Canadian Crossing

2024 Toronto Blue Jays season comes to an end

Today, Danny Jansen will become the first player in MLB history to play for both teams in the same game when the Blue Jays and Red Sox resume their suspended clash. 🤯

The game was suspended during his at-bat, meaning he will catch against his own pinch-hitter. pic.twitter.com/omuRfq4YQD

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) August 26, 2024

Last year around this time, we were contemplating whether this current Toronto Blue Jays core would win a playoff series or even a game in Minnesota. They didn't. The 2024 squad got off to a terrible start and managed to be slightly better after the trade deadline.

The 2024 Toronto Blue Jays finished last in the American League East with a 74-88 record, 20 games behind the division winner New York Yankees. The team finished 39-42 at Rogers Centre and 35-46 on the road.

2023 Toronto Blue Jays go down in 2 straight to Minnesota

Bowden Francis was the hero in the second half of the season for the Toronto Blue Jays. I happened to see Francis throw a shutout at Wrigley Field, Toronto's only win against the Cubs (the Blue Jays went 5-1 against the White Sox, the only loss coming in Toronto).

The future is here for the Blue Jays with such players as Davis Schneider, Spencer Horwitz, Addison Barger, Leo Jimenez, Nathan Lukes, Ernie Clement, Joey Loperfido and Will Wagner (via Houston), Jonatan Clase, Luis De Los Santos, and Steward Berroa. Orelvis Martínez will be part of the mix in 2025 after serving an 80-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs.

The veteran core of George Springer, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Alejandro Kirk, and Daulton Varsho helped out the rookies. Where would the Blue Jays be without the tremendous second half by Guerrero. Imagine if they had a Teoscar Hernandez type hitter hitting behind Guerrero?

It’s a bummer the Blue Jays have struggled this year because this Vladdy season feels like it’s flying under the radar and it absolutely shouldn’t be pic.twitter.com/A4Vd3gc3Ve

— MLB Deadline News (@MLBDeadlineNews) September 25, 2024

Bo Bichette was injured for most of the second half. This gave more at bats to the youngsters. Bichette and Guerrero are free agents at the end of the 2025 season.

Joey Votto, who only got to play for the Blue Jays in spring training, retired in a parking lot in Buffalo. Kevin Kiermaier, only 34, is choosing to retire at the end of the 2024 season. Kiermaier was put on waivers and then went to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Cavan Biggio bounced around from Los Angeles, San Francisco, and then Atlanta.

The bullpen suffered a lot of injuries. A healthier and more productive bullpen is one of the many needs of this team.

Varsho will have a rough off-season after rotator cuff surgery. Wagner had left knee surgery.

With their loss on Saturday, the #BlueJays are now 500-500 over their last 1,000 regular season games. pic.twitter.com/CvF3lNwhOF

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) September 28, 2024

The 2023 off-season was seen as lackluster by fans who aren't happy with the Mark Shapiro/Ross Atkins team. Shohei Ohtani was an unlikely Plan A and there was a quarter-hearted Plan B involving veterans such as Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Daniel Vogelbach.

Where does manager John Schneider fit in (or out) with this?

The 2024 off-season requires asking what kind of team are the Toronto Blue Jays? Near contenders who need a few more steps to make the playoffs? A team with some star players, who may or may not stay, destined to finish last for the next 2 seasons? The tough AL East Division isn't going away.

Alejandro Kirk threw out three baserunners tonight & has now prevented as many stolen base attempts (27) as he did in 2022 & 2023 combined.

“He's been unbelievable."https://t.co/P2JBdbM3H8

— Ben Nicholson-Smith (@bnicholsonsmith) September 24, 2024

The Toronto Blue Jays had a good dilemma: too many good catchers. They had Kirk, Danny Jansen, and catcher prospect Gabriel Moreno. Well, Moreno went to Arizona with Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in the Daulton Varsho trade on December 22, 2022. Jansen went to Boston in a minor trade. Kirk did improve with a more significant workload.

The Blue Jays in recent days flipped backup catchers, reacquiring Tyler Heineman and demoting Brian Serven.

Guerrero has talked about playing more third base in 2025. That can open up the diamond, perhaps to acquire a 1B/DH type of hitter.

Rogers Centre has been redesigned for more home runs yet the opposition is taking more advantage than the Blue Jays hitters.

2024 Toronto Blue Jays second half preview

Rogers Centre renovations help but Canada still needs a really good baseball stadium

RECORD-BREAKING 🌭 #BlueJays fans ate a WHOPPING 727,819 Loonie Dogs this season 🤯 pic.twitter.com/qLL0GibFZ1

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) September 25, 2024

2024 Toronto Blue Jays preview

2024 Toronto Blue Jays spring training schedule

Joey Votto saw just a single pitch as a member of the Blue Jays - he hit it out of the park, rounded the bases, then injured his ankle after tripping in the dugout. Never made it back to the bigs, but what a way to go.

(He also ended his Reds career by getting ejected) pic.twitter.com/61g4gazLDw

— SportsLogos.Net (@sportslogosnet) August 21, 2024

Joey Votto should be the third Canadian to make the Baseball Hall of Fame, behind Ferguson Jenkins and Larry Walker. We don't anticipate Votto going in on the first ballot yet he was a top player of his time.

The 2010 National League MVP winner had a career .409 OBP. Votto never played in a World Series with Cincinnati and that may hurt his chances.

Happy retirement to one of the best Canadians to ever play MLB.

Canadian MLB players to watch for in 2024 (TSN)

Oakland ❤️ pic.twitter.com/O6UCtpOrp1

— Montreal Expos (@Montreal_Expos) September 26, 2024

There is a bit of Les Expos de Montréal in the Oakland A's saga. The A's moved from Kansas City to Oakland before the 1968 season. The Montréal Expos started in 1969 instead of 1971 thanks to U.S. Senator Stuart Symington (D-Missouri). Sen. Symington pressured Major League Baseball to move up the timeline to bring baseball back to Kansas City after the loss of the A's.

This fed into Milwaukee's MLB journey after losing its National League team after the 1965 season (moved to Atlanta). Bud Selig brought the Seattle Pilots to Milwaukee. Selig's leadership is part of why the Montréal Expos ceased to be a MLB team.

The Oskland A's had 20 more years than the Expos in Montréal almost to the day. The final Montréal Expos home game at Olympic Stadium was September 29, 2004; the final Oakland A's home game was September 26, 2024. Both teams ended their season on the road: Oakland in Seattle and the Expos at Shea Stadium in New York City.

Both teams had terrible ownership: Jeffrey Loria for Montréal and John Fisher for Oakland. Both had great plans for a future stadium: Labatt's Park in downtown Montréal and the Howard Terminal Project in downtown Oakland.

Both teams have struggled with radio deals: We unfortunately remember when Loria was too cheap to get an English language radio deals in 2000, resorting to putting the English radio coverage on Expos.com in 2000.

Both cities are major league cities that will be without baseball. Both teams' fan bases deserved so much better from ownership during and after the disastrous decisions.

Fisher's move to Sacramento is about keeping the TV money from NBC Sports California. So Oakland area cable subscribers can still watch the team if they choose to do so. That is an unique kind of pain.

MLB should have had a spine in both cases. Dealing with rich men requires spines yet none were found in either case.

We do note with irony that the other Bay Area team — the San Francisco Giants — almost moved to Toronto before the start of the 1976 season. The Toronto Giants felt like a real possibility but the National League owners showed some spines and didn't approve the deal. Toronto got an expansion franchise to start the 1977 season. 

