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Canada’s only major league team will have the nation behind it during the World Series and have a chance to claim America’s favorite championship at a time when the U.S.-Canada Relations remain at historic lows.
toronto blue jays Host the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 on Friday night toronto After defeating the Seattle Mariners in the American League Championship Series.
The once-in-a-generation MLB playoff run comes as Canadians are feeling an undeniable sense of betrayal after U.S. President donald trump There has been talk of making the country the 51st state.
“Nobody wants to be the 51st state. We’re going to show America that we’re going to beat them at their favorite pastime,” said fan Jeffrey Fulton, 54, who wore a maple leaf bandana to the game.
“This is especially a year where we want to go every level and win a championship. It would be great for our country.”
Tensions between the neighbors and longtime allies have eased slightly in recent months as the prime minister mark carney Trying to find a trade deal, but US tariffs are having an impact. One of the world’s most durable and cordial alliances – born of geography, heritage and centuries of common interests – is broken.
Many Canadians have been boycotting the US since the Trump administration began threatening Canada’s economy and sovereignty with tariffs and heated political rhetoric, most aggressively by claiming that Canada could be the “51st state.”
But Fulton went to New York to cheer on his Blue Jays as they eliminated the Yankees in the previous playoff round. Yankees fans played the Canadian national anthem, and Fulton’s Blue Jays wig was taken off his head and stolen into Yankee Stadium.
“Canada needs to stick together, so it would be awesome to see the Blue Jays go all the way and win the World Series,” Fulton said.
Unlike Canada’s hockey pastime, where there are multiple Canadian teams, baseball’s major leagues have only one to cheer on Canada’s 41 million people.
At an NHL game in Calgary, Alberta – more than 2,000 miles west of Toronto – the Calgary Flames’ public address announcer updated the crowd as George Springer’s go-ahead, three-run homer over Seattle in the seventh inning drew loud cheers.
In Toronto, 28-year-old Braden McNeil fought back tears after attending a Blue Jays game with his brother.
“It’s extra special. They can call it whatever they want, the 51st state. We’re our own country,” McNeil said. “We’re going to the World Series. It doesn’t matter if we’re the underdog. It doesn’t matter what the Americans say.”
Toronto manager John Schneider, a New Jersey-born American, said he now feels more Canadian than American.
Schneider said, “It’s a very gratifying job because you have the whole country on every pitch. I feel it too. I feel like I’m more Canadian. I love drinking beer, I love drinking Tim Horton’s. I’m one of them.” “For everyone from coast to coast to coast to be a part of this is really special.”
“So happy for our team, our fans, our city, our country,” said Springer, who is from Connecticut but is in his fifth season with the Jays.
The Blue Jays last appeared in the World Series in 1993 and 1992 when they won consecutive championships. In 1992, the US Marine Corps displayed the Canadian flag upside down at Game 2 in Atlanta, but political tensions were not an issue then.
Canadians have not been booing the U.S. national anthem at sporting events in recent months, as they did at hockey and basketball games earlier in the year when Trump first threatened Canada.
When Canada defeated the US in a 4-nation face-off hockey tournament in February, it turned into a geopolitical dispute over the national anthem and annexation, as well as international hockey supremacy. The mood is not that intense right now.
When Carney was in the Oval Office this month, Trump was asked about the 23% decline in cross-border travel into the US
“The people of Canada, they will love us again,” Trump predicted.
Carney told Trump, “It’s not bad. They’ll be back.”
Carney then took the opportunity to brag about the Blue Jays.
“We’re coming to the World Series, Mr. President,” Carney said.
“Well, they’re looking pretty good,” Trump said of the Blue Jays.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB