"So it's root, root, root for the best team. If they don't win, it's a shame."
You knew Don Cherry would put his spin on the time-honoured classic Take Me Out to the Ball Game in the 7th-inning stretch at Wrigley Field Saturday afternoon. Cherry getting a chance to sing was part of the Toronto Blue Jays second-ever trip to the Chicago Cubs heralded legendary ballpark.
The Blue Jays only previous appearance to the north side of Chicago was 2005, the first year after the Expos were moved from Montréal.
Even if you are a casual MLB fan, you might wonder why a second Blue Jays trip to the Windy City in 2017 was such a big deal:
- The teams almost played in the 2016 World Series. The Blue Jays were eliminated by Cleveland, the Cubs opponent in the World Series.
- The Blue Jays fans travel well and an opportunity to see their teams in the 100+ year old ballpark was too good to pass up.
- The Chicago Air and Water Show was going on around the ballpark, giving fans a spectacular visual above and beyond the baseball.
MLB Network carried the Friday and Saturday games. WGN showed the Sunday game back to Canada. Rogers Sportsnet carried the games nationwide in Canada and showed Cherry doing the 7th-inning stretch.
"Let's Go Blue Jays" was a frequent chant during the weekend games. I attended Sunday's games and heard several very loud chants in favour of the Blue Jays in the Chicago park.
"[The Blue Jays fans] got caught up in the atmosphere at Wrigley, and they got loud," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said after Friday's game.
Blue Jays fans were all over the North Side in full regalia. They didn't all came from Toronto. I talked with a group that had a very long car ride from Calgary.
Cherry visited the Cubs TV booth in the top of the 7th inning. Cubs play-by-play guy Len Kasper grew up in Michigan and mentioned watching Hockey Night in Canada on Channel 9 in Windsor. Cubs TV colour analyst Jim Deshaies grew up in New York state near Montréal.
They talked about Cherry's love for minor hockey, meeting fans who drove in from Winnipeg: a "4-5 day road trip" away in his words, and how his hockey career was ruined by a baseball injury.
Cherry had made one other significant visit to Wrigley Field. The stadium held the 2009 Winter Classic with the Hawks and the Detroit Red Wings. Cherry did say "Thank you, Chicago, and go Hawks" at the end of the 7th-inning stretch.
If you missed the Don Cherry version of Take Me Out to the Ball Game, you can click here for the version that aired on Sportsnet.
Friday's 7th-inning stretch was provided by actress Elisabeth Moss, star of the latest adaptation of The Handmaid's Tale from the Margaret Atwood novel.
While the Blue Jays fans loved Wrigley Field, the Blue Jays themselves had their struggles. Friday's loss came after the Blue Jays scored 3 runs in the 8th inning to cut the Cubs deficit to 5-4. Chicago won Friday 7-4. Saturday featured a better effort from the visiting team but the Blue Jays came up short 4-3. Toronto took a 5-3 lead in the 10th inning but Roberto Osuna blew that lead and the Cubs won 6-5 in 10 innings.
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Saying that the Blue Jays are 5 games out of a wild card spot is one of those glorious truths that is not so meaningful. The Blue Jays are 12th in the league with 5 playoff spots at stake. Toronto started the weekend 3 games out.
Most of the Blue Jays players had little experience at Wrigley Field. Kevin Pillar discovered the "joys" of the ivy-covered brick wall with a great catch in Sunday's game. Darwin Barney won a Gold Glove with the Cubs but had been back to the ballpark with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Miguel Montero started the year with the Cubs and was traded after comments he made about Jake Arrieta's ability to hold runners. Montero was greeted with some boos by the Wrigley Field faithful; he did hit the Blue Jays only home run of the series on Sunday.
Manager John Gibbons had to mix things up to stir up the offence and manage under National League rules. Jose Bautista filled in at 3rd base and even started there on Sunday, as he does every so often. The surprise came with Josh Donaldson making a rare relief appearance at shortstop Friday. Donaldson made his first MLB start at shortstop on Sunday.
The Chicago Cubs last trip to Toronto was in 2014 where the Blue Jays blew out the Cubs in a sweep at Rogers Centre. As we noted back then, the Cubs announcers had a lot of time to fill and talked about Canada, including Deshaies' considerable CFL knowledge.
In this trip, we got some Canadian baseball highlights, including Babe Ruth's first professional home run that he hit in Toronto. That was back in 1914, the first year of Wrigley Field. The Cubs didn't play in Wrigley Field until 1916.
Kasper and Deshaies also played a game of "which Canadians had played for the Chicago Cubs." Ferguson Jenkins has the most wins of any pitcher from Canada. Ryan Dempster is a distant second. Both played for the Cubs. They also mentioned Matt Stairs and lefty reliever Steve Wilson. Other Canadian players mentioned who did not play for the Cubs were Larry Walker, John Hiller, and Terry Puhl.
One Toronto team did just fine in the Chicago area this weekend. On Saturday, you could have seen the Blue Jays in the afternoon and the Toronto FC Reds in the nighttime in suburban Bridgeview.
The Chicago Fire have been hot at home this season, but the Reds scored 3 goals, as many as Chicago had given surrendered in the previous 9 home games. The final was 3-1 for the Reds, only the second win for Toronto FC in the last 13 contests in the Chicago area.
Toronto FC leads all of MLS with 50 points.
photos credit: MLB/Cubs/WLS-TV Chicago/Comcast Sportsnet Chicago
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