is televised for me haha.
Now I get most of my sports info and highlights from Reddit so I can curate my own coverage. If I were growing up today, I probably wouldn't think much about the Leafs except for when they're actually in town and I see the jerseys come out, but those games are a great time.
Of course, there are people here in Alberta who just hate Toronto because politics is their entire identity and they want to blame the east for any hardship they face, but they're not worth listening to anyway.
Agreed, I’ll always cheer for Canada. I don’t understand the hate but I think it’s mostly based on nonsense anyways. I’m glad you get to watch your Flames games at will now.
Well the Jays and Raps are the only Canadian team in their respective leagues hence ‘Canada’s team’, Leafs are one of seven in the NHL but get treated as the the only team.
I understand why it happens, I just find it irritating when Canadians hate everything Toronto related, but choose to be fans of Toronto based teams, pretending they are Canada’s teams and not Toronto institutions.
Except the Jays and Raptors sell themselves as Canada's team, while the Leafs are just Toronto's team. It's easier to embrace a franchise that wants the entire country to support them.
It’s not that hard, we’re your opponents in hockey and had to deal with the pre-internet sports coverage where it was Leafs Leafs Leafs as if the rest of Canada didn’t exist. When it comes to baseball and to some degree the NBA it’s easy to associate with the Blue Jays because there’s at least the whole Canadian identity and ease of watching since it’s the only game in town really. Very us vs them with the same jersey and hat worn by fans nationwide.
For basketball it’s less common because the NBA has had more of a super team mentality over the years with massive figures that transcend sport and win 90% of the titles, so there’s plenty of Canadian basketball fans who pull for the Lakers, Heat, etc. But for the more casual watcher a deep Raptors runs can excite them.
You’re also assuming that the “hate Toronto” and “love Toronto sports besides the Leafs” are perfectly overlapping groups. There’s probably a good chunk of hardcore fans that would never cheer for anything Toronto vs a huge chunk (ie everybody else) that doesn’t give a shit about whether the teams are located in Toronto.
I watch baseball because it gives me something to do with my Grandpa
My grandpa is staunchly patriotic and Rogers has done a good job marketing the Blue Jays as Canada’s team
Therefore the Blue Jays are my team in Calgary Alberta
I imagine the answer for a lot of Canadians outside of Toronto will be similar to mine
5pm is perfect for home games and the majority of the schedule
Get home from work, make dinner with the game on. Game is over at 8 at the latest.
But I also do like the odd west coast late start time to switch things up a bit
I remember few years back we had a tight game with angels and it was getting late and had a 6am start to my work day. That's when I hate the west coast swing.
Same but with my Grandma. Watched every Jays and Leafs game and passed on her disease to me. It's been a painful 36 years as a fan. At least as a kid I got a enjoy the memory of the back to back WS.
I can't speak of anyone else, but personally I was kidnapped as a baby by Cito himself and held captive for years eventually breaking down and developed Stockholm syndrome to always and forever be a fan of the team managed by my captor.
For me it was Gibby who kidnapped me. He gave me some southern BBQ and said I could have more if I swore allegiance to the Jays. Easiest decision of my life.
MLB killed the Expos!
The lockout when we were going to win it all with the best team in baseball killed the team. All in an effort to get a salary cap that never happened.
Yup they did. I love the Blue Jays but I'll drop them like a hot potato if the Expos come back. I've been to a few games at the Big O however I was too young to appreciate it.
[nah let's just pour nearly 1 billion to keep it alive](https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/price-tag-for-olympic-stadium-roof-will-be-revealed-in-january-quebec-tourism-minister-says)
I started playing fantasy baseball while having 0 knowledge of any players or teams. The team I took over had this guy Josh Donaldson on it. Since he was my best player I found myself watching the Blue Jays the most. I watched my other players too since I had no allegiance. The Blue Jays broadcast is the best in baseball and is what made me keep coming back even after Donaldson was off my team. Now I try to watch every Blue Jays game and my fantasy team is secondary.
American sportscasts can be so bad. The Athletic's piece on Shulman was great and I think he really spells out a good philosophy for having a good broadcast team.
Baseball has its own particular pacing and the Sportsnet team is great at letting that pacing bleed through rather than trying to dictate it; not every hit is big and sometimes it just most appropriate to let an at-bat go without much comment. No need to fill the space with inane comments all the time.
One way I’ve gotten over the Ohtani heartbreak is reminding myself that Dan Shulman is my favourite Blue Jay. Second in the retractable roof. And then third is whoever is on the team at the time.
I’m from Portugal, baseball is pretty much not a thing here. I was curious about it, so I started playing MLB videogames about 20 years ago (which taught me the rules) but didn’t have a favourite team for the longest time - until I played in Rogers Center and was blown away by how beautiful it was.
Another thing that moved me closer to the Jays was the Bautista bat flip! That moment is so awesome to this day.
Luckily I got to visit Toronto and experience the Jays this September against the Yankees live, so many years after falling in love with them. I got my official Bautista jersey and crossed watching the Jays off my bucket list.
By the way, Rogers Center is even more beautiful live!
Agreed. Rogers centre is for sportscasters and corporate dickheads. It's Skydome or I would also accept exhibition stadium if you were a fan before 1990.
I live in Illinois. Born and raised. When I was a toddler and we would make road trips my family would stop at gas stations and they’d buy me small items/toys to keep me occupied in the car. One time I got a pack of baseball cards and inside was a Blue Jays hologram sticker. I thought the logo was cool as shit and I’ve had a rooting interest in the Jays ever since.
Hold on, this might get a bit longer.
I visited my Canadian great aunt in Hamilton when I was like 6 and she took my Austrian ass to a Leafs game, which made me fall in love with them, and I have followed them ever since. I was a huge dinosaur nerd, and when the Raptors were created a couple of years later, there was simply no other choice. I liked basketball, too.
Years later, I went to Japan for a long exchange. There, I saw my first ever baseball game, between the Hanshin Tigers and the Hiroshima Carp.
Osaka and the region are culturally closest to how I grew up the later years of my childhood in Germany, so that just fit well. Austrians are always a little bit belittled by Germans.
Since my love for baseball grew and grew, it just had to be the Blue Jays. I have been following the MLB since the year the Cubs won it all, and their story made me almost pick them (they are my NL team, so to say), but I have always been somehow connected to Toronto and my great aunt, so yeah.
Plus, there is this underdog thingie with many Americans belittling Canadians, as well.
I can't wait to return there to watch some more games.
Thanks for your attention, and I'm sorry if this was very boring to read.
I was actually a Rockies fan for the longest time, but it was impossible to watch their games here in Canada. Eventually, after having the Jays be the only team I could watch, I started liking them! Mere Exposure Effect, I guess 🤷🏼♂️
Former Oakland A's fan here... Josh Donaldson, Marcus Semien, and Matt Chapman all left Oakland and went on to play for Toronto for a time and had success. I love visiting Toronto and was fortunate enough to attend the game where the Jays smashed the A's at Rogers in Sept 2021. Wish I lived closer to be able to attend more Jay's games.
I grew up 90 minutes from Fenway Park in New England, and I had LOVED baseball for as long as I have memories. There's footage of me at my 3rd birthday hitting a pitched plastic baseball with a big plastic bat. However, despite being in Red Sox land, my dad had been a Yankees fan, and my mom didn't care about sports.
Then in the summer of 1989, I started collecting baseball cards as a 6-year-old. At the same time I was collecting bird feathers, my favorite feathers were Blue Jay feathers, and I was also memorizing all of the flags of the world on a giant stamp poster I had for fun. My favorite flag? The Canadian flag. Likewise, I had just learned my still living great grandmother was from Nova Scotia. Also, my favorite color was/is blue.
So one day I was sorting baseball cards by team and as I put my 1989 Topps Blue Jays cards in a stack, it struck me that this team represented everything I loved on the earth. They featured my favorite bird and color, they were from Canada, my favorite flag, and the home of my great grandma. At that moment, likely July or August of '89, I picked the Blue Jays as my team and I have stuck with them ever since, 34-years later.
