Blue Jays fans in B.C. stay optimistic as team heads into Game 3 of ALCS after back-to-back losses

thanksgiving daytime mon wasn't a outstanding day to be a Toronto blueness Jays fan. 

As turkeys roasted in ovens across the country, supporters watched as Canada’s only Major League Baseball franchise was baked, boiled, stuffed and mashed, losing to the Seattle Mariners 10-3 in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series (ALCS). 

“It was really tough to watch,” said Mike McDowall of Prince Rupert, B.C. “Our pitching really wasn't overly effective and our hitting was really sleepy.”

Despite back-to-back losses to the Mariners — a team many on Canada’s West Coast have adopted as their own — B.C.-based Blue Jays fans are optimistic the team will rally for Game 3 of the best-of-seven series at T-Mobile Park in Seattle on Wednesday night. 

'Seattle's a better team': Unhappy Jays fan leaves Game 2 early | Hanomansing Tonight

Losing the first two games of the ALCS was a bit of a disappointment following the Jays' victory over the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series. 

“As a Jays fan you always like watching your team win, especially if it's against the dirty Yankees, division rival,” McDowall said. 

Jays fan Lisa Mckinnon of Smithers said the high of defeating the Yankees was “just too much, too fast” for the Blue Jays.

“We just need to get back to basics and focus.”

The Jays’ 2025 post-season run reminds McDowall of the team’s World Series titles in 1992 and 1993 — back when he, like many, became a dedicated fan.  

“My grandmother was a Blue Jays fan as well and I had the privilege in ‘92 to go with her down to Seattle for a four-game set to watch the Jays, so that solidified watching those guys.”

Mckinnon remembers watching Game 6 of the 1993 World Series when Joe Carter hit a three-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning, clinching back-to-back titles for the Jays. 

“Our TV, you have two channels. It's kind of fuzzy. You hear the cheering, but you can't really figure out what's going on until after they've announced it. It was pretty exciting.”

Tyler Carpentier of Kamloops started watching the Jays around the same time as McDowall and Mckinnon — a good time to start following the team, he said — but his wife, Emily Carpentier, became a fan more recently, about 15 years ago during the days of Jose Bautista. 

At 5:08 p.m. PT Wednesday, the Jays will take on the Mariners in Seattle. But their true blue fans don’t think playing on the road will be a problem. 

“The last trip they went to Seattle, they swept them,” Mckinnon said.

During a three-game set at T-Mobile Park in May, the Jays beat the Mariners 6-3 twice in a row, and 9-1 in the third game. 

“Never count them out,” Mckinnon said. “They've got the offence, they've got the pitching.”

Tyler Carpentier said he’s optimistic, offering advice Ted Lasso fans will appreciate: be a goldfish. 

“They need to have a short memory,” Carpentier said.  “It's a very, very humbling sport and it'll put you in your place really, really quick. So if they're able to turn the page, then they can get a couple wins in Seattle.”

Emily Carpentier said the team just needs to put those two losses behind them. 

“It's a whole new ball game.”

Journalist

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