The move would have put the Montréal Expos and Toronto Giants in the National League, which would have changed the dynamic of baseball in Canada. The Expos and Blue Jays had exhibitions from 1978-1986 (not 1981 due to the MLB strike) and played regular season games in 2003-2004. The games went under the banner of the Pearson Cup. after former Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson.

CanadianCrossing.com MLB coverage

We hope for a positive, inspirational off-season for the Toronto Blue Jays. We also have a request to the Blue Jays and MLB: we know it's not realistic for the Toronto Blue Jays to play in Montréal, given the construction of a new roof at Stade Olympique, home of Les Expos. We want to see MLB in Montréal as soon as that can happen. Merci.

Twitter captures: @Sportsnet; @MLBDeadlineNews; @SNstats; @bnicholsonsmith; @BlueJays; @sportslogosnet; @Montreal_Expos
photo credit: @Sportsnet

2024 Toronto Blue Jays second half preview

‼️Rehab Announcement‼️

Six-time All-Star Joey Votto is set to join our lineup for today’s game.

Votto, on rehab from AAA-Buffalo, is scheduled to bat second and play first base. pic.twitter.com/d3bFbiGLq8

— Dunedin Blue Jays (@DunedinBlueJays) June 19, 2024

Not even Joey Votto can save the 2024 Toronto Blue Jays. You could make a Canadian film similar to The Natural where Joey Votto gets healthy and hot, leading the 2024 Toronto Blue Jays to the MLB playoffs and beyond.

Sports fans love a miracle story yet the Blue Jays need more than a miracle. The questions centre around whether the Blue Jays will be sellers at the trade deadline on July 30.

George Springer was in such a funk that John Schneider finally had to take him out of the leadoff spot. Schneider waiting so long before moving around the lineup. The frustration of the few players who did well being immediately taken out of the lineup. The injuries to the pitching staff. How Yariel Rodriguez felt like a luxury the team didn't need yet was needed yet didn't perform well when needed.

How Isiah Kiner-Falefa became the negative symbol of the team's poor start yet was highly valuable when he went down to injury.

Being excited to see Alek Manoah pitch live in person in Chicago yet being there for what is likely the last pitch he will throw for Toronto in 2024.

The fans have frustration at John Schneider's decision making, such as Spencer Horwitz having a good day against a tough lefty and then sitting against other lefties.

The cruelty of the changes in the outfield at Rogers Centre is that the opponents are hitting more home runs and the Blue Jays can't match them. When they do hit a home run, they seem to be mostly solo HRs.

The 2024 Toronto Blue Jays go into the All-Star Game break at 44-52 in last place, 14 games out of first place. The team has a 21-24 home record at Rogers Centre and a 23-28 road record.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette being talked about for a lack of offence production and how they might be traded in 2024, even if their contracts don't expire until 2025. The vultures that are the American sports press will only intensify as the trade deadline approaches in a couple of weeks. Vultures as in wanting those star players to play for more acceptable teams (in their minds) and away from Toronto. They also don't care about whether the Blue Jays get adequate compensation for those players.

Those who could go in the next couple of weeks include Yusei Kikuchi, Yimi Garcia, Justin Turner, Danny Jansen, Trevor Richards, and Kevin Kiermaier.

Rogers Centre renovations help but Canada still needs a really good baseball stadium

As frustrating as fans are about the performance of the players, most of that anger goes to Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro for poor trades, a diminished farm system, and the fear that the trades, if they happen, will make the team worse now and in the future.

Rogers Centre looks great and Shapiro deserves credit. Now let's work on the on field mess.

The Dodgers reportedly acquire INF/OF Cavan Biggio from the Blue Jays, per multiple reports including @MLBNetwork insider @JonHeyman. pic.twitter.com/UyaioK517H

— MLB (@MLB) June 12, 2024

If you had given a list of 3 names — Cavan Biggio, Daniel Vogelbach, and Tim Mayza — as to who might be gone off the roster, you might have imagined Votto would have replaced Vogelbach. All 3 didn't survive to the halfway point, though Biggio being the first to go was painful to long-time fans. The New York Yankees signed Mayza to a minor-league deal last week.

Biggio ended up playing 3B against lefties for a much better team. Davis Schneider, Spencer Horwitz, Addison Barger, and Leo Jimenez are the near future from the farm system. The Blue Jays had to know Orelvis Martínez was going to get suspended 80 games for performance-enhancing drugs before his brief callup to Toronto. 2024 counts as a year where Martinez played in the major leagues.

The irony of Biggio being good in a limited role and at third base went against the thinking of John Schneider and the Blue Jays management.

Check out the reaction from this kid who received Kevin Kiermaier gloves. #NextLevel pic.twitter.com/Nz9UNZYjwr

— Doc Naismith ℠ (@DocNaismith) April 26, 2023

Kevin Kiermaier has had a rough season. Having a good game and then getting placed on waivers is rough. The Blue Jays would have to eat the money regardless. A trade could net a prospect.

2024 Toronto Blue Jays preview

2024 Toronto Blue Jays spring training schedule

MLB, Rob Manfred, MLB on Fox need to stop disrespecting Canada

The 94th Major League Baseball All-Star Game was at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was voted in to start at first base (1b) for the American League. Guerrero is the only Toronto Blue Jays member in the midsummer classic.

Guerrero is one of 3 Canadians on the squads with Freddie Freeman (Los Angeles NL) and first-time All-Star Josh Naylor (Cleveland). There are 2 former Blue Jays players: Marcus Semien (Texas) and Teoscar Hernandez (Los Angeles NL).

There is a decent amount of hope, as such, that Rob Manfred will put an All-Star Game in Toronto before he finally retires. The changes at Rogers Centre are 99% of his reasoning.

July 13, 1993, Geddy Lee performs O Canada 🇨🇦 on the world stage for the 1993 All-Star Game ⚾️🌟 pic.twitter.com/feIcuzzg9O

— This Day in Rush History (@RushHistory2112) July 13, 2024

Nice to remember a time when the U.S. outlet wasn't scared to air O Canada before the MLB All Star Game. Fox Sports decided to once again blow off O Canada before the 2024 All-Star Game. ESPN did unfortunately air Ingrid Andress doing the U.S. anthem Monday night, Andress admitted she was drunk and will enter rehab.

Nice Horse, the Canadian duo of Katie Rox and Brandi Sidoryk, sang O Canada on Rogers Sportsnet but not on Fox Sports. Thanks Rob Manfred. If we get video of the Canadian anthem, we will place it here.

Guerrero went 0-for-2 as the American League starting 1st baseman. Josh Naylor replaced Guerrero as 1B and went 0-for-1. Freddie Freeman had a pinch-hit at bat for the National League.

Of course, former Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Teoscar Hernández won the Home Run Derby. Hernández edged Kansas City shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. 14-13 in the final round. Good on Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for wearing a Teoscar Hernández Blue Jays jersey during the derby.

Ross Atkins made 2 of the worst deals in Blue Jays history the winter of 2022. Atkins traded Hernández to Seattle for right-handed reliever Erik Swanson, currently at Buffalo, and left-hander Adam Macko, who is currently at New Hampshire (AA) with a plus 4 ERA.

Your humble narrator still remembers when the Blue Jays acquired outfielder Dalton Varsho for outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. AND catcher Gabriel Moreno, the question was "Varsho and whom else?". Assuming Danny Jansen gets dealt, Moreno could have been rather valuable.

We aren't asking for Pat Gillick to come back, but can this team get value for value in a trade?

Historian David Matchett says 🇨🇦 baseball history was made at Rogers Centre on Friday.

With the Naylors and Cade Smith appearing for Cleveland and Guerrero Jr. and Zach Pop for the Jays, it was the 1st time in MLB history that 5 players born in 🇨🇦 have played in the same game.