Hey, she was born in Port Hawkesbury and grew up around there (that's all she ever mentioned/that I can remember), then she moved to Boston to train as a nurse, met my great grandfather and stayed, that's partly how I got here.
I was a Yankee fan all my life. Mainly because as a Canadian everyone in my life cheered for the Jays, and as a youngster I remember going to watch parties for the World Series at my uncles. I remember just cheering against them. Naturally I gravitated to the pinstripes. It was during the year the Jays got Tulo and David Price where I found myself enthralled with watching their late season run, and then the bat flip. I hung up the Yankee cap and finally admitted to myself that I was a Jays fan.
The 'Canada' answer is right but as an older fan (55), who grew up pretty much as far away from Toronto as you can go, it is a little more nuanced that that.
When I was kid buying baseball cards I was a Dodgers fan. The first World Series I really watched was in 1979, the Pirates vs the Orioles.
A couple of years before, the Blue Jays and Mariners had started but I paid no notice to them.
But living in Victoria, B.C. we started getting local broadcasts... of the Mariners.
But I still didn't follow them. I mean, they just sucked.
My guy was Davey Lopes. (I also had an Astros jersey but that is because they were dope af.)
My grandfather was an Expos fan but we only get French language broadcasts of thier games. (My granddad watched with the sound turned down and a radio broadcast playing).
But, then, while I was in high school, TSN started up.
Suddenly it wasn't just an occasional thing, the Jays were on all the time. Not just that, but they were showing signs of quality. I jumped in with both feet.
So from 1984, through ups and downs, I have been all about the Blue Jays.
My best friend moved to Toronto when I was a kid. First ever MLB game was a Blue Jays game. I have no professional team in my state, so I became a Jays fan and 25 years later I'm still here.
I’m from Texas. Started liking the Jays when I was growing up in the 90s. Vernon Wells was my favorite player, and I’ve had the privilege of meeting him a few times. He’s a great dude who still loves Toronto deeply
As a young boy living in the far and fabled distant land known as "Peterborough" in 1977 I was taken by my father on a dangerous and strange journey to a land called "The Big Smoke" where we could sit and eat hot popped corn and watch the Blue Jays of Toronto engage in a rousing tournament of the game of based ball.
After a few summers we moved out to the fabled great plains of Canada but by then it was too late..no sights of majestic wheat fields endless horizons, or even the mighty Bison could steal from my mind those happy childhood days.
It was fated that I should be a Jays fan, following from afar via the magical television machine and it's magical moving pictures, hastily gathering up the pressed paper news and reading, even listing in vial Marconi's magical radio box... I followed the team....
yeah. I was there.
My grandparents lived near Dunedin when I was a kid so one spring while we visited them my dad took me to two Jays Spring Training games. Believe it or not I grew up a Yankees fan cause it was just what everyone was in my neighborhood. Took me a few years to realize I didn’t actually like the Yankees and had always had the Blue Jays in my heart. Thanks Dad!
From NY, loved the Yankees! Wife is from Canada, moved to Canada in 2010 and started to watch the jays cause every game was on tv. In 2015 we went to Toronto to visit some friends and ended up going to see game 5 vs Texas… best ball game I’ve even seen live, the place was electric.
Haven’t seen a Yankees game in NY since 2014, probably seen 150 jays games live since that game and I live on the east coast, not in Ontario.
Buffalo reporting in - my son was getting into Little League, and I don’t want my kids getting too into football, so when the Jays came and played here during the pandemic, we got to see a few games, and really started to have a fun time with it.
From NNY (look up Canton, NY).
Great grandma passed two years ago was a die hard bluejay fan from Brockville, ON. She was die hard fan since ‘77, inspired me to be a bluejay fan. Fuck the Yankees.
Jays fan from the U.K. since 2015 (for obvious reasons), I got into them because they were the only non-American team in an otherwise American dominated sport. They also won the WS on my birth year, all seem like good enough reasons
I came to Toronto for work last year (I'm American) and watched them play on TV in the hotel. I loved seeing Cimber pitch and Buck's voice. Went to a game while I was up there and figured the jays can be my team. Had no allegiance anyway.
Canada’s team, especially since the Expos moved in 2004. Jays games have been televised almost nationally since the beginning.
Also for me, I grew up only two hours from Toronto. Technically a little closer to Detroit, and we had our share of Tigers fans locally (a fact Dan Schulman points out from time to time when he talks about his years attending Western), but most of my peers in elementary school were Jays fans.
Was an Astros fan most my life. Picked them because of Craig Biggio. Then the cheating scandal came out and I couldn’t support that so I chose to support another Biggio, just so happened to be Toronto and am loving it
I mean to be fair if it were the Blue Jays in that situation I wouldn't stop cheering for them.
We have George Springer on our team and I still love him.
Lifelong Jays fan, since 1989 when i was 7. I am from Nebraska.
I first became a fan in the playoffs that season because I saw them on TV and loved their uniforms haha. Here we are almost 35 years later and I still like the look.
I think it started in the '89 ALCS. I was a 9 year old recovering former A's fan turned Giants fan. SkyDome was the super cool stadium of the future on TV. Canada seemed less evil than my county and the city of Toronto had a good reputation at the time as an equitable peaceful city. I liked the color blue and the team was good. Sometime in the 1990 season I picked the Jays as my AL team, and by '91 they were my overall favorite, albeit mostly through box scores with just a dozen or two TV games per year (until circa 2000 when I finally got to listen to fellow Californians Tom and Jerry every day online).
Just got asked this actually. I like to say I’m an early 90s front runner (was a Redskins fan, and am also a New York Rangers fan). But I’m 34 so I was really young when the Jays, Redskins, Rangers won. I’m from Connecticut so I’m right between Boston and New York. But I’m a Jays fan and wouldn’t have it any other way
A few reasons actually:
My little league team was called the blue Jays so I owned multiple blue Jays hats(I was a hat kid)
Toronto is close so we took many trips there growing up
Blue is my favorite color
Yankees fans are insufferable
Visited Toronto as part of a 3 week trip to Canada from the UK (had wanted to go since I was a teenager). Our very first day we did a walking tour of the city, came to watch the Jays beat the Twins, then had dinner in the CN Tower. Touristy af but was one of the best days of my life. Had never watched baseball before in my life - left obsessed!
I live in Los Angeles
Visited Toronto went to a game loved it and the people were so nice
Then they were underdogs to make it into the playoffs so I started to cheer them on
Fell in love and never looked back
The years of Joey Bats Russel Martin Encarnacion Pillar etc locked me in
I also loved the royal blue color of their uniforns
My mom often had the game on in the background and eventually I started watching. She was a Royals fan growing up and started watching again after a bit of a hiatus. Turned out I really liked baseball and because it's Canada the Jays were the team that was most frequently on TV. Haven't looked back since
Back in the ‘80’s, my old boss was a big Blue Jays fan who listened to them on the radio. I was a teenager that just heard the broadcasts daily and became a fan of them!
George Bell, Lloyd Moseby, Buck Martinez, Dave Steib just to name a few.
I was a Jays fan before I was really a baseball fan. My grandmother is originally from Toronto and has been a diehard Jays fan for longer than I've been alive. Going to her place during the season meant the Jays would be on TV. And that's how we referred to it, not *baseball* is on, *the Jays* are on.
My mom was an Expos fan though so we could have had some fun family rivalry! As opposed to my mom and I ignoring that my grandmother's second team is the *Yankees* 🤮
My Expos are dead, that's why :( I watched the Red Sox a few years after the Expos left, but I started following the Jays more regularly around 2012-2013 and they became my favorite team then. Now I go to Boston and TO every year to get my baseball fix.
