{"id":650923,"date":"2026-03-29T18:08:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T18:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/650923\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T18:08:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T18:08:15","slug":"report-blue-jays-schneider-received-letter-from-kerr-following-game-7-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/650923\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: Blue Jays’ Schneider received letter from Kerr following Game 7 loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

As John Schneider got settled into his office ahead of the season opener, he had to catch up on some mail, including a letter that appeared to be delivered shortly after the Toronto Blue Jays<\/a>‘ season ended. <\/p>\n

Inside was a handwritten letter bearing the logo of the Golden State Warriors<\/a>. Schneider would realize that it was addressed to him from head coach Steve Kerr.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018holy s\u2014,\u2019\u201d Schneider told Mitch Bannon of The Athletic.<\/a><\/p>\n

The letter, dated Nov. 2, 2025 \u2014 one day after Toronto\u2019s Game 7 loss in the World Series \u2014 caught Schneider off guard.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know you,\u201d Kerr wrote<\/a>, \u201cbut I felt compelled to reach out after watching your incredible leadership on display during the World Series.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kerr referenced the pain of defeat, drawing a parallel to his own experience in the 2016 NBA Finals, when his Warriors lost Game 7 to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pain was real,\u201d Kerr wrote. \u201cBut what always survives through the tough losses is the character and connection of the group. The loss won\u2019t define you, but the way you and your guys carried themselves afterwards will.\u201d<\/p>\n

The message resonated with Schneider, reinforcing what he and the Blue Jays have emphasized throughout the off-season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the message we\u2019ve been preaching all off-season and in spring,\u201d Schneider said to Bannon. \u201cThe run was great, and the heartbreak was real, but it\u2019s not going to define who we are. What we\u2019re going to be defined by is how we persevere through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schneider, who took over as manager in July 2022 after replacing Charlie Montoyo, said he leaned heavily on leadership resources early in his tenure. <\/p>\n

He admitted that he was studying coaches across sports, including Kerr.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have him watch me, and how I handled the pressure and decisions and media, to have him kind of give me the stamp of approval was pretty cool,\u201d Schneider said.<\/p>\n

The 45-year-old finished second in American League manager of the year voting last season and was recently extended through 2028. He has managed 561 major-league games, owning a .522 winning percentage, along with 22 playoff contests.<\/p>\n

Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro is expected to help connect Schneider with Kerr so he can personally thank him for the letter.<\/p>\n

The Blue Jays manager said the letter offered both reflection and perspective as Toronto turns the page.<\/p>\n

After that 2016 defeat, Kerr\u2019s Warriors went on to win back-to-back NBA championships. Schneider hopes his club can follow a similar path.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he can see the good in what we did,\u201d Schneider said, \u201cit kind of gives you a little bit of reassurance that you\u2019re preaching the right things.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As John Schneider got settled into his office ahead of the season opener, he had to catch up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":650924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2378],"tags":[5,377,2554,4,282,70,2553],"class_list":{"0":"post-650923","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-blue-jays","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-blue-jays","10":"tag-bluejays","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-toronto","13":"tag-toronto-blue-jays","14":"tag-torontobluejays"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116313804357283783","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}