— Kevin Glew (@coopincanada) June 15, 2024

If we had more resources and energy, we would be tempted to write more about Canadian players on the MLB level. We saw a lot of potential in the last World Baseball Classic team and exciting to see that on the major league level.

The number would have been 6 if Jordan Romano had been healthy.

Rod Black has called so many memorable sporting moments over the years.

But this might be the best.

In his son’s MLB debut, during an interview with Black, he calls a base hit.

Thrilled for you and your family, @RodBlackTV. https://t.co/mO0Fo22iIB

— Devin Heroux (@Devin_Heroux) May 1, 2024

Rod Black has done play by play for the Toronto Blue Jays in the past with CTV Sportsnet and TSN. Thanks to the Milwaukee Brewers broadcast crew, Black got to call a base hit for his son, Tyler Black, yet another Canadian MLB player.

Luring a sports star to play in Canada is not an easy task

2023 Toronto Blue Jays go down in 2 straight to Minnesota

2023 Toronto Blue Jays MLB playoffs preview

Rogers insures that the margins are waver thin when their broadcast teams are involved. Ben Shulman is the backup to his dad, Dan Shulman, on TV play by play. Eric Smith has been filling in on the radio call for the Jays with Ben Shulman on TV. The radio crews still aren't traveling so TV work is the only way Ben Shulman can see the team live on the road.

This will be especially relevant when Dan Shulman leaves the Blue Jays TV booth to call men's and women's basketball during the Paris Olympics on CBC and Rogers Sportsnet.

CBC/Radio-Canada has announced its extensive coverage plans for the 2024 Paris Olympics, which take place between Friday, July 26, and Sunday, Aug. 11 https://t.co/D6gceToMce

— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) April 29, 2024

The Toronto Blue Jays, having arrived in MLB in 1977, have always had a designated hitter. Well, the team had their pitchers hit in National League parks in interleague games before MLB forced the National League to convert to designated hitters.

Baseball talks about how anything can happen. This used to be true yet now a pitcher can't help his team and himself at the plate. Toronto pitcher Kevin Gausman used to play in the National League and bat for himself. Gausman shared some thoughts on wanting to get back into the batters box.

Given how bad the Blue Jays are on offence, the pitchers can't do much worse.

Just over 3 years ago, San Diego Padres rookie reliever Daniel Camarena made his major league debut. His Padres were down 8-0 and Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals was the mound opponent. Somehow, Camarena came to the plate and delivered a grand slam.

The Padres won that game 9-8 in part due to Camarena's grand slam. That was an amazing memory yet MLB now makes that virtually impossible. Shohei Ohtani, who is a full-time designated hitter in 2024, is a hitting pitcher but we know that is the exception on so many levels.

Rooting for Gausman to get to swing a bat once again in the major leagues.

Canadian MLB players to watch for in 2024 (TSN)

CanadianCrossing.com MLB coverage

After an exhausting West Coast trip and the mid-season break, the Toronto Blue Jays start the second half with a 9-game, 3-opponent homestand on Friday. The Detroit Tigers, Tampa Bay Rays, and Texas Rangers will travel into Canada.

There may be or not a MLB Extra Innings free preview. The first game back on Friday will be on Apple TV+.

Twitter captures: @DunedinBlueJays; @MLB; @DocNaismith; @coopincanada; @Devin_Heroux; @CBCOlympics
photo credit: @BlueJays

2024 Victoria Day notebook: Vancouver, Edmonton meet tonight for Game 7

Welcome to Victoria Day 2024. Hope our Canadian readers are getting to enjoy a well deserved holiday long weekend.

The second round NHL Stanley Cup playoffs series with the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks ends tonight at 9 pm Eastern/6 pm Pacific at Rogers Arena in Vancouver. CBC and Rogers Sportsnet have the game in Canada while American viewers get a less than stellar play by play person on ESPN.

The winner faces Dallas for the Campbell Conference final starting Thursday. Our series ending story runs tomorrow.

2024 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs scoreboard

2024 Stanley Cup notebook: Vancouver plays Edmonton in the second round

Today we say goodbye to #AliceMunro, a Canadian icon whose legacy lives on within our walls.

Along with readers around the world, we send our deepest condolences to the Munro family.

A full tribute can be found on our Facebook and Instagram pages. pic.twitter.com/Kq4UQvVjn3

— Munro's Books (@MunrosBooks) May 14, 2024

I had recently acquired a collection of Alice Munro short stories. I was curious particularly about The Bear Who Came Down a Mountain, the Alice Munro short story that Sarah Polley adapted for her directorial debut Away From Her. Polley received an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay and Julie Christie got a Best Actress nomination.

The casting fit the characters in the short story. Polley had worked with Julie Christie on No Such Thing (2001) and The Secret Life of Words (2005). Gordon Pinsent was wonderful as Grant, the husband left behind as Fiona goes into a home.

Made me think of Kristen Thomson, who played nurse Kristy in Away From Her and how good she was in that part. Polley cast Thomson in the short film I Shout Love (2001). You might also recognize Thomson from her role as Noelle Dyson on Cardinal and an appearance on a recent episode of Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent as an intense billet mom for a young hockey player.

Speaking of Victoria, the city has a wonderful downtown bookstore called Munro Books at 1108 Government Street. Munro and her first husband James opened Munro Books in 1963. The couple divorced in 1972.

The acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar adapted 3 of Munro's short stories — Chance, Silence, and Soon — into Julieta (2016). Other film adaptations of Munro's short stories include Martha, Ruth and Edie (1988), Edge of Madness (2002), and Hateship, Loveship (2013).

Alice Munro was 92.

TSN is mourning the loss of our friend and beloved SportsCentre host Darren Dutchyshen. pic.twitter.com/Mb7m1IzCCY

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) May 16, 2024

Darren Dutchyshen was a very well-loved TSN sportscaster. The accolades following his demise from fellow TSN people as well as competitors from CBC and Rogers Sportsnet showed us Dutch was a good human being besides being a top flight sportscaster.

Dutchyshen had dealt with prostate cancer and had been off the air since around Christmas. He was 57. Proof that cancer sucks.

British Columbia fine tunes decriminalizing drug policy

CBC should grab Shelved if CTV cancelled that show

We include some in-depth stories in our Victoria Day notebook. Hard drugs and Canadian television don't normally mix. Canadian storytelling is crucial as is dealing with the opioids crisis.

We are working on a story about the boycott of the many grocery store chains owned by Loblaws. Hope to get that story up this week here and on our sibling blog, BalanceofFood.com.

Some stories are worth reading past a 3 minute minimum.

2024 Canadian Screen Award nominations

2024 Canadian Screen Awards nominations: Film

2024 Canadian Screen Awards nominations: Television

We still care about the Canadian Screen Awards even if we have serious doubt that the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television cares. The unexpected delay means the week honouring Canadian television and Canadian film will finally run next week. The May 31 ceremony on CBC means the public broadcaster will not carry Game 5 of the Vancouver or Edmonton series against Dallas.

We might get the CBC upfront this week. Maybe. 

We don't report on the Canadians on U.S. television because the universe is stronger than we are capable of reporting. We do want to note that Fox has a new medical drama series called Doc, starring Molly Parker. Parker plays Dr. Amy Elias, a Minneapolis surgeon who suffers a brain injury that erases the last 8 years of her life.

The U.S. network also acquired the U.S. rights to Murder in a Small Town with Canadian leads Rossif Sutherland and Kristin Kreuk, based on the 9-book Karl Alberg novel series by Canadian author L.R. Wright. The show will be shot on the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia.