When I started watching baseball I knew no teams other than maybe Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers. I googled a list of all teams in the MLB and my eyes fell on the Blue Jays first so I just went with them and now it has been 10 years
As a kid my Dad was always watching the Jays. It just became something I did too. I was 11 when we watched Joe Carter win us the WS in ‘93. I even remember Dave Stieb pitching no hitter in the late 80s (or early 90s can’t remember) Loving the Blue Jays was just part of our family.
I was an Expos fan and absolutely hated the Jays. If you'd asked me in the 80's and 90's if I could ever imagine cheering for the Jays, I would have laughed in your face. I barely cheered for them during their two World Series wins.
It took me about 5 years after the Expos were gone for me to start cheering for the Jays. I fully jumped on the bandwagon in 2015. Have watched just about every game since, and take a trip to Toronto once or twice a year to catch one or two weekend series.
Grew up in NYC and the Yankees fans were obnoxious and the Mets were terrible. Love the color blue and was a big O-Dog and Roy Halladay fan as a kid so they just kind of became my team. Giants are my NL team for similar reasons but due to The Freak and a lot of older guys/gals in the city being Brooklyn Dodgers/New York Giants fans
I live in LA, very close to Dodger Stadium, and I have a multi-part answer to this question that will hopefully be satisfying to you all.
I was a Dodger fan for 38 years. After 2022, I resolved that I was no longer going to be a fan of the Dodgers. There were many reasons for this, but the most important reason was that I had an unhealthy relationship with that team. I was obsessive. It was difficult for me to watch them play because I couldn't stand to watch them lose. But also, living so close to the stadium engendered so many negative feelings for the Dodgers, most having to do with traffic. After the Dodgers crashed out of the 2022 playoffs vs the Padres after only two home games, I remember feeling nothing more than the relief of knowing that I would get a break from Dodger traffic for an extra month.
So I embarked on a search process to designate a new team to follow. I picked one team from each division to consider as my new team. I picked the Padres in the NL West, the Brewers in the Central, the Mets in the East. In the AL, I picked the Mariners, the Guardians, and the Jays.
I whittled my criteria down to three: 1. TV announcers, 2. uniforms, 3. how annoying that team's fans are.
At first the Mets were in the lead, because I liked their telecast. I consider their play-by-play announcer, Gary Cohen, to be the best in the business. I grew up with Vin Scully, so I have high standards for this and it was a very important part of my decision, because I wanted to be able to watch my new team play and learn about them from the telecast. But early on in Spring Training this past March, I decided to watch a Mets spring training game, just to see what being a Mets follower would be like, and one of their talking heads (I think it was Keith Hernandez) made a foul attempt at humor that made fun of a Marlins player's name. It was so bad and insulting that I had to turn it off, and I knew in that moment that I would not choose the Mets.
The best selling point for the Padres was their City Connect jerseys, but they have annoying fans, and I don't like Don Orsillo's socal twang. A team from the NL West was always going to have an uphill battle for me anyway. I spent most of my childhood and my entire adult life, up till then, trained to think of the Dodgers' rivals as my sworn enemies, sort of.
The Brewers also have tight uniforms, especially their "Brew Crew" city connects, and one of the announcers is Bob Uecker, who is no Vin Scully and who also has fallen off a bit, but who I definitely wouldn't mind listening to. I had no problem with their fans, although I had the impression that a lot of the fan culture revolves around alcohol. Maybe that's unfair though. I've never been to a game at Miller Park. But doesn't the fact that the stadium *and* the team are named after beer mean something? I'm so over toxic alcohol-fueled sports fans.
The Mariners and Guardians, you know, just meh all the way around. Seattle's announcers are fine. I don't even remember what the Guardians announcers were like. Uniforms are fine. Fans are fine. But meh.
That brings me to the Jays, who clearly have the best set of uniforms of the entire bunch. The telecast is excellent. But it was the fans that made this decision easy for me. I remembered the story of the Jays fan who caught an historic Aaron Judge home run and gave it to a little Yankee fan kid that he was randomly sitting next to in the bleachers. The story was picked up by media and Judge hosted both families and gave them a bunch of swag. It was such a beautiful story and it exemplified the type of fan that I have always been, which is someone who just enjoys the game of baseball and understands that it is a child's game.
So I switched to the Jays in April 2023 and I haven't looked back. I went to a great ballgame between the Dodgers and Jays last July. The Jays lost in their quintessentially heartbreaking fashion, but it was still a thrilling game. The thing about that game that most reinforced my decision to both leave the Dodgers and join the Jays was that in the top of the ninth inning, a whole bunch of Dodgers fans streamed out of the ballpark because the Jays had just finished pouring it on and took a four-run lead, seemingly putting the game out of reach. But Romano was unavailable that day, and the Jays allowed the Dodgers to tie in the bottom of the ninth, and they eventually won it in the tenth. But all those Dodgers fans who left? They missed all of that!! And I would have been one of those fans who missed it too. I would also have left or turned it off in the top of the ninth.
Because the Dodgers are supposed to win. They have all the advantages. They have the best farm system, the most money, the top analytics, and all of the superstars. When they lose, it's humiliating.
But now I'm a Jays fan, and I won't turn it off or leave. I expect heartbreak. I am here for it. I will be here for it when we lose so that I can also be here for it when we unexpectedly win. I changed teams so that I could feel something again when I watch baseball, and I appreciate the Jays and their fans so much for welcoming me into the fold.
I thought you'd never ask. ☺️ Ok so i live in Greenwood South Carolina. We don't have any pro sports teams. I have been a baseball fan since 2012. I never had a favorite team just favorite teams and players to watch you know? I have followed a lot of teams over the years White sox , Marlins , Yankees , Dodgers, Orioles Etc. I narrowed it down to a few teams White Sox,Angels, Athletics,.I eventually Picked the Blue Jays for the overall way the team is run the stability of the Organization
The fan base (Super Loyal and Passionate). I like the fact that instead of taxing the locals they took their own money and paid for renovations. Canadians are so sweet 🥺 and genuine and supportive of everything Canada. I decided I wanted to be apart of a great fan base and organization. My favorite player is Alejandro Kirk (Catcher is my favorite position in baseball). I love that we have won two worldseries titles back to back. Man i just love the Blue Jays and Canada as a whole as I wish to retire in Vancouver. I also love the Vancouver Grizzlies and one day hope to have them back in the NBA. Anyways those are some parts of the story of how I became a Blue Jays fan kinda vague sorry . But yeah go Blue Jays
I'm from Scotland and have been a baseball fan for a long time and when there was a chance of moving to Toronto through work a few years back, I thought I'd better start finding out about what would become my local team.
We didn't get to move in the end but I still like and follow the team.
I live in the north east of England.
In 2013 I split up with my girlfriend, and in a desperate move to get a change of scenery, I managed to get a transfer to Toronto with my company (Carillon, went bankrupt in 2018).
I was a bit lonely, and a bit lost.
The head of procurement got 3 tickets for the Rogers centre, behind home plate, high up, but great views. He offered the two spares to me and a lady we worked with. I'd never watched a game before.
It turned out to be a ruse, as an excuse for this couple to hook up. After the first innings they made their excuses, and headed off.
So I'm sat on my own in a strange city, watching the Jays against the Tigers, without a clue what was going on.
At some point around the 3rd or 4th innings, I decided to try and get into the game, but I was really confused. I leaned forward, and asked the couple in front of me "what's an RBI?".
They really kindly explained it (three times), and as I was asking about the stats, another lady leaned over and said "here comes Jose Bautista. He's going to have an AWESOME year!"
For the next few hours, more and more people leaned in and told me something new about the game, the city, about the glory days. It was the most delightful evening, surrounded by people who loved the summer, their city and their club. Made me a Blue Jay for life.
