‘#WANTITALL’ is an unlikely hashtag for a country that stakes its brand on being humble and nice. But for this World Series, Canadians are embracing it and belting it out far and wide as the slogan for their beloved Blue Jays.
The 2025 World Series between Canada’s only MLB team, the Toronto Blue Jays, and the storied Los Angeles Dodgers has seized the entire country and jolted it with a sense of joy rarely felt in Canada – except, of course, for the heights of international hockey drama.
From the streets of Whitehorse, Yukon, in Canada’s north to St. John’s, Newfoundland, more than 5,000 miles to the east, Canadians have galvanized around an unlikely band of heroes, many of them American – a bit of a cross-border love story at a time of unprecedented tensions between the US and its northern neighbor.
In the words of the Blue Jays’ American manager John Schneider: “It’s cool to play for a country.”
And no matter the outcome now, many Canadians say the Blue Jays and their fans have already won something.
“I just think it’s their will to win and to represent Canada,” said Jays fan Shirley Pitre, 93, from Ottawa, who adds that watching the team in the playoffs has been a welcome distraction from the country’s problems.
She and her husband, Marcel, also 93, haven’t missed a minute of the action they told CNN Sports, even staying up until 3 a.m. ET for an epic Game 3 that went 18 innings.
The series now heads back to Toronto with the Blue Jays leading three games to two, just one victory away from winning the Commissioner’s Trophy at home.
For many Canadians, it has been a reminder of what’s possible even with a team that finished last in its division just last season.
The Blue Jays’ improbable journey has moved in tandem with the fortunes of Toronto’s rookie American pitcher, Trey Yesavage.
Everyone from his manager to his parents have reminded the world that the 22-year-old was playing at the lowest level of the minors to start the season and that he only made Toronto’s roster in September. And yet, he has dazzled fans with his pitches and poise ever since.
The fans’ embrace of Yesavage has been next-level, proving this is not a cross-border grudge match but a true “world” series, with Americans, including Yesavage, leading the way in connecting with Canadian fans.
“We knew he was in good hands with all of our Canadian family,” said Yesavage’s father, Dave, as he gestured his appreciation to the Jays’ fans surrounding him during a mid-game interview on the Canadian broadcast of Game 1.
The Blue Jays went on to stun the Dodgers that night, taking the first game 11-4 and quieting early speculation that they would be swept in four games by the defending champs.
To add to the already iconic status of the 2025 Blue Jays’ run, the team has been led by the only Canadian on the team, who also just happens to be its star franchise player, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Guerrero Jr. was born in Montreal when his father, Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero Sr., played for the then-named Montreal Expos (now the Washington Nationals).
“You ask me if I’m ready, I born ready, I born ready,” said Guerrero Jr. to adoring fans at the Rogers Centre in Toronto after a defining Game 6 that kept the Blue Jays in the American League Championship Series against Seattle.
Guerrero Jr., who was raised most his life in the Dominican Republic, is now a Canadian sporting hero no matter the outcome of this series. He has become an inspiration to Blue Jays fans who are as diverse as the team and the country they cheer for.
And there is something else Canadians have embraced through this stellar playoff run: an uncharacteristic bit of swagger.
“Jays in 6!” yelled Marcel Pitre, sporting his vintage Blue Jays ballcap and a newfound confidence in what a gritty ball team can do to boost an entire country.