{"id":328877,"date":"2025-10-24T10:21:22","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T10:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/328877\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T10:21:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T10:21:22","slug":"politics-continues-by-other-means-as-toronto-blue-jays-face-la-dodgers-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/328877\/","title":{"rendered":"Politics continues by other means as Toronto Blue Jays face LA Dodgers | Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"

War, argued the 19th-century <\/strong>Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz, is \u201cthe continuation of politics by other means\u201d.<\/p>\n

And as Canada\u2019s largest city braces for a pivotal baseball showdown against a powerful, superstar-laden and well-funded American counterpart, there is a growing sense across the country that, the same can be said for sports.<\/p>\n

Over the last year, Canada has been locked in a diplomatic and economic standoff with its longtime ally, biggest trading partner and, increasingly, its largest foe. On Friday, the country\u2019s lone major league baseball team, the Toronto Blue Jays, will face off against the Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a> in a confrontation Canadians see as both an assertion of its growing dominance in baseball and a statement of national pride.<\/p>\n

Over the past year, international sports have taken on a new meaning in Canada after Donald Trump threatened to annex the country and transform it into the US\u2019s \u201c51st state\u201d.<\/p>\n

At the height of Trump\u2019s provocations, Canada defeated the US at the Four Nations ice hockey tournament, when fans booed each other\u2019s national anthem in a departure in decorum that underscored the rawness of the mood.<\/p>\n

After Canada emerged victorious in an overtime win, former prime minister Justin Trudeau captured the nation\u2019s mood in a social media post: \u201cYou can\u2019t take our country \u2013 and you can\u2019t take our game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s match, played in Toronto, comes after the Blue Jays dispatched the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners to reach the World Series. It also marks the first high-stakes professional sports final for the two countries since last year\u2019s hockey matchup.<\/p>\n

Bilateral tensions have eased in recent months as the prime minister, Mark Carney, seeks to strike a trade deal with his unpredictable counterpart, but many ordinary Canadians are still maintaining their boycotts of the US and US products.<\/p>\n

Donald Trump and Mark Carney. Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett\/Reuters<\/p>\n

When Carney was in the Oval Office this month, Trump was asked about a sharp decline in cross-border visits to the US<\/a>, answering: \u201cThe people of Canada, they will love us again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carney took the opportunity to brag about the ascendent Blue Jays, warning the president: \u201cWe\u2019re coming down for the World Series, Mr President.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Carney told reporters he was \u201csuper pumped\u201d about the Blue Jays after their dramatic and statistically unlikely win over the Seattle Mariners \u2013 a victory that sent the team to the World Series for the first time in more than three decades.<\/p>\n

The game, sealed with a home run, ended in what many consider one of the greatest moments in franchise history and has since spawned viral clips, including one that combines<\/a> Canadian singer Celine Dion\u2019s My Heart Will Go On with the crowd\u2019s elated reaction to a home run.<\/p>\n

Touring batting practice on the eve of the first game, Carney said Trump was \u201cafraid\u201d to place a bet on the series.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t like to lose. He hasn\u2019t called. He hasn\u2019t returned my call yet on the bet so I\u2019m ready. We\u2019re ready to make a bet with the US.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike ice hockey, where there six professional Canadian teams, the Blue Jays are the only team in major league baseball that have a fanbase spanning an entire country.<\/p>\n

And despite the immense popularity of baseball in the United States the Blue Jays\u2019 miraculous postseason run reflects the often-forgotten deep Canadian roots of the sport.<\/p>\n

Some of the first professional teams were in southern Ontario. Babe Ruth, the legendary slugger, hit his first-ever home run while in Toronto. Jackie Robinson broke the colour barrier playing for a Montreal team before he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers.<\/p>\n

\u201cHockey binds Canadians together, but so does baseball. Canada is absolutely fundamentally instrumental in what is today Major League Baseball<\/a>. We\u2019ve been helping shape this sport. In many ways. we\u2019re the co-authors,\u201d said Liam Mooney, whose \u201cCanada is Not For Sale\u201d hats became a viral trend earlier in the year.<\/a> \u201cMaybe we\u2019re too humble about what we\u2019ve contributed. But we shouldn\u2019t shy away from taking credit for what we\u2019ve helped create.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mooney, who runs a design firm in Ottawa with his fiancee, Emma Cochrane, developed the hats both as a rebuttal to the red \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d headgear worn and sold by Donald Trump<\/a> and as \u201csmall act of patriotism to respond to these big threats and this big bluster\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mooney\u2019s hats became popular throughout the country, cutting across political and geographic lines, a feat perhaps shared only by the Blue Jays. In Canada, a popular pastime for non-Torontonians is mocking the country\u2019s largest city. But its baseball team is granted a rare exception, with the team\u2019s logo a common sight across the nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Blue Jays brought the country together before, more than any other team,\u201d he said, adding they have a perfect record at the World Series after winning both their 1992 and 1993 appearances. \u201cThey\u2019ve created stories and memories in people\u2019s lives. And they\u2019re going to do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n

American media have framed the Jays as the underdogs in the best-of-seven series, though some have suggested the battle is \u201cGoliath versus Goliath<\/a>\u201d. The Dodgers have spent piles of cash to sign big-name players. Their USD$509.5m, including taxes, is double the Blue Jays\u2019 $252.7m and reflects the economic disparity between the two countries.<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s opening game marks the 23rd time the Dodgers have appeared in the world series of baseball. But for Canada\u2019s team, the belated appearance runs deeper.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a hockey nation. We\u2019re a lacrosse nation. But baseball has been fundamental to the Canadian experience,\u201d said Mooney. \u201cAnd if it\u2019s \u2018America\u2019s pastime\u2019? Well, this year we\u2019re definitely coming for it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"War, argued the 19th-century Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz, is \u201cthe continuation of politics by other means\u201d.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":328878,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,2961,224,5337],"class_list":{"0":"post-328877","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-los-angeles","12":"tag-losangeles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115428647672740580","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}