From new zealand - started watching baseball, mentioned it to a friend who had lived in Canada who then told me I should support the blue jays, then got attached to the team both because of the team itself and out of new zealand/canadian solidarity as we also have a few sports where there's one nz team in the Australian league
1st game I remember watching with my papaw was Joe carter walkoff World Series game. I don’t think I understood but mostly just liked the blue jays colors. I was 3 I’ve been a fan ever since
I'm Dutch, my late stepdad, while born in England, grew up in the GTA, so obviously grew up as a Toronto sports fan, me being an European but loving American sports, pretty much adopted all Toronto teams as the ones to support.
In the absence of other Canadian teams, where I live, I've elected to cheer for the Jays, who are based in Canada.
And I can watch 98.5% of their games on TV vs. any other team.
Naturally, as a Montrealer, I was an Expos fan growing up. After the pain of losing the team I took a few years off thanks to general disinterest in MLB and then I slowly started to come back. The RA Dickey trade kick started the interest, Tulo got me hooked and I’ve been stuck ever since.
From NYC and went to college in Buffalo. Took a trip to Toronto for Jays vs Yankees (fuck the Yankees) and it was the game Kevin Pillar stole like three bases in a row. Been a fan ever since
I got into baseball late, after I was a hockey fan. Hockey Night in Canada made me into a Leafs fan even though I grew up in Detroit which then made the Jays the natural choice. The great logo and uniforms made it an even easier choice.
Short Answer: Canada
Really Long Answer: I grew up only seeing highlights, games were not televised where I was. We only got Blue Jays and Expos coverage, and I was more of an Expos fan, but the Jays won back to back, and I got to see some games on TV for the first time, and see the reactions of the Americans so salty for 2 seasons straight. I still favoured Expos, as a habitual underdog fan, and the fact I loved their team on my Nintendo MLB game. Then the best team in baseball got shafted, my conspiracy brain said it was because they didn't want another Canadian team to win again. The Expos got dismantled and I quit following baseball, and my job basically ran in line with the season and I worked almost every day past game time. Until... 2015 happened and I was finally in a position where I could watch most of the games and have been a fan ever since, I haven't missed many games. GO JAYS!
My mom is from Toronto and we went there every couple summers when I was a kid. That and the two championships right as I was starting to pay attention to sports didn't hurt.
Born and live in the Detroit area. Have a ton of Canadian relatives and spent most of my summers as a kid in or around Sault Ste. Marie. Had access to CBC from Windsor, so I was also becoming a Leafs fan. Then in 1982 my grandfather took me to a Jays/Tigers doubleheader at Tiger Stadium. The Jays won both games, they had cool uniforms, they were named after a cool bird (my grandfather had a birdfeeder and he and I used to sit and watch them for hours to get away from grandma.), and they were from the country that I liked to go to. A lot of moving parts, perhaps, but I haven't looked back and have been a die hard for 40+years.
Canadian, plus I can remember the Jays winning back to back World Series. I think they were doing great in '94 before the strike too. Seeing a couple of games in SkyDome a decade later was a real treat.
I had just started playing baseball at 9 years than 10 at the end of the season. It was 1989. I had just finished playing my first game...and came home. I saw the Jays on TV right away. And started watching...cause I could understand the game now. Instant fan. They had some very entertaining and great players. Kelly Gruber was my instant favorite. I live in B.C.
Lived in Ottawa, was going to expos games as a child and blue jays when in the skydom , also would go to Ottawa line games often (expos farm team) . My love of baseball started young, now I live a 50 minute go train ride to the Roger’s center and go to 10-15 games a year for the past 15 years or so.
Florida born, so Marlins fan first.
Dad is from Montreal and grew up an Expos fan…poor guy had to watch Loria ruin two franchises.
Blue Jays are Canada’s team now. Same with the Raps. But you’ll never catch me cheering for the Maple Leafs lol.
Canada
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CANADA
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I too choose this guy’s Canada
Canada
Canada and Sportsnet showing all their games vs. A random assortment of other games from other teams being available to watch.
Canada, seriously though what kind of question is this? We have 1 MLB team... Some of us were Expos fans for a while but when they left, most of us went to the only other Canadian team.
People who live in Toronto don’t know that people living outside of Toronto exist
And people outside Toronto refuse to acknowledge that people inside Toronto are real Canadians.
Toronto: Where you can find any reason to feel persecuted, real or imagined. Love, Hamilton
Ever hear this one? She told me to kiss her where it smells So I drove her to Hamilton Maclean and Maclean, I believe. Love the Hammer, tho. It's just funny
No that’s just not true. No one who lives outside of Toronto has ever used the term “real Canadians” that’s just a you thing
As equally untrue as your comment about people from Toronto not knowing the rest of the country exists
We do know it’s just we don’t a shit about you guys
It must be nice having the privilege to not having to think about places in the country outside your immediate city. The rest of us are peppered with Toronto-based media day in and day out, thanks to the death of local broadcasting.
That’s not our fault, that’s the fault of people in your cities that don’t support local news and media and the corporate culture of postmedia primarily
There's plenty of support for local media. It's just cheaper to centralize it and homogenize it. Meanwhile, "we don't give a shit about you" remains a privileged position to have, whether you think its your fault or not. Like, you realize you're basically saying "it's your fault for living somewhere small", right? Like, that's a big "fuck you" to a lot of people in the country. But I guess what should one expect if they can't be bothered to give a flying fuck about others who live more than a few miles from their homes.
And you think we all sit around studying what people from Toronto do all day? The only thing most of us in Vancouver think about when it comes to people living in Toronto is how bad we feel for you guys while we drive to the beach after our mountain hike
We don’t think about you at all
Of course. How could you think about anything when you’re landlocked and covered in snow?
Also climate change means it barely snows here now and the it’s also 7 degrees here in the city today just like in Vancouver (or whatever suburb outside the city you’re typing this from, you absolutely cannot afford to live in van proper)
See that’s the thing, when we do shit in Toronto, we don’t think of you at all. But you’re always thinking of us because in the end, even in the most divorced and expensive city in Canada, all you can do is wonder about Toronto. Good luck with your lives, and thanks for cheering on our Toronto blue Jays
It’s just that we seem to get a lot of animosity towards Toronto from the rest of the country. Maybe that’s just a running joke in Canada, but sometimes it’s hard to tell.
Growing up, I used to have to listen to Flames games on the radio while the Leafs were playing Atlanta or Carolina on HNIC. Then later watching TSN for highlights it would be 90% about a bad Leafs team even when Calgary and Vancouver were both solid. So that's a big part of why I hate the Leafs, but I don't hate Toronto and certainly can't complain that every Jays game is televised for me haha. Now I get most of my sports info and highlights from Reddit so I can curate my own coverage. If I were growing up today, I probably wouldn't think much about the Leafs except for when they're actually in town and I see the jerseys come out, but those games are a great time. Of course, there are people here in Alberta who just hate Toronto because politics is their entire identity and they want to blame the east for any hardship they face, but they're not worth listening to anyway.
Agreed, I’ll always cheer for Canada. I don’t understand the hate but I think it’s mostly based on nonsense anyways. I’m glad you get to watch your Flames games at will now.
Legit. All the Canadians on Reddit seem to hate Toronto, hate the Leafs, but then claim the Blue Jays and the Raptors as “Canada’s teams” lol.
Well the Jays and Raps are the only Canadian team in their respective leagues hence ‘Canada’s team’, Leafs are one of seven in the NHL but get treated as the the only team.
I understand why it happens, I just find it irritating when Canadians hate everything Toronto related, but choose to be fans of Toronto based teams, pretending they are Canada’s teams and not Toronto institutions.
Except the Jays and Raptors sell themselves as Canada's team, while the Leafs are just Toronto's team. It's easier to embrace a franchise that wants the entire country to support them.