Only White Sox have scored fewer runs than Jays. Ross Atkins says Jays hitters are working advantage counts & better results are ahead.

“We do believe in we do believe in the changes and adjustments (we’ve made) & feel like we have the time and the talent for that to correct.”

— Ben Nicholson-Smith (@bnicholsonsmith) May 18, 2024

The Toronto Blue Jays will be on the MLB Network hosting the Chicago White Sox on Victoria Day. Game time is 3:07 pm. MLB Network will carry the Rogers Sportsnet feed unless you live in the Chicago area (d'oh). The teams will also meet in Chicago next week.

This has the potential of scoreless ties through 9 innings between the 2 teams. Blue Jays fans seem slightly encouraged on Saturday when Davis Schneider replaced George Springer in the leadoff spot.

The Blue Jays are weak on offence and not exciting to watch. While Toronto did score 3 runs on Friday, Tampa's Tyler Alexander (who?) was perfect through 7 1/3 innings.

The next 10 days has the potential to go better. Otherwise, the Blue Jays may be sellers at the end of July.

2024 Toronto Blue Jays preview

2024 CFL preseason schedule

The CFL preseason starts today with Winnipeg at Saskatchewan. The non-TSN games are on CFL+, home of the games in the United States.

Want to emphasize the positive and not think about Chad Kelly or Shawn Lemon.

Our season preview runs June 5.

CanadianCrossing.com film reviews

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

You might celebrate Victoria Day with a barbecue or watching a sports event. You might be an introvert and you celebrate by watching a Canadian film. We have film reviews and coverage. 

photo credits: NHL; Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television; CFL
Twitter captures: @MunrosBooks; @TSN_Sports; @bnicholsonsmith

2024 Toronto Blue Jays preview

The Toronto Blue Jays reportedly offered Shohei Ohtani $500 million or $600 million early in the offseason. Ohtani signed for $700 million for 10 years, jumping from the American League franchise in the Los Angeles area (Anaheim) to the National League franchise in Los Angeles.

Clearly, Rogers had money to spend on the Blue Jays leading into the 2024 season. Let's see how that went.

Centre fielder Kevin Kiermaier is back for a 1-year deal. Justin Turner and Isiah Kiner-Falefa essentially replace Brandon Belt and Matt Chapman. Turner has the power the team badly needed last season. Chapman's defence will be missed. Whit Merrifield's many hits are also gone.

The Blue Jays have quantity to fill in at 3rd base and 2nd base with Kiner-Falefa, Ernie Clement, Cavan Biggio, and Davis Schneider. Daulton Varsho (LF), George Springer (RF), Bo Bichette (SS), Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. (1B), and the 2-headed catcher duo of Danny Jansen and Alejandro Kirk are all back for Toronto.

Santiago Espinal was dealt late in spring training to Cincinnati for a minor-league pitcher.

Kevin Gausman, José Berríos, Chris Bassitt, and Yusei Kikuchi are the primary rotation hurlers. Alek Manoah may need more time and a lot of patience. Jordan Romano (Canadian) is the closer with setup help from pitchers such as Erik Swanson, Tim Mayza, and Nate Pearson.

Cuban free agent pitcher Yariel Rodriguez will fill the back end of the rotation and/or work in the bullpen. Jordan Hicks left to be a starter in San Francisco. Hyun-jin Ryu went back to Korea.

Daniel Vogelbach signed a minor league deal as a potential left-handed DH/1B bat. Joey Votto also fits that profile (more down below).

The Ohtani non-signing looks better after the bizarre scandal involving gambling and Ohtani's long-time interpreter Ippei Mizuhara. The decisions we don't make are often the best ones.

The Toronto Blue Jays are "better" if they get improvement from those who are in the dugout.

2024 Toronto Blue Jays spring training schedule

Luring a sports star to play in Canada is not an easy task

Ousted from #Bluejays after six seasons calling games on radio, Ben Wagner has landed a broadcast gig with the Baltimore Orioles. https://t.co/ZguPQMCERG

— Rob Longley (@longleysunsport) February 23, 2024

Glad to see Ben Wagner land on his feet, doing radio and some TV for the Baltimore Orioles in 2024. We saw Ben Shulman, Wagner's radio replacement, work on the TV side during spring training for Sportsnet. Dan Shulman will call the majority of games on the TV side. If the younger Shulman fills in for his dad, who will call the games on radio? Will Matt Devlin be part of the mix once his Toronto Raptors duties are done?

We went through the rest of the coverage roster: Dan Shulman with Buck Martinez and Joe Siddall as colour analysts on the TV side. Ben Shulman with Chris Leroux on the radio side.

We will update this story to let you know if the Toronto Blue Jays organisation send Ben Shulman and Leroux on the road, something Sportsnet was reluctant to do for Wagner.

Jamie Campbell and analysts Siddall, Caleb Joseph, and Madison Shipman will be on Blue Jays Central; Hazel Mae and Arden Zwelling as on-field reporters; as well as insiders Shi Davidi and Ben Nicholson-Smith.

MLB Network along with TBS, ESPN, Fox, Fox Sports 1 can theoretically carry Toronto Blue Jays games in the United States, though more likely the team will only be on MLB Network. The U.S. network will often carry Boston and NY Yankees feeds, even if Toronto is at home.

Rogers Sportsnet will carry all the Toronto Blue Jays games, except when Apple TV+ forces them not to do so on selected Fridays. The Blue Jays aren't on that often yet more than TBS, ESPN, and Fox combined.

We know the Toronto Blue Jays will be on Apple TV+ at Washington (May 3) and hosting Tampa Bay (May 17).

2023 Toronto Blue Jays go down in 2 straight to Minnesota

2023 Toronto Blue Jays MLB playoffs preview

2023 Toronto Blue Jays second half preview

2023 Canada Day notebook

The Rogers Centre renovations — the true highlight of the off-season — means the Blue Jays start the 2024 season on a long road trip to Tampa, Houston, and the Bronx in New York City. The home opener is April 8 with the Seattle Mariners in Toronto with the homestand continuing with Colorado and the New York Yankees.

Cupholders in the 100 section seem standard in most MLB ballparks but will be new to Toronto baseball fans.

Rogers Centre renovations help but Canada still needs a really good baseball stadium

2023 Toronto Blue Jays preview

2023 Toronto Blue Jays spring training schedule

Joey Votto should be the 3rd Canadian to make the Baseball Hall of Fame as a player (Ferguson Jenkins and Larry Walker). Votto might be the last Canadian to pull off that feat.

The 2 scenarios for Votto, 40, in the offseason seemed to be 1) retire after playing his entire MLB career for the Cincinnati Reds; or 2) sign a 1-year deal to come home to Canada and play for the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Blue Jays signed Votto to a minor-league deal about 3 weeks ago. Votto started out 2023 dealing with biceps and left rotator cuff surgeries and needed more time to get into playing shape for 2024. He homered in his spring training debut and then twisted his ankle in the dugout.

Votto might be good for 300 at-bats in 2024 and can still play 1B and play DH. Votto got a very warm reception when the Reds were in Toronto in 2022. Votto provides a veteran presence, left-handed bat, and a shockingly high on-base percentage … if Votto gets to the big leagues in 2024.

Etobicoke’s Own 🇨🇦
Canada’s Own 🍁

OFFICIAL: We’ve signed 1B @JoeyVotto to a Minor League deal with an invite to #SpringTraining.

Votto is a 7x Tip O'Neill Award winner, 6x All-Star, 2011 Gold Glover, won the NL MVP in 2010, and has twice been named Canada’s Top Athlete. pic.twitter.com/wBiZqNlweS

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) March 9, 2024

Canadian MLB players to watch for in 2024 (TSN)

CanadianCrossing.com MLB coverage

The Toronto Blue Jays have made the playoffs 3 times in the last 4 years. However, your humble narrator has won as many MLB playoff games as Toronto has in that stretch.

