WATCH — Kids share what this Blue Jays playoff run means to Canada | videoclip | Kids News
Blue Jays hope to win their first World Series since 1993
Can you remember the last time Canada had baseball fever like this?
Probably not.
That’s because the last time a Canadian team won the World Series was all the way back in 1993, when the Toronto Blue Jays won back-to-back championships.
This year, the Blue Jays are back in the World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers standing between Canada and the country’s first Major League Baseball championship in more than 30 years.
CBC Kids News talked to kids in Toronto and Barrie, Ontario, and Edmonton, Alberta, to ask them what they think the Blue Jays World Series run means to Canada.
Kids share what this Blue Jays team means to Canada
A brief history of Major League Baseball in Canada
“The old ball game,” is a line from the classic baseball song Take Me Out to the Ball Game.
How old, you ask?
The first World Series championship was played in 1905.
But Canada didn’t get a Major League Baseball team until the Montreal Expos joined the league in 1969. The Toronto Blue Jays joined a few years later in 1977.
You might even recognize a familiar name, Vladimir Guerrero.
The current Blue Jays star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was a fan favourite in Canada long before he joined the MLB.
That’s because his dad, Vladimir Guerrero Sr., played for the Montreal Expos from 1996 to 2003.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. stands with his dad, Vladimir Sr., during a Montreal Expos game on Sept. 29, 2002. (Image Credit: Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press)
Unfortunately, Vladimir Guerrero Sr. was never able to help bring the World Series to Canada.
Due to financial challenges and lack of support, the Montreal Expos were eventually bought out by the league and moved to Washington, D.C., in 2005.
Now Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has the opportunity to do something his dad never did: Play in the World Series for Canada’s only MLB team.
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TOP IMAGE CREDIT: Steph Chambers/Getty Images