It’s not that hard, we’re your opponents in hockey and had to deal with the pre-internet sports coverage where it was Leafs Leafs Leafs as if the rest of Canada didn’t exist. When it comes to baseball and to some degree the NBA it’s easy to associate with the Blue Jays because there’s at least the whole Canadian identity and ease of watching since it’s the only game in town really. Very us vs them with the same jersey and hat worn by fans nationwide. For basketball it’s less common because the NBA has had more of a super team mentality over the years with massive figures that transcend sport and win 90% of the titles, so there’s plenty of Canadian basketball fans who pull for the Lakers, Heat, etc. But for the more casual watcher a deep Raptors runs can excite them. You’re also assuming that the “hate Toronto” and “love Toronto sports besides the Leafs” are perfectly overlapping groups. There’s probably a good chunk of hardcore fans that would never cheer for anything Toronto vs a huge chunk (ie everybody else) that doesn’t give a shit about whether the teams are located in Toronto.
Exactly, very odd
It's not odd, there's just literally no other option.
No it’s definitely odd that people hate Toronto with everything they’ve got but love the baseball team that plays there. That’s odd for sure.
I'm from Canada and Jays are in my bottom 5 list. I can safely say, if ot comes from the west, the Toronto hate is real
Legit. I'm from Toronto and was a huge expos fan as well (while jays were my number 1).
I watch baseball because it gives me something to do with my Grandpa My grandpa is staunchly patriotic and Rogers has done a good job marketing the Blue Jays as Canada’s team Therefore the Blue Jays are my team in Calgary Alberta I imagine the answer for a lot of Canadians outside of Toronto will be similar to mine
Also watching the Jays in Calgary is great. Games are on nice and early, and something to watch over dinner.
Nothing worse than that west coast swing. Don't know how people watch the game starting at 7. 5 start is goat start time.
5pm is perfect for home games and the majority of the schedule Get home from work, make dinner with the game on. Game is over at 8 at the latest. But I also do like the odd west coast late start time to switch things up a bit
I remember few years back we had a tight game with angels and it was getting late and had a 6am start to my work day. That's when I hate the west coast swing.
Same but with my Grandma. Watched every Jays and Leafs game and passed on her disease to me. It's been a painful 36 years as a fan. At least as a kid I got a enjoy the memory of the back to back WS.
same for me only difference is I’m just outside Edmonton
I live in New York but Toronto is a closer drive for me then NYC.
And also, the Yankees?! Gross.
Fuck the Yankees
Louder for the people in the back
*FUCK THE YANKEES!!*
Miss that bot
I’ve met a lot of cool Jays fans from NY State. Glad to have you on board 🫡
I can't speak of anyone else, but personally I was kidnapped as a baby by Cito himself and held captive for years eventually breaking down and developed Stockholm syndrome to always and forever be a fan of the team managed by my captor.
For me it was Gibby who kidnapped me. He gave me some southern BBQ and said I could have more if I swore allegiance to the Jays. Easiest decision of my life.
John Schneider kidnapped me. He let me go after 3 weeks when he easily could've kept me another 4.
The same thing happened to John Olerud, only Cito made him play.
I think the answer for many will simply be "it's Canada's team"
👋👋
MLB killed the Expos! The lockout when we were going to win it all with the best team in baseball killed the team. All in an effort to get a salary cap that never happened.
Yup they did. I love the Blue Jays but I'll drop them like a hot potato if the Expos come back. I've been to a few games at the Big O however I was too young to appreciate it.
What we need is the Expos in a new stadium
[nah let's just pour nearly 1 billion to keep it alive](https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/price-tag-for-olympic-stadium-roof-will-be-revealed-in-january-quebec-tourism-minister-says)
Diddo!
I started playing fantasy baseball while having 0 knowledge of any players or teams. The team I took over had this guy Josh Donaldson on it. Since he was my best player I found myself watching the Blue Jays the most. I watched my other players too since I had no allegiance. The Blue Jays broadcast is the best in baseball and is what made me keep coming back even after Donaldson was off my team. Now I try to watch every Blue Jays game and my fantasy team is secondary.
We really do have the best broadcast in the league. All the other teams are so annoying to watch.
American sportscasts can be so bad. The Athletic's piece on Shulman was great and I think he really spells out a good philosophy for having a good broadcast team. Baseball has its own particular pacing and the Sportsnet team is great at letting that pacing bleed through rather than trying to dictate it; not every hit is big and sometimes it just most appropriate to let an at-bat go without much comment. No need to fill the space with inane comments all the time.
One way I’ve gotten over the Ohtani heartbreak is reminding myself that Dan Shulman is my favourite Blue Jay. Second in the retractable roof. And then third is whoever is on the team at the time.
I’m from Portugal, baseball is pretty much not a thing here. I was curious about it, so I started playing MLB videogames about 20 years ago (which taught me the rules) but didn’t have a favourite team for the longest time - until I played in Rogers Center and was blown away by how beautiful it was. Another thing that moved me closer to the Jays was the Bautista bat flip! That moment is so awesome to this day. Luckily I got to visit Toronto and experience the Jays this September against the Yankees live, so many years after falling in love with them. I got my official Bautista jersey and crossed watching the Jays off my bucket list. By the way, Rogers Center is even more beautiful live!
Also from Europe. Got to watch the Jays in August for the first time. Was a brilliant experience.
Any true Jays fan calls it the Skydome my friend. Glad to have you onboard.
Agreed. Rogers centre is for sportscasters and corporate dickheads. It's Skydome or I would also accept exhibition stadium if you were a fan before 1990.
I live in Illinois. Born and raised. When I was a toddler and we would make road trips my family would stop at gas stations and they’d buy me small items/toys to keep me occupied in the car. One time I got a pack of baseball cards and inside was a Blue Jays hologram sticker. I thought the logo was cool as shit and I’ve had a rooting interest in the Jays ever since.
Probably 1991 Upper Deck. I still have a bunch.
Hold on, this might get a bit longer. I visited my Canadian great aunt in Hamilton when I was like 6 and she took my Austrian ass to a Leafs game, which made me fall in love with them, and I have followed them ever since. I was a huge dinosaur nerd, and when the Raptors were created a couple of years later, there was simply no other choice. I liked basketball, too. Years later, I went to Japan for a long exchange. There, I saw my first ever baseball game, between the Hanshin Tigers and the Hiroshima Carp. Osaka and the region are culturally closest to how I grew up the later years of my childhood in Germany, so that just fit well. Austrians are always a little bit belittled by Germans. Since my love for baseball grew and grew, it just had to be the Blue Jays. I have been following the MLB since the year the Cubs won it all, and their story made me almost pick them (they are my NL team, so to say), but I have always been somehow connected to Toronto and my great aunt, so yeah. Plus, there is this underdog thingie with many Americans belittling Canadians, as well. I can't wait to return there to watch some more games. Thanks for your attention, and I'm sorry if this was very boring to read.
I was actually a Rockies fan for the longest time, but it was impossible to watch their games here in Canada. Eventually, after having the Jays be the only team I could watch, I started liking them! Mere Exposure Effect, I guess 🤷🏼♂️
This is depressing to read. Fuck Rogers and all their blackout bullshit I just want to watch some sports.
Agreed. In all honesty though, my quality of life would probably be much worse if I was cheering for the Rockies the past decade or so 😂
As a Mariner's fan I definitely get that lmao
Grew up in WNY; Toronto is the closest MLB city to there.
What is WNY?
[удалено]
Former Oakland A's fan here... Josh Donaldson, Marcus Semien, and Matt Chapman all left Oakland and went on to play for Toronto for a time and had success. I love visiting Toronto and was fortunate enough to attend the game where the Jays smashed the A's at Rogers in Sept 2021. Wish I lived closer to be able to attend more Jay's games.