Manager John Schneider has been in charge since July 13, 2022. The power disappeared with the Barrio jacket. Don Mattingly is waiting in the wings. The pitching is there yet the offence is a wait and see.

Toronto Blue Jays playoffs history

2023	Minnesota	0-2
2022	Seattle	0-2
2020	Tampa Bay	0-2
2016	Cleveland	1-4
2016	Texas	3-0
2016	Baltimore	1-0
2015	Kansas City	2-4
2015	Texas	3-2
1993	Philadelphia	4-2
1993	Chicago (AL)	4-2
1992	Atlanta	4-2
1992	Oakland	4-2
1991	Minnesota	1-4
1989	Oakland	1-4
1985	Kansas City	3-4

photo credit: Toronto Blue Jays
Twitter captures: @longleysunsport; @BlueJays
video credit: Cincinnati Reds

2024 Toronto Blue Jays spring training schedule

When the most exciting event in your team's offseason is the refurbishing of your home stadium, there isn't a lot of enthusiasm for the 2024 Toronto Blue Jays.

The team plays its home spring training games in Dunedin, Florida, also subject to refurbishing relatively recently. The Toronto Blue Jays used to finish its Grapefruit League season in Montréal at Olympic Stadium. MLB acts like that never happened, part of the ongoing tension between the league and the country of Canada. Fascinating to watch the love the Toronto Raptors and the NBA has for Canada in comparison to MLB.

The Toronto Blue Jays finished their spring training schedule at Olympic Stadium in Montréal from 2014-2019. The team was scheduled to play spring training games in La Belle Province in 2020.

The Blue Jays went 6-5-1 in 12 games played at Stade Olympique.

We will have more on the team's "improvements" in our 2024 Toronto Blue Jays season preview on March 28.

2024 Toronto Blue Jays Spring Training schedule

February 24 Philadelphia
February 25 @ NY Yankees
February 26 Pittsburgh
February 27 @ Detroit
February 28 Tampa Bay
February 29 Philadelphia
March 1 @ NY Yankees 6:35p
March 2 Atlanta
March 3 @ Boston
March 4 Philadelphia
March 5 @ Pittsburgh
March 7 @ Detroit 6:05p
March 8 NY Yankees
March 9 @ Philadelphia
March 10 @ Baltimore/Baltimore
March 11 @ Tampa Bay
March 12 NY Yankees
March 13 Pittsburgh
March 14 @ Minnesota
March 15 Detroit
March 16 @ NY Yankees
March 17 @ Philadelphia/Minnesota
March 19 Baltimore
March 20 @ Atlanta
March 21 @ Pittsburgh 6:05p
March 22 Boston
March 23 Detroit/@ Baltimore 6:05p (ss)
March 24 @ Philadelphia
March 25 @ Pittsburgh

All times at 1:07 pm (home)/1:05 pm (road) unless noted. All times are EST through March 10; EDT March 11-25.

Luring a sports star to play in Canada is not an easy task

2023 Toronto Blue Jays go down in 2 straight to Minnesota

2023 Toronto Blue Jays MLB playoffs preview

Rogers Centre renovations help but Canada still needs a really good baseball stadium

Rogers Sportsnet viewers can watch 26 spring training games, including all 15 home games. There are 18 games available for listening on the Sportsnet Radio Network or live stream on sportsnet.ca and the Sportsnet app. TV games will be on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.

February 24 Philadelphia
February 25 @ NY Yankees
February 26 Pittsburgh
February 28 Tampa Bay
February 29 Philadelphia
March 1 @ NY Yankees 6:35p
March 2 Atlanta
March 3 @ Boston
March 4 Philadelphia
March 7 @ Detroit 6:05p
March 8 NY Yankees
March 9 @ Philadelphia
March 10 Baltimore
March 11 @ Tampa Bay
March 12 NY Yankees
March 13 Pittsburgh
March 15 Detroit
March 16 @ NY Yankees
March 17 Minnesota
March 19 Baltimore
March 20 @ Atlanta
March 21 @ Pittsburgh 6:05p
March 22 Boston
March 23 Detroit
March 24 @ Philadelphia
March 25 @ Pittsburgh

MLB Network will run live and tape-delayed games throughout spring training. Rogers Sportsnet may run other teams feeds so a televised game does not guarantee a Toronto feed or that MLB Network will use the Sportsnet feed. We can assume the home games will be Rogers Sportsnet produced feeds.

The U.S. channel will focus on the Toronto Blue Jays as part of 30 Clubs in 15 Days on March 2 at 4 pm Eastern.

No @MLB radio person has been more screwed over in recent times than @benwag247. No regular person in the booth; not being able to travel. TV/radio simulcast for awhile. @Rogers and @Sportsnet have shown a lack of human respect. Be nervous if you leave a gig for @BlueJays radio. https://t.co/FIoSdEM8si

— Chad Rubel (@canadian_xing) November 29, 2023

Dan Shulman is the primary play by play person with Buck Martinez and Joe Siddall serving as colour analysts. We know Dan Shulman will call a lot of college basketball in March.

To no one's surprise, Ben Shulman replaces Ben Wagner as the full-time radio voice of the Toronto Blue Jays. Ben Shulman will also call select spring training games on TV. Shulman will have something Wagner never had: a permanent analyst in Chris Leroux. The team fired Ben Wagner as its radio play-by-play voice after not giving him enough support during his time in the Toronto radio booth.

Wagner could have shared the duties with Shulman on radio, knowing Shulman would fill in for his father on the TV side. This might mean Toronto Raptors TV voice Matt Devlin will fill in again, though that info isn't on the press release.

We will be highly curious if the Toronto Blue Jays organisation will actually send Ben Shulman and Leroux on the road, something Sportsnet was reluctant to do for Wagner.

The release also notes that host Jamie Campbell and analysts Siddall, Caleb Joseph, and Madison Shipman will be on Blue Jays Central; Hazel Mae and Arden Zwelling as on-field reporters; and insiders Shi Davidi and Ben Nicholson-Smith.

2023 Toronto Blue Jays spring training schedule

2022 Toronto Blue Jays spring training schedule

2021 Toronto Blue Jays spring training schedule

2020 Toronto Blue Jays spring training schedule

CanadianCrossing.com MLB coverage

We will deal with all the changes to the Toronto Blue Jays in our season preview.

photos credit: Toronto Blue Jays
Twitter capture: @canadian_xing

Luring a sports star to play in Canada is not an easy task

What might have been.

❤️@TomBrady @Topps pic.twitter.com/ZceS8qbJGq

— Montreal Expos (@Montreal_Expos) December 12, 2023

Getting a star player in any sport to come to Canada is a challenge. There is a parallel universe where Tom Brady became a star catcher for the Montréal Expos instead of him going to the University of Michigan to be a quarterback.

The Topps commercial (above) shows us what might have happened. Perhaps the success of Brady could have produced that domed, downtown stadium known as Labatt Park and kept the Expos in La Belle Province. In that scenario, the then Florida Marlins, with similarly poor attendance, would have moved to Washington, DC.

Though Brady turned out to be a NFL legend, the draft position didn't indicate a potential star. The Montréal Expos drafted Brady in the 18th round of the 1995 MLB draft as a left-handed hitting catcher. Brady chose to go to the University of Michigan to play football. Even then, the New England Patriots Brady selected 199th overall in the 6th round of the 2000 NFL draft.

"It was because of his hitting — 649 home runs, what a power hitter," a fan said in the Topps ad. Then another fan ordered 2 poutines with "extra Tommy."

