TORONTO — The home opener of an 82-game season can unite a city. Accordingly, the CN Tower, the jewel of Toronto’s skyline, was lit up red and black for the Raptors on Friday night — well, at least it was some of the time.

Less than two hours before the Raptors were scheduled to begin their home season with a game against the Milwaukee Bucks, head coach Darko Rajaković strolled into a small room adjacent to the team’s locker room, as usual. Unlike his predecessor, Nick Nurse, Rajaković doesn’t generally wear a baseball cap.

On Friday? Rajaković wore a Toronto Blue Jays hat to his pre-game news conference.

“Any questions about the Raptors?” Rajaković asked before he had to field any questions from reporters. He was aware the city’s sports attention was, errr, split.

Don’t worry: The CN Tower was also lit up blue and gold for the first game of the World Series on Friday, too. Game 1 of that series went on Friday. The Raptors also played the Bucks, a 122-116 loss, with the home team bumping the game’s start time up by an hour to minimize the conflict between the two games. After the basketball game ended, the Raptors put the World Series game on the big screen that hangs over the court at Scotiabank Arena. A few thousand fans stuck around to see Daulton Varsho’s two-run homer that tied the game in the fourth inning, ultimately an 11-4 Blue Jays win. A loud roar reached the back of the arena. A smaller crowd celebrated even more joyously when Addison Barger hit the first pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history.

It was clear which game was the undercard.

The Raptors did not hide from that. During a timeout, they played “OK Blue Jays,” the baseball team’s folksy song used during the seventh-inning stretch since early in the franchise’s existence. The fans merrily sang along. The game operations crew had already spliced George Springer’s go-ahead homer from Game 7 of the American League Championship Series into a montage of memorable recent Toronto sports moments, including Jozy Altidore’s goal for Toronto FC in the 2017 MLS Cup and Kawhi Leonard’s four-bounce miracle shot to win the Eastern Conference semifinals for the Raptors in 2019. Before the basketball game ended, the Raptors put the score on the big screen several times, and boos rained down when public address announcer Herbie Kuhn told fans the Dodgers had scored the game’s first run.

The Raptors are repping their neighbours down the street for the World Series tonight 🇨🇦

(via: @Raptors) pic.twitter.com/6UyfCJMJQM

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) October 24, 2025

Credit where it’s due: Despite the early start time, the arena was mostly filled by the 6:30 local start time, even if some of those fans wished they were five blocks away at Rogers Centre, preparing for first pitch.

“We’re monitoring it, of course,” fan Delton Bartlette said just 15 minutes before first pitch while rocking both Blue Jays and Raptors jerseys. “We’re here to support the home team. It’s the home opener, this is big. But our hearts are a little focused on what’s going on down there as well.”

So, why still rep the Raptors in Scotiabank Arena?

“I think the price was a big factor,” his friend Lee Seward said with a laugh. Most tickets on the resale market were selling for well north of $1,000 per seat in the days leading up to Game 1. “But we haven’t missed an opener for the Raptors in like five years. Obviously, if we had to pick from one or the other, it would be watching the World Series, but we love these guys.”

Even if they could only be with their Blue Jays in spirit, Bartlette and Seward had their phones charged up and ready to stream the game from their seats at the Raptors game, determined to not miss a pitch at Rogers Centre.

“I mean, it’s the World Series over there,” Bartette exclaimed.

Unless you’re a Los Angelino, they don’t come around often. Thirty-two years and one day prior to Friday night, Joe Carter knocked a Mitch Williams pitch over the left-field wall to give the Toronto Blue Jays their second consecutive World Series. Back then, what is now known as Rogers Centre was called the SkyDome. The derelict Toronto Postal Service Centre, now Scotiabank Arena, was on the eastern end of Bremner Boulevard, the street that connects the two buildings. Back then, it was still standing only because it was protected as a building of architectural and historic importance by the Ontario Heritage Act.

Before Friday, that was the last time a World Series game had been played in Toronto. Garrett Temple, who is 39, was the only Raptor who was alive when that game was played. Only one of Toronto’s three most prominent professional sports teams has been in a final series since Carter’s home run — the Raptors in 2019. This was the first time since June 10 of that year, when Draymond Green blocked a Kyle Lowry 3-pointer at the buzzer and sent that matchup back to Oakland, that the city had played host to a championship series game.

The Raptors crowd, generally decked out in red, black, gold, purple, white and some of the other colours the Raptors have featured over the years, sported far more blue than usual on Friday. From hats to jerseys to bomber jackets, lots of the Blue Jays gear nodded to those previous World Series trips.

Alijah Martin, the Raptors rookie on a two-way contract who was not active for the game, wore a white Blue Jays jersey underneath his zip-up with a new Jays cap. A bunch of Raptors came into the arena wearing Blue Jays gear, including reserve shooter Jamison Battle wearing a Louis Varland jersey. You’ve got to appreciate a man who appreciates high-leverage relievers. Even The Raptor, Toronto’s mascot, changed into a Blue Jays jersey for the second half.

Nav Bhatia, the Raptors’ “Superfan” who received a championship ring for the 2019 title, has attended every Raptors home game ever, save for those he could not go to because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This is my home. This is my first love,” Bhatia said before the game from his baseline courtside seats when asked if he considered heading across the street. “(The Blue Jays) are my neighbours. I wish them all the best. They’re going to do well. But I’m here.”

Bhatia said that with an open Blue Jays jersey, with “95” and “Superfan” on the back, on top of his Raptors jersey. There is a season for all things.