TORONTO -- Jose Bautista and Josh Donaldson stared out from a full-page color ad in the Toronto Star Wednesday, each wielding hockey sticks. “Go Leafs Go,” the ad proclaimed.
Of course. Another hockey season was about to begin -- the Maple Leafs were hosting their ancient rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, Wednesday night in Air Canada Centre -- and a national obsession was about to kick in for another winter.
Not so fast, Puck Daddy. For the first time in 22 years, the local baseball nine has some unfinished business. Playoff fever has gripped Toronto -- and the rest of the Great White North -- in a way not seen since Joe Carter was seen joyously galloping around the bases after his World Series-winning walkoff home run off Mitch [Wild Thing] Williams here in 1993.
The Blue Jays not only are back in the postseason, but they also have been pegged to go all the way, just as they did in back-to-back seasons in ’92 and ’93, and a slumbering fan base has awakened with a vengeance. The last 23 games the Blue Jays played home, they drew crowds in excess of 40,000. Everywhere the Blue Jays went on the road, thousands of their fans migrated with them, a practice that supposedly was the sole province of fans of the Yankees, Red Sox and Cubs.
Playoff tickets sold out in two hours, with some being hawked on websites in excess of $2,000 for a dugout seat.
R.A. Dickey, the Blue Jays’ knuckleball pitcher, instantly became a man of the people when he tweeted out: “I vote for no work day for Toronto fans on (Thursday) or Friday so they can watch the games #nationalholiday.”
Lo and behold, one company took Dickey up on the suggestion. Canadian Tire announced it was closing its office headquarters in Toronto and Calgary on Friday, giving 5,000 employees a chance to watch the Jays, who have been relegated to daytime slots for the first two games of their series against the Texas Rangers.
In Ottawa, a man was excused from jury duty when he wrote a letter to the court, saying he had bought a ticket for Game 1 before he knew he would be empaneled.
The mayor of Toronto, John Tory, announced plans to set up big screens in front of city hall for fans to watch there. The same is happening at Celebration Square in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga.
Similar stories abound elsewhere, which is why, when Blue Jays manager John Gibbons is asked how his team will respond to a playoff atmosphere Thursday afternoon, he gives a “been there, done that” response.
“If you've been here these last few weeks," he said, “they've been all sellouts. From pitch one, everybody's been on their feet, really into it. I don't know how it can be much different, to be honest with you, as loud as it's been, as enthusiastic as they've been. We'll see, but I don't know how it can get any better, that's for sure.”
It makes a difference, said Game 1 starter David Price, who cut his big-league teeth pitching in a frequently empty Tropicana Field as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays.
“I really feel that fans don’t understand how they can have their hand in sporting events,” he said Wednesday, beginning his media session by placing a cartoon sketch of himself and his dog Astro on the table in front of him, along with a new pair of Nike playoff cleats, size 13 1/2 (“Thank you, Michael," he said to you-know-who).
“Maybe more so in football -- whenever you're about to score on your opponent and you're going into the noisy section or the student section, whatever it is," Price said, “but baseball's the same. It can turn 95 into 96. It can make that hitter get to that pitcher's pitch. It pumps you up. I mean, there's definitely, whenever you have that many fans and they're that loud, it's just that added element of -- I mean, everybody out there tomorrow's going to have adrenaline, but it will take it to that next level and it's a big factor.”
Well, maybe not. Tuesday night, Yankee Stadium was as loud as it has been since they built the billion-dollar palace and the Yankees were held to three hits and no runs by the upstart Astros. By the end of the night, the crowd had turned ugly, booing the home team.
It’s hard to see that happening to Price, regardless of the outcome. For one, his arrival at the trading deadline gave an already explosive offensive team the component it was missing to take off from the rest of the American League East. Price has made 11 starts for the Jays, and has gone 9-1 with a 2.30 ERA, holding opposing hitters to a .207 batting average. If he is not the favorite to win the American League Cy Young Award, he is 1-B to Dallas Keuchel’s 1-A.
And he wasted no time weaving himself into the fabric of an already-tight clubhouse.
“I didn't know David at all,” Gibbons said, “other than competing against him in Tampa and then a couple times here when he was Detroit, so you always respect him as a competitor.
“I didn't realize he was the fun-loving, outgoing guy that he is. From day one it was like he has been here for years, he really fit in with the guys. He's a character. He's really one of the characters of the game once you get to know him.
“That's big. I mean, it's never easy being traded, you go to a new spot, but, like I said, it was like he had been here for years and he fit right in."
Price sounds right at home in the polyglot mix that comprise the Blue Jays. Earlier Wednesday, he tweeted this out: “I now speak French- wiwi, Canadian-cheers, eh, Japanese- gumbate eoeo, Spanish- ellos calliente and piglatin- ewe aree eathe #6linual"
Price has been traded in each of the last two years at the trading deadline, and, as an impending free agent, could be looking at another new team in 2016. How does he handle the transitioning?
“Just don't change,” he said. “You know, that's one of my sayings. Times change, but I don't. I don't care what team I'm on, I want to conduct myself in that locker room, in the dugout, and out there on the field the way that I always have.
“I know that if I can show my teammates that I'm here for them every single day, especially on the days that I'm not pitching, I know that they will respond to that well and they'll have my back as well.”