In 1995 after the MLB strike that deprived Montréal of a World Series, the team traded its star players. Expos greats Larry Walker (Canadian), Pedro Martinez, and Vladimir Guerrero Sr. are in the ad. Walker was one of those who left. Martinez left before Brady would have been his catcher.

Brady would have helped the Expos and been one of the top 2 catchers in Expos history along with Gary Carter. 7 World Series rings? A dream is a dream.

2023 Toronto Blue Jays go down in 2 straight to Minnesota

Rogers Centre renovations help but Canada still needs a really good baseball stadium

The Toronto Blue Jays fanbase was quite excited about the prospect of getting Shohei Ohtani to be with the Blue Jays. Coming in second place is like being at the ball and wanting to be with Prince Charming and realizing the Los Angeles Dodgers were Cinderella.

The talk was a 10-year, $500 million contract. That contract turned out to be $700 million with $680 million in deferred money. That is tough for any team to contend with in the grand scheme.

Ohtani would have been a designated hitter for 2024 and maybe pitch beyond that. The lure of building a Japanese audience at Blue Jays games at Rogers Centre. The marketing. Watching U.S. outlets be less afraid of showing a Toronto game. Maybe an All-Star Game with a refurbished Rogers Centre.

Bobby Bonilla and Ken Griffey Jr. 2 baseball players who got a lot of deferred money. Griffey spent most of those 10 years in Cincinnati injured or at less than capacity due to those injuries. His last game with the Reds was in 2009 and Griffey is still being paid. Cincinnati hasn't won a playoff round since the trade.

Even if Ohtani would make that much of a difference, the Blue Jays might have paid a high price for decades to come. Ohtani rarely misses time as hitter but definitely has missed time as a pitcher.

Ohtani has occasionally played in the outfield; he is almost exclusively a designated hitter and a pitcher (when he can). Imagine Vladimir Guerrero Jr. not having that DH time to rest.

The Toronto Blue Jays need help at 3rd base (unless Matt Chapman re-signs), left field (Cody Bellinger?), and perhaps 2nd base (going to miss Whit Merrifield's hits). Successful teams sign players such as Chapman and Merrifield to extensions.

Ohtani would have been a shiny toy to have. The Blue Jays deserved a player such as Ohtani but the Los Angeles Dodgers have intangibles the Blue Jays do not.

Larry Walker honours Montreal and the Montreal Expos in Hall of Fame speech

Kamala Harris, Jackie Robinson, and their association with Montreal

CanadianCrossing.com MLB coverage

The comparison came up with Kawhi Leonard, who helped the Toronto Raptors to a NBA title in 2019. Leonard came in a trade for DeMar DeRozan. When Leonard had the chance to stay, he went to the Los Angeles Clippers, even with a title in Toronto.

There was talk of trying to get Giannis Antetokounmpo to leave the NBA Milwaukee Bucks for Toronto. That didn't come close to happening.

The NHL with plenty of Canadian players and 7 Canadian teams: the Canadian teams rarely get a Canadian player to sign as a free agent. John Tavares (Toronto) is a grand exception to the rule. Zach Hyman signed with Edmonton but had played in Toronto. Significant free agents — American or Canadian — rarely sign with a Canadian NHL team.

Ken Rosenthal weighed in on the struggles of the San Francisco Giants to land free agents based on the perception of San Francisco. In our humble opinion, those perceptions of San Francisco are inaccurate on many levels.

The chase for Shohei Ohtani showed that Canada and Toronto could be a destination for sports stars to play in Canada. Ohtani did tour the Blue Jays facilities in Dunedin, Florida. He compared Rogers Centre to his old home park, the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo.

Canadians should have faith that players want to be in the Great White North. They already have a lot of patience waiting for that to happen.

Twitter capture: @Montreal_Expos
photo credits: Topps; ESPN

2023 Toronto Blue Jays go down in 2 straight to Minnesota

The 2023 Toronto Blue Jays went up against a team with a 18-game losing playoff streak and laid down easily. The Minnesota Twins get to play more baseball after a 2-game sweep, the third time in 4 years this has happened to the Blue Jays.

Kevin Kiermaier is the answer to the trivia question as to which Toronto player drove in the only run of the 2023 playoffs. Kiermairer drove in Bo Bichette from second base in the 6th inning of Game 1.

Bichette got thrown out at home plate after a Kevin Kiermaier's infield single in Game 1. Carlos Correa picked up the ball and threw out Bichette at the plate.

No such grand plays in Game 2, unless you count Vladimir Guerrero Jr. getting picked off 2nd base with Bichette at the plate.

The 3-1 loss (Game 1) and 2-0 defeat (Game 2) certainly weren't blowouts. Still, they backed up the theories of Toronto baseball troubles: inability to provide clutch hitting and bizarre decisions to lift pitchers early. John Schneider caught a lot of grief for lifting Jose Berrios in the 4th inning in Game 2. Then again, when your team has no offence, pitching decisions aren't that important.

The barrio disappeared. No more awesome home run jacket. Teoscar Hernandez and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. along with Gabriel Moreno were shipped off. Even Moreno had a playoff home run where no Blue Jays player even had a playoff double.

The playoff losing streak stands at 7. Let's hope it doesn't get to 18.

The Postseason starts…

NOW! #NextLevel pic.twitter.com/FeMq1aFypX

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) October 3, 2023

2023 Toronto Blue Jays MLB playoffs preview

2023 Toronto Blue Jays second half preview

2023 Canada Day notebook

Rogers Centre renovations help but Canada still needs a really good baseball stadium

Whit Merrifield had a great season for the Blue Jays and was barely in the playoffs. Alek Manoah could have helped with a better playoff position. Davis Schneider deserved a chance at Target Field. John Schneider is making some crummy moves, whether his or someone higher up in the organisation. This is not Next Level.

2023 Toronto Blue Jays preview

2023 Toronto Blue Jays spring training schedule

CanadianCrossing.com MLB coverage

Here's some perspective on today's attendance of 19,704 at the Trop: according to @Stathead, it's the lowest (non-Covid year) attendance for a postseason game in 104 years. Last one below 19,704 was Game 7 of the infamous 1919 World Series in Cincinnati.

— Tyler Kepner (@TylerKepner) October 3, 2023

Many in baseball would want you to forget the Montréal Expos used to have strong attendance numbers at Stade Olympique. Even the 2022 Toronto Argonauts drew 21,331 to the CFL East Final against the Montréal Alouettes. The Alouettes beat tthe Rays number with 20,693 for the East semifinal against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Covering baseball would be more fun with a Montréal Expos team with a new downtown stadium. Would easily outdraw the Tampa Bay franchise, especially in the playoffs.

photo credit: @BlueJays
Twitter captures: @BlueJays; @TylerKepner

2023 Toronto Blue Jays MLB playoffs preview

The Toronto Blue Jays have lost their last 5 American League playoff games: the final game in the ALCS to Cleveland in 2016, 2 in Tampa Bay in 2020, and 2 in Seattle at home in 2022.

Thanks to the Houston win and Texas loss on Sunday, the 2023 Toronto Blue Jays will play the wild card round in Minnesota. The Blue Jays losing playoff streak may seem sad but the Minnesota Twins have lost 18 straight playoff games. The last Twins postseason win was Game 1 in the 2004 ALDS at Yankee Stadium. The Twins have lost 13 of those 18 games to the New York Yankees.

The Toronto Blue Jays finished 89-73 losing the final 2 home games to Tampa Bay, the team Toronto would have played in the postseason. The Minnesota Twins won the AL Central with a 87-75 record. The Twins finished 7-3 in the final 10 games while the Blue Jays went 4-6.