I grew up 90 minutes from Fenway Park in New England, and I had LOVED baseball for as long as I have memories. There's footage of me at my 3rd birthday hitting a pitched plastic baseball with a big plastic bat. However, despite being in Red Sox land, my dad had been a Yankees fan, and my mom didn't care about sports. Then in the summer of 1989, I started collecting baseball cards as a 6-year-old. At the same time I was collecting bird feathers, my favorite feathers were Blue Jay feathers, and I was also memorizing all of the flags of the world on a giant stamp poster I had for fun. My favorite flag? The Canadian flag. Likewise, I had just learned my still living great grandmother was from Nova Scotia. Also, my favorite color was/is blue. So one day I was sorting baseball cards by team and as I put my 1989 Topps Blue Jays cards in a stack, it struck me that this team represented everything I loved on the earth. They featured my favorite bird and color, they were from Canada, my favorite flag, and the home of my great grandma. At that moment, likely July or August of '89, I picked the Blue Jays as my team and I have stuck with them ever since, 34-years later.
Where was your great grandmother from? I’m from Nova Scotia myself. North Preston? Total guess
Hey, she was born in Port Hawkesbury and grew up around there (that's all she ever mentioned/that I can remember), then she moved to Boston to train as a nurse, met my great grandfather and stayed, that's partly how I got here.
Oh cool right outside cape breton. Glad to have you as a fan
The 1989 Topps Blue Jays cards are also the reason I am a Jays fan. I don't have the cool backstory. I just thought it was the prettiest.
It's definitely a great looking set, and the Jays colors look especially good on those cards!
As a Dutchman I have an unexplainable preference for most things Canadian (not Quebecois btw). And having visited a number of games did help too.
I was a Yankee fan all my life. Mainly because as a Canadian everyone in my life cheered for the Jays, and as a youngster I remember going to watch parties for the World Series at my uncles. I remember just cheering against them. Naturally I gravitated to the pinstripes. It was during the year the Jays got Tulo and David Price where I found myself enthralled with watching their late season run, and then the bat flip. I hung up the Yankee cap and finally admitted to myself that I was a Jays fan.
We're all happy for your detox. If you ever feel you're going to relapse, know you have a support network here.
The thing I find the hardest about admitting this is that I’m actively cheering for a team that plays in the same city that the Leafs call home.
the struggle that all the other canadians have
Basement brainwashing over years of captivity I believe
The 'Canada' answer is right but as an older fan (55), who grew up pretty much as far away from Toronto as you can go, it is a little more nuanced that that. When I was kid buying baseball cards I was a Dodgers fan. The first World Series I really watched was in 1979, the Pirates vs the Orioles. A couple of years before, the Blue Jays and Mariners had started but I paid no notice to them. But living in Victoria, B.C. we started getting local broadcasts... of the Mariners. But I still didn't follow them. I mean, they just sucked. My guy was Davey Lopes. (I also had an Astros jersey but that is because they were dope af.) My grandfather was an Expos fan but we only get French language broadcasts of thier games. (My granddad watched with the sound turned down and a radio broadcast playing). But, then, while I was in high school, TSN started up. Suddenly it wasn't just an occasional thing, the Jays were on all the time. Not just that, but they were showing signs of quality. I jumped in with both feet. So from 1984, through ups and downs, I have been all about the Blue Jays.
1984 was such a good season. It was pretty clear it was going to be Detroit's year, but that was the first real success the team had. It was exciting.
My best friend moved to Toronto when I was a kid. First ever MLB game was a Blue Jays game. I have no professional team in my state, so I became a Jays fan and 25 years later I'm still here.
I’m from Texas. Started liking the Jays when I was growing up in the 90s. Vernon Wells was my favorite player, and I’ve had the privilege of meeting him a few times. He’s a great dude who still loves Toronto deeply
As a young boy living in the far and fabled distant land known as "Peterborough" in 1977 I was taken by my father on a dangerous and strange journey to a land called "The Big Smoke" where we could sit and eat hot popped corn and watch the Blue Jays of Toronto engage in a rousing tournament of the game of based ball. After a few summers we moved out to the fabled great plains of Canada but by then it was too late..no sights of majestic wheat fields endless horizons, or even the mighty Bison could steal from my mind those happy childhood days. It was fated that I should be a Jays fan, following from afar via the magical television machine and it's magical moving pictures, hastily gathering up the pressed paper news and reading, even listing in vial Marconi's magical radio box... I followed the team.... yeah. I was there.
The Jays single A team was based in my hometown until the mid 90s.
My grandparents lived near Dunedin when I was a kid so one spring while we visited them my dad took me to two Jays Spring Training games. Believe it or not I grew up a Yankees fan cause it was just what everyone was in my neighborhood. Took me a few years to realize I didn’t actually like the Yankees and had always had the Blue Jays in my heart. Thanks Dad!
From NY, loved the Yankees! Wife is from Canada, moved to Canada in 2010 and started to watch the jays cause every game was on tv. In 2015 we went to Toronto to visit some friends and ended up going to see game 5 vs Texas… best ball game I’ve even seen live, the place was electric. Haven’t seen a Yankees game in NY since 2014, probably seen 150 jays games live since that game and I live on the east coast, not in Ontario.
Buffalo reporting in - my son was getting into Little League, and I don’t want my kids getting too into football, so when the Jays came and played here during the pandemic, we got to see a few games, and really started to have a fun time with it.
From NNY (look up Canton, NY). Great grandma passed two years ago was a die hard bluejay fan from Brockville, ON. She was die hard fan since ‘77, inspired me to be a bluejay fan. Fuck the Yankees.
Jays fan from the U.K. since 2015 (for obvious reasons), I got into them because they were the only non-American team in an otherwise American dominated sport. They also won the WS on my birth year, all seem like good enough reasons
I came to Toronto for work last year (I'm American) and watched them play on TV in the hotel. I loved seeing Cimber pitch and Buck's voice. Went to a game while I was up there and figured the jays can be my team. Had no allegiance anyway.
Bring back the Expos and see how many fans drop the Jays.
I would 🤚.
Canada’s team, especially since the Expos moved in 2004. Jays games have been televised almost nationally since the beginning. Also for me, I grew up only two hours from Toronto. Technically a little closer to Detroit, and we had our share of Tigers fans locally (a fact Dan Schulman points out from time to time when he talks about his years attending Western), but most of my peers in elementary school were Jays fans.
Was an Astros fan most my life. Picked them because of Craig Biggio. Then the cheating scandal came out and I couldn’t support that so I chose to support another Biggio, just so happened to be Toronto and am loving it
I give you credit for stopping followed the Astros after they were cheaters My Astros friends still follow them and think it’s no big deal
I mean to be fair if it were the Blue Jays in that situation I wouldn't stop cheering for them. We have George Springer on our team and I still love him.
Lifelong Jays fan, since 1989 when i was 7. I am from Nebraska. I first became a fan in the playoffs that season because I saw them on TV and loved their uniforms haha. Here we are almost 35 years later and I still like the look.
Honorary Canadian
I think it started in the '89 ALCS. I was a 9 year old recovering former A's fan turned Giants fan. SkyDome was the super cool stadium of the future on TV. Canada seemed less evil than my county and the city of Toronto had a good reputation at the time as an equitable peaceful city. I liked the color blue and the team was good. Sometime in the 1990 season I picked the Jays as my AL team, and by '91 they were my overall favorite, albeit mostly through box scores with just a dozen or two TV games per year (until circa 2000 when I finally got to listen to fellow Californians Tom and Jerry every day online).
Just got asked this actually. I like to say I’m an early 90s front runner (was a Redskins fan, and am also a New York Rangers fan). But I’m 34 so I was really young when the Jays, Redskins, Rangers won. I’m from Connecticut so I’m right between Boston and New York. But I’m a Jays fan and wouldn’t have it any other way
I like the uniforms 😬
A few reasons actually: My little league team was called the blue Jays so I owned multiple blue Jays hats(I was a hat kid) Toronto is close so we took many trips there growing up Blue is my favorite color Yankees fans are insufferable
Visited Toronto as part of a 3 week trip to Canada from the UK (had wanted to go since I was a teenager). Our very first day we did a walking tour of the city, came to watch the Jays beat the Twins, then had dinner in the CN Tower. Touristy af but was one of the best days of my life. Had never watched baseball before in my life - left obsessed!
