George Springer, left, and Alejandro Kirk exemplify the fun vibes that have existed around this Toronto Blue Jays franchise of late.Cole Burston/Getty Images
As he came into Wednesday’s news conference, Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider did a little stutter step. The room was full.
Schneider cursed softly and said, “But it’s a Wednesday.”
It’s his own fault. This is what happens when you do something right in Toronto.
Later, the Jays filled the empty hours between now and the beginning of their post-season with an intramural game. They’ll do it again on Thursday.
Intramural is a Latin word meaning ‘I hope no one snaps an ankle.’ It’s either this or sit around waiting for the American League Divisional Series to come to them. The purpose of playing pretend games was, according to Toronto general manager Ross Atkins, “to break up the monotony.”
If you thought being a ballplayer is like living in an HBO sports documentary, it isn’t. A lot of it is sitting around playing cards. Nobody watches more daytime TV at work than a professional baseball player.
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With about 24 hours notice, the Jays invited anyone who wanted to come and watch them go out on the field and go somewhere between 40 and 60 per cent to do so. Ten bucks a ticket. Sit where you like. The proceeds go to a Jays charity.
A weekday afternoon to watch glorified batting practice is a tough sell, but the diehards were there when they opened the doors.
It took a couple of minutes for some bright bulb to figure out that festival seating really does mean you can sit anywhere. The barcaloungers behind home plate lasted about 30 seconds between the first bum hitting the seat, and the last spot being filled.
The Toronto Blue Jays won the AL East division for the first time in a decade, and earned themselves almost a week off in the process.Cole Burston/Getty Images
By the time the 4 p.m. start rolled around, the lower bowl was about a third full.
If nothing else, the experience was anthropological. What would big-time sport in a nine-figure building look like if no one cared about the score?
It’d look like Ernie Clement taking practice grounders while wearing a bucket hat.
It’d look like George Springer and Vlad Guerrero Jr. decamping the home dugout just before the start of the game to join the visitors. Maybe they got traded. Guerrero took all of his bats. Springer only brought along his favourite.
It’d look like embattled closer Jeff Hoffman starting. Even he looked weirded out by it. Even if it was his idea, it’s a strange message to send.
Before first pitch, they played both the U.S. and Canadian anthems, despite there being zero American involvement. Consistency, people. Consistency.
On the heat scale, I would rate this game a small, controlled grease fire. Not so hot that you’d bother telling people about it, but hot enough to require some attention.
Manager John Schneider gets doused with cold water by star first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. after last Sunday’s division-clinching victory over the Tampa Bays Rays.Dan Hamilton/Reuters
There weren’t enough people on hand to make much noise, so Game Ops pumped in canned crowd noise. If you were there, you now know the Toronto Blue Jays’ preferred level of cheering at a home playoff game. It’s a low roar.
When the noise wasn’t noisy enough, they started playing music over top of it.
Watching nonsense baseball on the field, while watching Cleveland bury Detroit on the monitors, was vaguely surreal. The two polarities of the game, transposed.
No sport is better built for half-paying attention than regular-season baseball, and none requires so much close concentration as the playoff variety. It’s really two different sports, depending on when you see it.
In recent seasons, the Jays have famously folded up under October scrutiny. This not-ready-for-prime-time vibe is the can they are most anxious to cut loose. That won’t happen until they win a post-season game, and will get so much worse if they start with a loss.
Maybe this is why they are so determined to seem like they are having fun. Few teams expend more energy telling you how much they love each other. On Wednesday, Atkins and Schneider spent long stretches talking about the special bond the team shares with each other. It’s amazing how easy it is to get along with your co-workers when things are going well.
The Toronto Blue Jays might be having one of their most fun-filled seasons ever.Cole Burston/Getty Images
Still, you wouldn’t catch a Canadian NHL team putting on phony games like this during the post-season, no matter how many days off they had. Their work is like brain surgery – far too serious to do for kicks. You wouldn’t want anyone thinking that hockey isn’t the single most important thing in the world.
The 2025 Jays do have that magic of not talking about their work like it’s particle physics. A lot of the fun is manufactured – for instance, the shirts-off, disco vibe of their champagne celebrations. But that’s what sports is – fun for money.
A less fun team wouldn’t have invited the fans to come by, knowing there wouldn’t be enough of them to make it look impressive.
A less fun team wouldn’t expose its stars to live fire on an off day, thereby running the small, but not entirely insignificant risk, that one of them catch a fastball in the nose.
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When you think about it, right now is the most fun period the Jays have had in a long time. Ever, maybe.
There was no wild card in the eighties and nineties. All those Jays super teams downed tools after game 162 and then got on a plane. The last time Toronto won the division, the wild-card was only one game.
A week off between the regular season and the playoffs is totally new to this franchise. This is its basking time. It remains undefeated in this year’s playoffs.
Nobody sounded worried about what’s coming on Wednesday, but when do they ever? Watching the way the wild-card series are playing out – small mental mistakes the deciding factor in most games – I’d be a little worried. History has not been kind to this group, but that’s a worry for another day.
Wednesday’s game ended in a score of who cares. Half the time, you couldn’t even tell who was pitching. The people who showed up got their money’s worth and more. Every single one of them got a prime seat.
Most importantly, the Jays made their point – “Who, us? Worry?” We’ll have to wait until Saturday to figure out who exactly they were trying to convince – us, or themselves.