The Jays and Twins split their 6-game season series, winning 2 out of 3 each in the road stadium.

Kevin Gausman will pitch Game 1.

Brandon Belt and George Springer have World Series winning experience. The young core is more mature yet that core (Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., etc.) with Springer is 0-4 with the Game 2 nightmare against the Mariners at Rogers Centre.

This is the postseason action for Davis Schneider.

The starting pitchers are better. The bullpen is hit and miss, especially down the stretch. The catching depth is not as deep. The outfield defense is vastly improved. The home runs are down.

This is the time to see whether the Toronto Blue Jays can take things to the #NextLevel.

The Wild Card Series schedule with times pic.twitter.com/AlTcxeS8ll

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) October 1, 2023

4:38 pm start times will be in effect for Game 1 and Game 2. The times are subject to change on Thursday depending on how many games are remaining. You might remember from last year's schedule that the Blue Jays would have been on ABC in the States had Toronto not choked in Game 2 at Rogers Centre against Seattle.

MLB has announced that if Toronto needs a Game 3 in a 2-series scenario on Thursday, the game moves to 3:08 pm on ABC. if the Blue Jays are the only Game 3, the game moves to 7:08 pm on ESPN.

Rogers Sportsnet will produce its own telecasts in Canada with Dan Shulman and Buck Martinez. In a miracle, the Blue Jays radio people will be on site at Target Field in downtown Minneapolis. Citytv might sim sub a Blue Jays playoff game on ABC.

ESPN will send Michael Kay and Alex Rodriguez to Minnesota. Could be worse; could be the Sunday Night Baseball crew.

2023 Toronto Blue Jays second half preview

2023 Canada Day notebook

Rogers Centre renovations help but Canada still needs a really good baseball stadium

Wanna see what it’s like to be part of a Postseason celebration? #NextLevel pic.twitter.com/cgjEnhnQfh

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) October 2, 2023

2023 Toronto Blue Jays preview

2023 Toronto Blue Jays spring training schedule

CanadianCrossing.com MLB coverage

Former Minnesota pitcher Jose Berrios (11-12, 3.65) as well as Chris Bassitt (16-8, 3.60) will likely draw the other starts. Yusei Kikuchi (11-6, 3.86) could be in long relief or even throw a crucial inning. Hyun-jin Ryu is also an option.

You might remember Edouard Julien at 2nd base for the Canada team at the World Baseball Classic this spring. Julien plays for Minnesota: Julien hit .263 with an on-base percentage of .381 — as the Twins leadoff hitter — with 16 HR and 64 RBI. While Julien won't play in Canada in the postseason, he does know the words to O Canada. Julien, in his rookie season, is from Quebec City.

John Schneider has a career regular-season record of 135-101 with Toronto, 0-2 in the postseason thanks to the Seattle sweep in 2022.

Toronto Blue Jays playoffs history

2022	Seattle	0-2
2020	Tampa Bay	0-2
2016	Cleveland	1-4
2016	Texas	3-0
2016	Baltimore	1-0
2015	Kansas City	2-4
2015	Texas	3-2
1993	Philadelphia	4-2
1993	Chicago (AL)	4-2
1992	Atlanta	4-2
1992	Oakland	4-2
1991	Minnesota	1-4
1989	Oakland	1-4
1985	Kansas City	3-4

photo credit: @Bluejays
Twitter captures: @BNightengale; @BlueJays

2023 Toronto Blue Jays second half preview

The 2023 Toronto Blue Jays had 5 all-star representatives in the 2023 MLB All-Star Game in Seattle: Whit Merrifield and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (3rd appearance), Kevin Gausman and Bo Bichette (2nd appearance). This was the first appearance for Merrifield and Gausman in a Toronto uniform.

Jordan Romano was a late add to the American League squad, his second All-Star appearance. Romano checks the boxes for Canadian players and Blue Jays players. Guerrero was also born in Canada.

Former Blue Jays player Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was on the National League team from Arizona. Former Blue Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman made the squad from the Chicago Cubs. Former Toronto 2nd baseman Marcus Semien was the starter from Texas.

Freddie Freeman (Canadian) was the starting 1st baseman from the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Gausman wasn't able to pitch in the All-Star Game since he pitched on Saturday in Detroit.

Guerrero Jr. went 0-for-2. Bichette added a sacrifice fly, going 0-for-1. Romano only threw 5 pitches before withdrawing to back tightness, going ⅓ of an inning. Merrifield had a single, 1 of 7 hits by the American League. The National League got its first All-Star win since 2012 with a 3-2 victory in Seattle.

Four years later, he came back for the title 💥 #HRDerby pic.twitter.com/QuHVKofk2I

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) July 11, 2023

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit 26, 21, and 25 home runs to get through 3 rounds to a victory in the 2023 MLB Home Run Derby. After hitting 91 home runs in 2019 and losing in that format, his time in the derby seemed done.

Guerrero and his father, Vladimir Guerrero Sr., are now the first father-son to win the derby. The senior player won the 2007 Home Run Derby in San Francisco.

Guerrero defeated Mookie Betts (LA Dodgers), Julio Rodríguez (Seattle), and Randy Arozarena (Tampa Bay) for the win.

We would guess that the ESPN graphic about where Guerrero was born was meant for Arozarena. The graphic said Guerrero was born in Cuba. Not even close. Guerrero is of Dominican heritage and was born in Montréal in Canada.

Omg @tenilletownes 😍 pic.twitter.com/VzhtJyBWp9

— Tricia (@tricia_nh) July 12, 2023

Canadian country star Tenille Townes sang O Canada before the 2023 All-Star Game in Seattle. We searched for vocal proof but settled for visual proof. Once again, MLB (aka Rob Manfred) and MLB on Fox refused to air the Canadian national anthem.

We do want to thank Buffalo country station 106.5 WYRK for labeling this "Massive Mistake? Baseball Fans Blasting FOX Sports' Anthem Debacle."

While WYRK is new to this phenomem, MLB has been this rude to Canada for well over a decade now.

A bit insulting to play only the U.S. national anthem before the Home Run Derby, even with a Toronto player in the mix, who won the derby.

MLB, Rob Manfred, MLB on Fox need to stop disrespecting Canada

The Toronto Blue Jays went into the All-Star Game break with a 50-41 record. The Blue Jays are 7 games out behind Tampa Bay in the American League East Division. Toronto would qualify as a wild card team at the moment. The Blue Jays are 23-18 at home and 27-23 on the road, which also means more home games in the second half of the season. The division is so tight that the Blue Jays are only 2 games ahead of the last place Boston Red Sox.

The last no-hitter (before today) against the @BlueJays was Justin Verlander on September 1, 2019. This is the second no-hitter by the @Tigers of the #BlueJays, also by Verlander. @MLB

— Chad Rubel (@canadian_xing) July 8, 2023

Matt Manning (6⅔), Jason Foley (1⅓), and Alex Lange (1) pitched the first combined no-hitter in Detroit history and the first one against the Blue Jays on July 8. The other Detroit no-hitter against the Blue Jays came from Justin Verlander, who has no-hit Toronto twice in his career.

2023 Canada Day notebook

Rogers Centre renovations help but Canada still needs a really good baseball stadium

2023 Toronto Blue Jays preview

2023 Toronto Blue Jays spring training schedule

CanadianCrossing.com MLB coverage

The Toronto Blue Jays start the second half of the 2023 season with a homestand with the surprising Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Gabriel Moreno come back home to Rogers Centre.