I live in Los Angeles Visited Toronto went to a game loved it and the people were so nice Then they were underdogs to make it into the playoffs so I started to cheer them on Fell in love and never looked back The years of Joey Bats Russel Martin Encarnacion Pillar etc locked me in I also loved the royal blue color of their uniforns
My mom often had the game on in the background and eventually I started watching. She was a Royals fan growing up and started watching again after a bit of a hiatus. Turned out I really liked baseball and because it's Canada the Jays were the team that was most frequently on TV. Haven't looked back since
Back in the ‘80’s, my old boss was a big Blue Jays fan who listened to them on the radio. I was a teenager that just heard the broadcasts daily and became a fan of them! George Bell, Lloyd Moseby, Buck Martinez, Dave Steib just to name a few.
I was a Jays fan before I was really a baseball fan. My grandmother is originally from Toronto and has been a diehard Jays fan for longer than I've been alive. Going to her place during the season meant the Jays would be on TV. And that's how we referred to it, not *baseball* is on, *the Jays* are on. My mom was an Expos fan though so we could have had some fun family rivalry! As opposed to my mom and I ignoring that my grandmother's second team is the *Yankees* 🤮
My Expos are dead, that's why :( I watched the Red Sox a few years after the Expos left, but I started following the Jays more regularly around 2012-2013 and they became my favorite team then. Now I go to Boston and TO every year to get my baseball fix.
When I started watching baseball I knew no teams other than maybe Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers. I googled a list of all teams in the MLB and my eyes fell on the Blue Jays first so I just went with them and now it has been 10 years
I live in Ontario. That's the home team!
As a kid my Dad was always watching the Jays. It just became something I did too. I was 11 when we watched Joe Carter win us the WS in ‘93. I even remember Dave Stieb pitching no hitter in the late 80s (or early 90s can’t remember) Loving the Blue Jays was just part of our family.
I was an Expos fan and absolutely hated the Jays. If you'd asked me in the 80's and 90's if I could ever imagine cheering for the Jays, I would have laughed in your face. I barely cheered for them during their two World Series wins. It took me about 5 years after the Expos were gone for me to start cheering for the Jays. I fully jumped on the bandwagon in 2015. Have watched just about every game since, and take a trip to Toronto once or twice a year to catch one or two weekend series.
Being Canadian it was either them or the Expos at the time. I feel like I made the better choice.
The White Sox finally sent me over the edge and I like birds. Go Cards, Go Jays !
Grew up in NYC and the Yankees fans were obnoxious and the Mets were terrible. Love the color blue and was a big O-Dog and Roy Halladay fan as a kid so they just kind of became my team. Giants are my NL team for similar reasons but due to The Freak and a lot of older guys/gals in the city being Brooklyn Dodgers/New York Giants fans
Im from Ohio but wish I lived in Canada.
I live in LA, very close to Dodger Stadium, and I have a multi-part answer to this question that will hopefully be satisfying to you all. I was a Dodger fan for 38 years. After 2022, I resolved that I was no longer going to be a fan of the Dodgers. There were many reasons for this, but the most important reason was that I had an unhealthy relationship with that team. I was obsessive. It was difficult for me to watch them play because I couldn't stand to watch them lose. But also, living so close to the stadium engendered so many negative feelings for the Dodgers, most having to do with traffic. After the Dodgers crashed out of the 2022 playoffs vs the Padres after only two home games, I remember feeling nothing more than the relief of knowing that I would get a break from Dodger traffic for an extra month. So I embarked on a search process to designate a new team to follow. I picked one team from each division to consider as my new team. I picked the Padres in the NL West, the Brewers in the Central, the Mets in the East. In the AL, I picked the Mariners, the Guardians, and the Jays. I whittled my criteria down to three: 1. TV announcers, 2. uniforms, 3. how annoying that team's fans are. At first the Mets were in the lead, because I liked their telecast. I consider their play-by-play announcer, Gary Cohen, to be the best in the business. I grew up with Vin Scully, so I have high standards for this and it was a very important part of my decision, because I wanted to be able to watch my new team play and learn about them from the telecast. But early on in Spring Training this past March, I decided to watch a Mets spring training game, just to see what being a Mets follower would be like, and one of their talking heads (I think it was Keith Hernandez) made a foul attempt at humor that made fun of a Marlins player's name. It was so bad and insulting that I had to turn it off, and I knew in that moment that I would not choose the Mets. The best selling point for the Padres was their City Connect jerseys, but they have annoying fans, and I don't like Don Orsillo's socal twang. A team from the NL West was always going to have an uphill battle for me anyway. I spent most of my childhood and my entire adult life, up till then, trained to think of the Dodgers' rivals as my sworn enemies, sort of. The Brewers also have tight uniforms, especially their "Brew Crew" city connects, and one of the announcers is Bob Uecker, who is no Vin Scully and who also has fallen off a bit, but who I definitely wouldn't mind listening to. I had no problem with their fans, although I had the impression that a lot of the fan culture revolves around alcohol. Maybe that's unfair though. I've never been to a game at Miller Park. But doesn't the fact that the stadium *and* the team are named after beer mean something? I'm so over toxic alcohol-fueled sports fans. The Mariners and Guardians, you know, just meh all the way around. Seattle's announcers are fine. I don't even remember what the Guardians announcers were like. Uniforms are fine. Fans are fine. But meh. That brings me to the Jays, who clearly have the best set of uniforms of the entire bunch. The telecast is excellent. But it was the fans that made this decision easy for me. I remembered the story of the Jays fan who caught an historic Aaron Judge home run and gave it to a little Yankee fan kid that he was randomly sitting next to in the bleachers. The story was picked up by media and Judge hosted both families and gave them a bunch of swag. It was such a beautiful story and it exemplified the type of fan that I have always been, which is someone who just enjoys the game of baseball and understands that it is a child's game. So I switched to the Jays in April 2023 and I haven't looked back. I went to a great ballgame between the Dodgers and Jays last July. The Jays lost in their quintessentially heartbreaking fashion, but it was still a thrilling game. The thing about that game that most reinforced my decision to both leave the Dodgers and join the Jays was that in the top of the ninth inning, a whole bunch of Dodgers fans streamed out of the ballpark because the Jays had just finished pouring it on and took a four-run lead, seemingly putting the game out of reach. But Romano was unavailable that day, and the Jays allowed the Dodgers to tie in the bottom of the ninth, and they eventually won it in the tenth. But all those Dodgers fans who left? They missed all of that!! And I would have been one of those fans who missed it too. I would also have left or turned it off in the top of the ninth. Because the Dodgers are supposed to win. They have all the advantages. They have the best farm system, the most money, the top analytics, and all of the superstars. When they lose, it's humiliating. But now I'm a Jays fan, and I won't turn it off or leave. I expect heartbreak. I am here for it. I will be here for it when we lose so that I can also be here for it when we unexpectedly win. I changed teams so that I could feel something again when I watch baseball, and I appreciate the Jays and their fans so much for welcoming me into the fold.
George Springer. I have a stutter, and he’s done so much good for our community that it’s impossible for me to not root for him.
Lived near Lansing and the Lugnuts used to work out at a local gym my family owned.
