Amid threats from United States President Donald Trump to make Canada the 51st state, the Toronto Blue Jays’ season started with protocols aimed at avoiding booing during the American national anthem and the removal of someone wearing a “Canada is not for sale hat” at the ballpark.

Nonetheless, the Blue Jays are being heavily marketed as “Canada’s team” throughout their march to the World Series after beating the Seattle Mariners following their vanquishing of the New York Yankees, America’s most storied baseball team.

Why do the Blue Jays frame themselves as not just Toronto’s team, but Canada’s? And is their current post-season run their biggest and most important opportunity in years to fully establish themselves as representing all of Canada?

Performers assembled into shapes resembling the American and Canadian flags before the start of Game One of the 2025 World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Truly Canada’s team?

The Jays serving as Canada’s team may make sense since they’re the only Canadian team currently playing in Major League Baseball (MLB). But to some Canadians, positioning the Jays as the nation’s team may not sit well.

After all, for baseball fans in Québec, memories of the now-defunct Montreal Expos still loom large.

Montreal Expos Pete Rose celebrates his 4,000th career hit with teammates against the Philadelphia Phillies at Olympic Stadium in Montréal in April 1984. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ron Poling

Finally, some British Columbia MLB enthusiasts — despite the trips Blue Jays fans make to take over T-Mobile Park when the Blue Jays play the Seattle Mariners — still opt to support the Mariners since the team is so much closer than the Blue Jays are in Toronto.

What all this means is that to some Canadian baseball fans, the Blue Jays aren’t really Canada’s team — they’re just Toronto’s.

Huge market

It’s unsurprising that the Toronto Blue Jays organization, owned by Rogers Communications — “proud owner of Canada’s team” — is intent on framing the squad this way because it provides a substantial financial boon. The Jays benefit greatly from being Canada’s team by compelling baseball fans from across the country to attend their games, and most importantly, to watch them on television.

Despite playing north of the border and earning revenues in the weaker Canadian dollar, the Jays operate in one of MLB’s largest markets — Toronto — and can also market to fans across the country. That gives them the largest geographical market in professional baseball — an entire nation.

This massive audience contributes to equally massive television ratings, even at a time when most MLB teams are struggling for regional television revenues. Being “Canada’s team” has also allowed the Blue Jays to spend competitively over the past 10 years and operate a Top 5 payroll, as they have in 2025, alongside other teams in huge markets like Los Angeles and New York.

Cross-border trash-talking

In the midst of the series against the Yankees, Prime Minister Mark Carney met with Trump to discuss trade, tariffs, and security. Initial reports suggested the meeting, held just days after Trump made yet another veiled annexation threat, went well.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 7, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

But the ongoing backdrop of tense relations between the U.S. and Canada is perhaps echoed by some of the commentary about both teams.

Early in the season, the Yankees’ play-by-play man, Michael Kay, called Toronto “not a first-place team” despite the Blue Jays having just passed the Yankees for first place in the American League East.

In September, Jays colour-commentator and former catcher, Buck Martinez, said that the Yankees were “not a good team.”

Also in September, Baltimore Orioles television analyst Brian Roberts questioned how well Canadians understood baseball, prompting the Blue Jays to defend their fans’ baseball intelligence.

There was even a popular hoax online about Trump not inviting the Blue Jays to the White House should they win the World Series — an invite he’s extended to many championship teams in American sports leagues.

Stoking Canadian nationalism

Ultimately, the Blue Jays bested the Yankees and are advancing to the American League championship series. Blue Jays players and their manager, John Schneider, have spoken of the intense atmosphere Blue Jays fans create for their opponents and how the team draws on the support of the entire nation of Canada.

A Toronto Blue Jays fan holds up a sign ahead of the start of the American League Division Series MLB playoff series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Yankees on Oct. 4, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

The Jays’ success so far in the post-season in this current political moment — as Trump is once again making veiled threats about making Canada the 51st state during tense trade negotiations — presents the Blue Jays with perhaps their best opportunity to fulfil their role as Canada’s team.

In a season defined by rivalry, politics, and national pride, the Blue Jays are proving that even America’s pastime can become a canvas for Canadian nationalism.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.