Arizona is in July 14-16 (7:07 pm, 3:07 pm, and 1:37 pm) while San Diego is in July 18-20 (7:07 pm, 7:07 pm, and 1:07 pm) before the Jays go west to see Teoscar Hernandez in Seattle and visit the Los Angeles Dodgers.

MLB Extra Innings might run a free preview after the All-Star Game break. Check your local listings.

photos credit: @BlueJays
Twitter captures: @BlueJays; @tricia_nh; @canadian_xing

2023 Canada Day notebook

CANADA IS... pic.twitter.com/biazACVHgB

— Brittlestar (@brittlestar) June 2, 2023

Welcome to Canada Day 2023. Older people might remember this day as Dominion Day, which is essentially the same thing. Our Quebec friends know this more as Moving Day, especially in Montréal.

Our Newfoundland friends celebrate Memorial Day on July 1 for losses of approximately 700 soldiers of the 1st Newfoundland Regiment from the Dominion of Newfoundland at Beaumont-Hamel in 1917 during World War I.

If you are checking in from the United States, you might have the impression that Canada is on fire. The wildfires season started really early. Quebec, Ontario, and Alberta were the major sources of the smoke that went south into the United States. The fact that the smoke went into New York City and Washington, DC makes anything more significant since the cable news channels are there.

Chicago got a significant dose of smoke this week. Those cable news channels report on smoke but not the actual fires in Canada.

Nova Scotia isn't usually on the Canada wildfires list but there were plenty of smoke and fire around Halifax.

Canada says "sorry" for being on fire so much and spreading that smoke across the border.

If you do like Canada, and why would you read this if you don't, we suggest following @brittlestar on Twitter. This is the kind of stuff (at the top of the column) we enjoy from him.

This is our annual Canada Day notebook so you can keep up. With the U.S. holiday, we may not post much until mid week.

Grocery rebate is helpful for Canadians while Americans struggle without help

The grocery rebate we mentioned earlier this year will start going out to Canadians on July 5.

Eligible families of 4 will receive up to $467; single people without children get up to $234; and seniors will get up to $225.

Speaking of smoking, Canadian cigarette packages have been more obvious about the evils of smoking than any U.S. cigarette packaging. The Canadian push will get a boost starting August 1. Health Canada is introducing new warning labels on the cigarettes themselves. Some of the messages include:

• Cigarettes cause cancer
• Cigarettes cause impotence
• Cigarettes damage your organs
• Tobacco smoke harms children
• Poison in every puff

Canada will become the first country to put warning labels on individual cigarettes.

This also might be a deterrent for smuggling cigarettes. While the packaging has been different, the nuance between individual cigarettes from the U.S. vs. Canada has been virtually zero. Now American cigarettes can be identified because they don't have warning labels on the actual cigarette.

If you smoke in the United States and thinking your cigarettes are expensive, Canadian smokers are like, "hold my beer."

39,999,998… 39,999,999… 40,000,000!

Canada’s population has officially reached 40 million people! 🎉 https://t.co/dR46gGFq8x #40millionCDNS #40MillionAndGrowing pic.twitter.com/V4PzrN9tHN

— Statistics Canada (@StatCan_eng) June 16, 2023

Statistics Canada has Canada at 40 million and growing. Canada's population grew by a record 1.05 million in 2022 with 96% of that increase due to international migration.

The housing shortages in several major Canadian cities, not just Toronto and Vancouver, means even more housing needs to be built. Even Windsor is struggling with housing shortages.

The American Dream is alive, just in Canada. To be fair, even the American Dream is struggling in Canada.

I Am Canadian was the long-time slogan of Molson Canadian beer. The time was 1994-1999 and again in 2000-2005. Canadians are fairly humble about (aboot?) their own country. This was a nice reminder of the reasons why Canadians should be proud of what they have. Canada Day feels like a good day to watch that commercial.

USCG presser about the lost submersible

Odd

The thing was discovered by CDNs

Using a CDN ROV

From a CDN ship

The effort was supported entirely from St John's .. with Canadian Coast Guard ships

RCAF Auroras constantly dropping sonobuoys

AND yet "Canada" was never mentioned

— robert lavigne (@robertlavigne) June 23, 2023

Canada is a helpful country but U.S. journalism goes out of its way to not acknowledge Canada's help. Still blows my mind that they ignored what Canada did on 9/11 with airplanes, and not just in Newfoundland.

Olivia Chow will be the next Toronto mayor

We did report on Toronto's next mayor. Olivia Chow knows her way around Toronto. There is a lot of work that needs to be done and we couldn't think of anyone better to do this difficult work.

U.S. makes progress on same-sex marriage, but still short of Canada (2013)

While Canada legalized same-sex marriage in 2005, Ontario is celebrating 20 years of same-sex marriage since the first ceremony was performed on June 10, 2003. There was a time where some people went to Canada to get married before they could in the United States. 

Love is love.

CW announces summer schedule filled with Canadian television

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

The CW debuts of Canadian TV shows air later this month:

• Family Law July 7
• Moonshine July 7
• Son of a Critch July 24
• Children Ruin Everything July 24
• Run the Burbs July 31

We have details on times for those debuts. There is also some lovely reading on what Paramount + is doing with Canadian film and Canadian television. Variety looks into the difficulties of making Canadian TV.

Your humble narrator has seen 19-2, the English language remake of the Quebecois show of the same name. The French version was created by and stars Claude Legault and Réal Bossé. Now Netflix in the United States has the original French-language version of the show. That version has 30 episodes over 3 seasons.

Acorn TV carries the English language version with Adrian Holmes and Jared Keeso.

CBC Saturday night Canadian film schedule for late June 2023

CBC normally runs Canadian films on Saturday nights in the summer. Canada Day falls on a Saturday so the CBC will run Canada Day festivities. The films resume on July 8 and we will have an update next Friday.

CBC News Special: Canada Day 2023 runs at 11:30 am local time (noon in most of Newfoundland) for 2 hours. The 2-hour prime time celebration Canada Day in the Capital featuring the annual Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill runs at 8 pm local time.

CBC will also air Tower of Song: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen, a star-studded tribute concert honouring the Canadian musician and songwriter. Times differ depending on where you are in Canada.

2023 CFL Week 4 preview

The CFL smartly schedules a Canada Day game, though in the CFL city least likely to celebrate the holiday. Winnipeg is in Montréal for the 7 pm Eastern kickoff. The BC Lions are in Toronto for a July 4 eve (July 3) game on Monday night.

The Saturday and Monday games are on TSN in Canada and the CBS Sports Network in the United States.

The league also gave 3 of the 9 teams the weekend off so they can celebrate in style: Calgary, Hamilton, and Saskatchewan.

Rogers Centre renovations help but Canada still needs a really good baseball stadium

2023 Toronto Blue Jays preview

The Blue Jays play on Canada Day at 3:07 pm against Boston. Toronto is wrapping up a homestand on Sunday that featured both Bay Area teams — Oakland and San Francisco. The Blue Jays then travel to Chicago and Detroit before the All-Star Game break.

Rogers Sportsnet will have the Canada Day game. MLB Network usually carries the Canada Day game but not in 2023. The channel is not even carrying a Saturday afternoon game. MLB Network will have Sunday's matinee game, hopefully with the Blue Jays feed.

The Toronto Blue Jays have a 45-38 record so far in 2023, 11 games out in the AL East Division. Alek Manoah is not coming back soon. The Blue Jays will not have a position player starting in the All-Star Game (July 11 in Seattle) for the first time since 2019.

The NHL celebrates free agency day on July 1, which is Canada Day. Hope your team gets better players, providing your team is in Canada.

Twitter capture: @brittlestar; @StatCan_eng; @robertlavigne
photo credit: Health Canada
video credit: Molson Canadian beer