Nicholas Paleolog, left, and Adam Peddle co-host the Blue Jays Today podcast from their apartment in Toronto.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
Nicholas Paleolog and Adam Peddle have transformed a sizable percentage of their Toronto apartment into a podcast studio, where they talk about the Blue Jays at all hours.
One can’t tell from watching their stream on YouTube, but the darkened set spans their living room and kitchen, with the dinner table acting as a podcast desk.
A pod about Toronto’s beloved baseball team began as a hobby for the two long-time friends, roommates and diehard fans five years ago. They once balanced it while both working at a Toronto tequila bar and recording episodes after their shifts, discussing the latest Jays games and team developments into the wee hours. They’ve kept it up since, year-round, steadily building an audience and a loyal community for their content – by fans, for fans. Now, the two co-hosts of Blue Jays Today make their living doing this full-time. What a time it is, to have a Jays podcast.
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The guys of Blue Jays Today keep a hectic pace, self-producing audio, video and social-media content in their home studio – pregame shows, in-game live streams, postgame analysis, news developments, reactionary social-media clips. They land interviews with baseball broadcasters and occasionally Blue Jays players. Paleolog and Peddle rise and fall emotionally with the Jays, especially now in the post-season of the club’s most fascinating year in nearly a decade, with the team battling in the American League Championship Series for the first time since 2016.
Since they stream live during games from their home, they never attend at the stadium. They don’t have rights to show any gameplay, so the visual is simply of Peddle and Paleolog in their home studio, excitedly watching the game on TV, and reacting to the action. Hundreds – or sometimes thousands – tune into their stream and comment in a chat room. (“You’d be surprised at how much of an audience there is for that,” said Paleolog).
The two hosts went wild watching rookie pitching sensation Trey Yesavage in Toronto’s American League Division Series Game 2 victory over the Yankees and sprung out of their chairs for the five Blue Jay home runs. Two days later, the podcasters were shell-shocked watching Game 3, desperately donning rally caps trying to stave off the Jays’ astonishing collapse.
Blue Jays memorabilia and a subscriber goal board hang behind Nicholas Paleolog and Adam Peddle when they co-host the Blue Jays Today podcast.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
“The Jays are like a really great story and whenever there are exciting moments in that story, a lot of people tune in and they want to be engaging with it all the time,” said Paleolog, a 2020 graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of Performance. “They need their daily fix.”
It’s not just fans from Toronto. They interact with Jays followers from many countries. This Blue Jays team has provided a treasure trove of storylines to discuss, from last place American League East finishers in 2024 to surprise winners of the division in 2025. While past years saw them focused on topics like superstar free-agent Shohei Ohtani spurning the Jays, this year, they can banter about October baseball.
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“A lot of our success is dependent on the Blue Jays, mainly because we also need to get a lot of sponsors in on the show, and sponsors really like to see if the Jays are doing well,” said Peddle, who graduated from TMU’s media school. “Them going to the ALDS and winning the division is absolutely massive for our fan base right now.”
Blue Jays Today is one of the many popular podcasts about Canada’s sole MLB team, produced by diehard Jays fans creating content and building community for other fans. This season has been a boon for fan-focused Jays pods, big and small, many experiencing audience growth. These podcasts differ in style – whether cursing from armchairs or leaning into analytics – but these creators all bleed blue.
Paleolog and Peddle show the wheel they use to engage with their listeners.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
The Walk Off is another podcast that has grown from its early days in 2020, created by lifelong Jays fan and stand-up comedian Scott Belford, as something to do during the pandemic while no one was booking live comedy shows.
Belford and his co-hosts do mailbag episodes to answer fan questions and ‘Long Toss’ episodes with panelists. They sometimes talk to Jays reporters. Topics this week included the Jays relievers who make them nervous, and why Yankees fans are accusing the Jays of cheating.
A niche for The Walk Off has been inviting Low-A minor-league players from the Blue Jays system onto their show. Davis Schneider was practically a regular on the show by the time the Jays called him up to the majors. They interviewed several pitchers now in Toronto’s bullpen, like Mason Fluharty and Brendon Little.
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These days, Belford makes his living as a comedian, but still makes The Walk Off podcast on the side, even while travelling on comedy tours, sometimes recording from hotels or cruise ships.
The native of Grand Prairie, Alta., has been hooked on the Jays since he was a kid, especially watching them win back-to-back World Series when he was 10 and 11.
“One of the appeals to our podcast is that I do a lot of these shows from the road, and it’s interesting to see the Blue Jays fandom that stretches across this country,” said Belford. “From B.C. to Halifax. I was also doing shows in Yellowknife, and everyone was caught up in Blue Jays fever. I can attest that this is Canada’s team.”
The popular Gate 14, hosted by Johnny Giunta and Avery Chenier, describes itself as “the most electric Toronto Blue Jays podcast on the planet.” The pair also stream their live reactions while watching games, and record their unfiltered commentary afterward. They’ve had viral moments too – like golfing against some Blue Jays and having Jays president Mark Shapiro visit their section at a game, to chants from their supporters.
Paleolog and Peddle have Jays memorabilia across their apartment-turned-podcast studio.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
It’s a common formula to have two close friends talking Jays. That’s also the case for the podcast Bird’s Eye View. Zach Worden and Jori Negin-Shecter met while studying sports journalism at Centennial College in 2022. What started as an audio-only school project has morphed over the years into a video podcast. While they used to do an episode once or twice a week, now they’re posting every other day to capitalize on the Jays’ popularity.
They both work at Sportsnet now but do this pod on the side. They record after work, and since Worden moved to Calgary, that’s tough. By the time they finish recording, it’s sometimes 4 a.m. ET.
“It’s to the point where it’s obsessive,” said Negin-Shecter.
They do postgame shows to dissect every playoff contest. They lean into baseball analytics. They also have deep knowledge of the Jays minor leaguers, having interviewed prospects and broadcasters for the affiliate teams.
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Long before most Blue Jays fans got to see Trey Yesavage pitch for the big-league club, Bird’s Eye View was discussing his progress through the minors. The day the Jays called the young pitcher up, they did an emergency episode to analyze the breaking news. It was their most popular episode ever.
They’re a startup podcast just for fun, but to see some of their videos get into the thousands for views is rewarding.
“Even if it was two views, we’d still be doing it,” said Worden, who previously played baseball at the University of Calgary and then Centennial.
“I enjoy hopping on the podcast late at night, getting to talk with Jori about baseball all the time, build a little community. That is honestly the best part to me.”