Just like Canada, baseball has a way of bringing diverse groups together
The Toronto Blue Jays are often referred to as Canada’s team because they’re the only Major League Baseball organization in the country. This season they’re playing the most exciting baseball we’ve seen in years, and even though their ranks don’t include many Canadian players, they certainly look a lot like Canada. There are as many…
Roberto Alomar was a great baseball player but there’s more to being a human than athleticism. The real hero is the woman who reported him
Public opinion is fickle. We love to sing the praises of individuals and put them on pedestals, but we’re just as apt to demonize these same people in the court of public opinion. Is this type of thinking getting us anywhere? Aren’t we all simply humans with the capacity to do good or bad things?…
Giving young players a chance to grow? More like a salary dump that turned into a dumpster fire. Too many MLB teams won't even strive for mediocrity
It’s always exciting to watch history, to see once-in-a-lifetime performances. A show so notable you’ll tell your grandkids, “I saw them play.” The list should include the 1976-’77 Montreal Canadiens, the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the 2017 Golden State Warriors … the 2019 Detroit Tigers. The what? The Detroit Tigers? What’s that all about? To paraphrase…
In both markets, money is an issue. That makes sense in Calgary, but not so much in Toronto
The week of infamy has begun for Toronto Blue Jays fans. Three years ago their team was a powerhouse, seemingly on the brink of a trip to the World Series. But the week before Major League Baseball’s 2019 trading deadline finds the Blue Jays gone from powerhouse to house of cards. The power and the…
MLB is in the throes of a sea change that promises to alter everything from parity in the sport to the running time of games
The Toronto Blue Jays have announced that second baseman Devon Travis will be out until at least May after having surgery on his knee. Well, thank God there are some traditions left in baseball. Travis being sent to the infirmary is one of the few predictable things left in the game. Seriously, Major League Baseball…
The Blue Jays’ president and GM bear the brunt of the blame for a horrible season, not the departing manager
Legendary baseball manager Leo Durocher once growled, “Show me a good loser and I‘ll show you a loser.” Soon-to-be ex-Blue Jays manager John Gibbons is certainly not a loser. Trips to the post-season in 2015 and 2016 showed him at his best. But for his 10 seasons during two stints in Toronto, his record was…
The 2015 and 2016 Jays were wildly successful but that winning culture couldn't be sustained. A new winning era will take time
In retail, the time-honoured phrase is “Under-promise and over-deliver.” In sports, you might amend that to: “If you promise something, you’d better deliver.” The history of sport is lined with examples of a fan base turning on a team that, just years earlier, it had worshipped. My book Ice Storm catalogues the meteoric romance between…
If a post-season berth is unlikely for Toronto, it may be time to dump aging, costly players and begin building for the future
Last spring, Rogers Communications had a big problem. In the first year of its massive new National Hockey League deal, not one Canadian team made the playoffs. Television and online ratings tanked, fans tuned out, and sponsors had to be massaged. Lots of people lost their jobs. It was the worst possible start for the…