As October rolled in, the crowd in front of the TV in York Lanes started to get bigger. The topic of conversation in the Student Centre started to change. Students started to skip their classes for a different reason. Blue shirts and baseball caps suddenly seemed a lot more popular.
That all came to an end this past Friday when the Toronto Blue Jays were knocked out of the American League Championship Series in Game 6 by the Kansas City Royals. But though life for baseball fans at York is set to gradually return to normal after the heartbreaking loss, many are proud of what the Jays have achieved this season.
“I personally think that this was an amazing season,” says third-year student Jeff McKeown. Many fans feel that the Jays’ success this season stood out especially because of their failure in recent years. “You think back to all the years of mediocrity and how this team couldn’t get anything going,” says Jaabir Patel. “This year they just took off.”
The season didn’t start off that way though. At the beginning, says McKeown, it was “nothing fancy, a win here and there and a relatively empty stadium.” But things started to change for the better halfway through the season when the Jays acquired blue-chip stars such as David Price, Troy Tulowitzki, and Ben Revere.
“They acquired some great talent and the team’s chemistry was different than it had been for the past 22 years,” says Jessica Habkirk, also a third year student. The mention of the past 22 years was prominent in discussions of the Jays’ performance as they came within two games of clinching their spot in the World Series for the first time since 1993.
“Add some great stats and a knack for clinch situations,” adds Habkirk, “and you’ve got a team that keeps you at the edge of your seat.”
The reaction in Toronto and across Canada was euphoric as the Jays started to pick up their game on their way into the playoffs. “It could be argued that they united a large part of the country and certainly us here [in Toronto],” says Habkirk. “The city was electric with excitement and that fact contributed to their success.”
“The city of Toronto has longed for a dominant team in any sport,” adds Patel, pointing out the poor performance of the Maple Leafs in hockey and the Raptors in basketball in the past decade.
“Now you have the Jays that became the best team in baseball, hands down.”
Hassam Munir, Sports and Health Editor