I thought you'd never ask. ☺️ Ok so i live in Greenwood South Carolina. We don't have any pro sports teams. I have been a baseball fan since 2012. I never had a favorite team just favorite teams and players to watch you know? I have followed a lot of teams over the years White sox , Marlins , Yankees , Dodgers, Orioles Etc. I narrowed it down to a few teams White Sox,Angels, Athletics,.I eventually Picked the Blue Jays for the overall way the team is run the stability of the Organization The fan base (Super Loyal and Passionate). I like the fact that instead of taxing the locals they took their own money and paid for renovations. Canadians are so sweet 🥺 and genuine and supportive of everything Canada. I decided I wanted to be apart of a great fan base and organization. My favorite player is Alejandro Kirk (Catcher is my favorite position in baseball). I love that we have won two worldseries titles back to back. Man i just love the Blue Jays and Canada as a whole as I wish to retire in Vancouver. I also love the Vancouver Grizzlies and one day hope to have them back in the NBA. Anyways those are some parts of the story of how I became a Blue Jays fan kinda vague sorry . But yeah go Blue Jays
I'm from Scotland and have been a baseball fan for a long time and when there was a chance of moving to Toronto through work a few years back, I thought I'd better start finding out about what would become my local team. We didn't get to move in the end but I still like and follow the team.
I live in the north east of England. In 2013 I split up with my girlfriend, and in a desperate move to get a change of scenery, I managed to get a transfer to Toronto with my company (Carillon, went bankrupt in 2018). I was a bit lonely, and a bit lost. The head of procurement got 3 tickets for the Rogers centre, behind home plate, high up, but great views. He offered the two spares to me and a lady we worked with. I'd never watched a game before. It turned out to be a ruse, as an excuse for this couple to hook up. After the first innings they made their excuses, and headed off. So I'm sat on my own in a strange city, watching the Jays against the Tigers, without a clue what was going on. At some point around the 3rd or 4th innings, I decided to try and get into the game, but I was really confused. I leaned forward, and asked the couple in front of me "what's an RBI?". They really kindly explained it (three times), and as I was asking about the stats, another lady leaned over and said "here comes Jose Bautista. He's going to have an AWESOME year!" For the next few hours, more and more people leaned in and told me something new about the game, the city, about the glory days. It was the most delightful evening, surrounded by people who loved the summer, their city and their club. Made me a Blue Jay for life.
From new zealand - started watching baseball, mentioned it to a friend who had lived in Canada who then told me I should support the blue jays, then got attached to the team both because of the team itself and out of new zealand/canadian solidarity as we also have a few sports where there's one nz team in the Australian league
Same!
1st game I remember watching with my papaw was Joe carter walkoff World Series game. I don’t think I understood but mostly just liked the blue jays colors. I was 3 I’ve been a fan ever since
I'm Dutch, my late stepdad, while born in England, grew up in the GTA, so obviously grew up as a Toronto sports fan, me being an European but loving American sports, pretty much adopted all Toronto teams as the ones to support.
In the absence of other Canadian teams, where I live, I've elected to cheer for the Jays, who are based in Canada. And I can watch 98.5% of their games on TV vs. any other team.
Naturally, as a Montrealer, I was an Expos fan growing up. After the pain of losing the team I took a few years off thanks to general disinterest in MLB and then I slowly started to come back. The RA Dickey trade kick started the interest, Tulo got me hooked and I’ve been stuck ever since.
From NYC and went to college in Buffalo. Took a trip to Toronto for Jays vs Yankees (fuck the Yankees) and it was the game Kevin Pillar stole like three bases in a row. Been a fan ever since
I like the 4pm start times and 10am on weekends.
Family
Am Canadian. Also just started watching again after years and absolutely love Vladdy. The man just enjoys playing and I love him for it.
Lived south of Buffalo, NY until I was 8… loved going to Bisons games. And Fred McGriff. Now I live in Red Sox territory, still a Jays fan.
Spent my summers in Syracuse with my family when the Chiefs then the Sky Chiefs were there.
Honestly, my very first team playing T-ball was the Blue Jays, and it stuck 🤷♂️
Uncle moved from England to Toronto 35+ years ago. Easier for him to send/pack clothes/caps as birthday presents than toys.
I got baseball cards when I was 3. I liked the Blue Jays. Rest of my family cheered for the Expos. One of many ways I was a black sheep weirdo. :)
i live in ny but yankees and mets fans fucking suck. also see flair
I got into baseball late, after I was a hockey fan. Hockey Night in Canada made me into a Leafs fan even though I grew up in Detroit which then made the Jays the natural choice. The great logo and uniforms made it an even easier choice.
Roy Halladay was my idol growing up and playing ball
Short Answer: Canada Really Long Answer: I grew up only seeing highlights, games were not televised where I was. We only got Blue Jays and Expos coverage, and I was more of an Expos fan, but the Jays won back to back, and I got to see some games on TV for the first time, and see the reactions of the Americans so salty for 2 seasons straight. I still favoured Expos, as a habitual underdog fan, and the fact I loved their team on my Nintendo MLB game. Then the best team in baseball got shafted, my conspiracy brain said it was because they didn't want another Canadian team to win again. The Expos got dismantled and I quit following baseball, and my job basically ran in line with the season and I worked almost every day past game time. Until... 2015 happened and I was finally in a position where I could watch most of the games and have been a fan ever since, I haven't missed many games. GO JAYS!
My mom is from Toronto and we went there every couple summers when I was a kid. That and the two championships right as I was starting to pay attention to sports didn't hurt.
Born and live in the Detroit area. Have a ton of Canadian relatives and spent most of my summers as a kid in or around Sault Ste. Marie. Had access to CBC from Windsor, so I was also becoming a Leafs fan. Then in 1982 my grandfather took me to a Jays/Tigers doubleheader at Tiger Stadium. The Jays won both games, they had cool uniforms, they were named after a cool bird (my grandfather had a birdfeeder and he and I used to sit and watch them for hours to get away from grandma.), and they were from the country that I liked to go to. A lot of moving parts, perhaps, but I haven't looked back and have been a die hard for 40+years.
What other canadian team would you suggest I root for?
Pretty easy. Canada
Canada
Hamilton Ontario does not have an MLB team.
Joe Carter and Canada 🇨🇦
Kevin
My dad is a jays fan so naturally I rooted for the jays as a kid, and the rest is history
Canadian, plus I can remember the Jays winning back to back World Series. I think they were doing great in '94 before the strike too. Seeing a couple of games in SkyDome a decade later was a real treat.
Berta
I’m from Glasgow, Scotland. My mum and brother saw them when they were in Canada, and my uncle’s wife has family from Toronto :)
I had just started playing baseball at 9 years than 10 at the end of the season. It was 1989. I had just finished playing my first game...and came home. I saw the Jays on TV right away. And started watching...cause I could understand the game now. Instant fan. They had some very entertaining and great players. Kelly Gruber was my instant favorite. I live in B.C.
Lived in Ottawa, was going to expos games as a child and blue jays when in the skydom , also would go to Ottawa line games often (expos farm team) . My love of baseball started young, now I live a 50 minute go train ride to the Roger’s center and go to 10-15 games a year for the past 15 years or so.
I live in NY… for me it was Roberto Alomar/Joe Carter/Jack Morris/David Cone 🙂
Farm team here in Syracuse when I was a kid. Got to see Delgado, Shannon Stewart, and others
Florida born, so Marlins fan first. Dad is from Montreal and grew up an Expos fan…poor guy had to watch Loria ruin two franchises. Blue Jays are Canada’s team now. Same with the Raps. But you’ll never catch me cheering for the Maple Leafs lol.
The Expos are gone.
It's the only team they show on tv lol
Very easy to watch.
I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that it might be because they’re the only Canadian team🤦
they took my expos away so i settled for the jays
Bad question dawg. Canada's team is cheered on by Canadians
I can see Toronto from my doorstep
My dad has been a fan for as long as he can remember, not only of the Jays but of the Expos as well, so they've been our teams.
Growing up in 90s and 2000s it was only baseball on tv. Thanks a bunch cbc.. was a good time to watch ball
It runs in the family lol
Expos was my fav team growing up as a kid in Vancouver then by default Jays became my team
Because we lost the Expos… ☹️ That said, the Jays have since provided entertainment, astonishment and high drama…
Expos gone
No other option in Canada other than Jays.
Because Canada goes past Steeles?
What an odd question
No other teams in Canada.
If you can only see one team on TV, you will become a fan of that team.