In modern Major League Baseball, only one Canadian team takes part in the action. That’s the Toronto Blue Jays, who step up to the plate against 29 American teams every year to represent Canada and their scores of fans. Below you can learn all about the Blue Jays and Canada’s impact on baseball, including an American team that originated in Montreal.
Founding of the Toronto Blue Jays
Competing in the American League in its East division, the Toronto Blue Jays were introduced to MLB during the great 1977 expansion. The MLB expanded to the faraway reaches of Seattle and Toronto, resulting in the Seattle Mariners and the Blue Jays. When the Blue Jays joined, they were the 26th team to enter the MLB.
Toronto’s history with baseball goes back almost a hundred years before the Blue Jays’ creation. The city made its first pro baseball team in 1885 and they were responsible for one of Canada’s first stadiums – Sunlight Park – which was made entirely from wood and doesn’t exist anymore. Then came the Toronto Maple Leafs, a minor league club that played between 1896 and 1967, and predated today’s Maple Leafs hockey team by 21 years. They were very successful, even when compared to teams in the MLB.
Seeing this strong interest, the MLB and Toronto officials collaborated to acquire and relocate the San Francisco Giants. That didn’t work out as planned when California blocked the purchase. A protracted season of voting and negotiations ended when the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and the Labatt Brewing Company formed an ownership group, buying the franchise for CA$7 million – about CA$33 million today.
The expansion quickly became political when Gerald Ford, US President at the time, told the MLB organizers that Washington D.C. deserved a team before Toronto. Both halves of the league denied his request and by 1976, first members Paul Beeston and Peter Bavasi had been hired.
The Toronto Blue Jays Record
The Blue Jays started their MLB career in a characteristically Canadian way, on April 7th, 1977, when a minor snowstorm buffeted the team. The Blue Jays won against the Chicago White Sox. After a poor performance in the rest of the season, Bavasi stepped down and Pat Gillick was subbed in as general manager.
Their first AL East title would come in the Drive of ’85, then two more in ’89 and ’91. This building momentum finally culminated in their first World Series title in ‘92. The Blue Jays had sourced some talent from their southern neighbors – World Series MVP pitcher Jack Morris and hitter Dave Winfield. They were the first team in nearly 50 years to complete a season without getting swept and then beat the American League Championship Series – a game against the Oakland Athletics that’s widely considered their biggest, where they came back from 1-6 for a 7-6 final score.
They beat the Atlanta Braves in the World Series, then made it a double by seeing off the New York Yankees in the ACLS and the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series. The ’93 World Series solidified the Blue Jays’ reputation as comeback kings when they came back from 9-14, beating the Phillies at 15-14 in the highest-scoring game ever played in the World Series. These remain the only World Series titles that the Blue Jays have won, though they secured a record in baseball history that still hasn’t been broken today.
The Blue Jays wouldn’t take any significant titles until 2015, when they beat the AL East division again. Since then, they have been going strong as contenders in the MLB from their home stadium at the Rogers Centre. During 2020 and 2021, they temporarily hosted home games out of Buffalo, New York, but made a full return to their Toronto home in 2022.
Many Canadians support the Blue Jays as the only Canadian representation in the MLB, by showing up in droves to their events and betting on their success.
The First Canadian MLB Team
While the Blue Jays are the most prominent Canadian team in the MLB, they weren’t the first. That honor lies with Montreal and the Montreal Expos. While the Blue Jays were founded in the American League, the National League East division welcomed the Expos in 1969. Named after the 1967 Universal Exposition World Fair, they were housed at Jarry Park Stadium and then Olympic Stadium.
Unlike the Blue Jays, they never found their stride. After ten straight seasons of loss, they won their first and only NL East title in ’81. The Expos played from Montreal for 36 years and in that time, they posted a record of 2,753 wins against 2,943 losses.
After a prolonged decline, the Expos were moved to Washington D.C. in 2004, becoming the third iteration of the Washington Nationals and finally giving the American capital modern MLB representation. Their inaugural season in 2005 ended with a .500 81-81 record.
They found more success in the US than they ever had in Canada, winning NL East titles in 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2017. Then, in 2019, they earned their first World Series title by becoming a wild card and battling their way to the Houston Astros. Despite having home-field advantage, the Nationals beat the Astros at 4-3.
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