After coming within inches of a World Series title, the Blue Jays could capitalize on baseball fever across Canada with a tour of the country’s major cities in the coming years.
Just over a month ago, one of the most thrilling Fall Classics of all time came to a riveting end at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, with the Los Angeles Dodgers edging out the Blue Jays in an 11-inning Game 7 classic that will serve as a lifelong heartbreaker for Jays fans.
Yet before that heartbreaker, an entire country was swept up by the Blue Jays’ incredible postseason run, one that seemed improbable at the start of the season with expectations of a fourth- or fifth-place finish in the American League East.
With the Blue Jays being Canada’s lone MLB team since the Montreal Expos left for Washington, D.C. ahead of the 2005 season, sports fans in all major metropolitan areas were unthinkably brushing early-season hockey aside to fully tune in to October baseball.
Fans in the Vancouver area received a special treat of their own, with the Blue Jays making their way through the Seattle Mariners in a thrilling ALCS that saw two Toronto wins at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, known for hosting a large number of visiting Blue Jays fans due to the city’s proximity to Vancouver.
While the season ended in unimaginable heartbreak, baseball fever will surely be at unforeseen levels heading into a 2026 season with high expectations, already solidified with the long-term addition of right-handed star pitcher Dylan Cease.
Though the 2026 schedule has long been in place, the Blue Jays could capitalize on the significant increase of interest in baseball in the coming years by playing regular season home games in major Canadian cities, giving fans across the country a chance to see real MLB action.
Although Montreal and Vancouver are frequently floated as possible future MLB expansion cities, it’s fair to say that an MLB team won’t be calling Calgary or Winnipeg their home anytime soon.
While it’s now just a pipe dream of my own, here’s what a tour of Canada for the Blue Jays could look like, with a hypothetical matchup for the six Canadian NHL cities that do not have an MLB team –
1. Montreal – Toronto Blue Jays vs. Washington Nationals
Though there are certainly a few compelling options here, it feels like this would be the one appropriate time for the Nationals to lean into their history as the Expos in a celebration of MLB’s history in Canada.
While I doubt that any leftover baseball fans in Montreal kept rooting for the franchise as they moved to D.C., a series like this would bring incredible nostalgia to fans across the country while also presenting an opportunity to bring back some of the most iconic names in Blue Jays and Expos franchise history.
The Nationals could even wear Expos uniforms for the series, a practice that would echo what has occasionally been seen in the NHL, with the Carolina Hurricanes and Colorado Avalanche having previously worn jerseys to pay homage to the Hartford Whalers and Quebec Nordiques, respectively.
2. Ottawa – Toronto Blue Jays vs. New York Yankees
Though one wouldn’t mistake Ottawa for a baseball city, locals likely still reminisce of the days of the Ottawa Lynx, a Triple-A team that served as the minor league affiliate for the Expos, Baltimore Orioles and Philadelphia Phillies over their 15-year lifespan.
It’d be harder to find a better way to bring fans out to the park than to have perhaps the Blue Jays’ biggest division rival and the sport’s most recognizable franchise in the New York Yankees as Toronto’s opponent.
On top of giving fans a riveting divisional regular season series to sink their teeth into, fans more unfamiliar with the sport would be given a double dose of baseball royalty between the two countries while showcasing Ottawa as a legitimate sports city to the rest of North America.
3. Winnipeg – Toronto Blue Jays vs. Minnesota Twins
Although the least likely Canadian city to ever host an MLB team, Winnipeg’s brutal winters wouldn’t be much of a factor in a midsummer three-game affair, with a matchup against the Minnesota Twins being the most fitting for the Jays’ stop in Manitoba’s largest city.
In addition to simply bringing regular season baseball action to another major Canadian city, this matchup also provides some perks of proximity – with the Blue Jays known to draw a noticeable visiting crowd at Minneapolis’ Target Field when playing the Twins.
The series helps bridge that gap a bit by introducing a new location, while also perhaps allowing Twins fans who reside in North Dakota an easier way to see their favorite team play.
The current presence of baseball in Winnipeg is limited to the Winnipeg Goldeyes, who play in the independent American Association as the lone Canadian team in the league.
4. Edmonton – Toronto Blue Jays vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
This was a tough choice and perhaps a bit of a stretch, but without any other clear ties for an opponent, why not bring the World Series rematch and one of baseball’s most recognizable teams to Edmonton.
Similar to Ottawa, Edmonton has some background hosting a minor league baseball team – though with a brutal winter climate and a great distance away from most other major cities, it’s hard to ever see the city getting a team of their own.
With Oilers fans sidetracked this season by the Blue Jays’ run, the most potent way to keep baseball at the top of fans’ minds would be to attract with the most prominent of marquee matchups – with a rematch of a seven-game World Series being hard to top.
The series could serve as both an emphatic promotion of Canadian baseball and an exhibition of what is currently the sport’s most prevalent franchise with the game’s biggest names.
5. Calgary – Toronto Blue Jays vs. Colorado Rockies
This one may be the biggest stretch of them all, but there might as well be a theme to them! This interleague matchup would feature Canada’s team taking on the Colorado Rockies, the team of the Rocky Mountains, played in the northernmost major city in proximity to the Rocky Mountains.
While I’d have to imagine most baseball fans in Calgary simply cheer on the Blue Jays, this series would provide an endless amount of opportunities for a scenic backdrop while also giving traveling Rockies fans an excuse to make a trip north of the border.
Calgary also has a history with minor league baseball, with the now defunct Calgary Cannons having been the team of several prominent major leaguers, including Alex Rodriguez, Omar Vizquel, Derrek Lee, A.J. Burnett and Edgar Martínez, among many others.
In addition to bringing meaningful baseball to a new audience, the series could help establish a tradition between two franchises that have essentially no connection to one another.
6. Vancouver – Toronto Blue Jays vs. Seattle Mariners
In the most obvious of the matchups this year, it honestly is a little surprising to me that the league hasn’t established a venue for this already.
While Mariners fans certainly held their home field in this year’s ALCS against the Blue Jays from a crowd perspective, regular season Mariners-Blue Jays games in Seattle typically feature an electric atmosphere and split allegiance crowd, thanks to the large amount of Blue Jays fans traveling from nearby Vancouver.
Moving a series to Vancouver itself would be integral in bringing meaningful action closer to a newer, frequently forgotten about Canadian fanbase, further solidified by having affiliated minor league baseball’s lone Canadian minor league baseball team – the Blue Jays’ High-A affiliate in the Vancouver Canadians.
Though plenty of Mariners fans would surely make the trip up to Vancouver itself, the series could also help serve as an audition for MLB as a permanent fixture in the city – a possibility the league would be smart to entertain if global expansion of the sport’s popularity is still of interest.
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