Blue Jays make history with first November game in Canada
The calendar says winter's near, but the Jays are proving baseball in Canada still has a little heat left.
The leaves have fallen, frost has passed and ski resorts in the west are about to open — but somehow, Canada is still talking baseball.
For the first time in Major League Baseball history, a game will be played on Canadian soil in November. Despite all odds and forecasts, the Toronto Blue Jays are still on the diamond—one day before Banff's ski lifts start spinning.
After 2,476 regular-season games and 46 postseason games, the Jays' 2,477th game is a game to remember: a Game 7 that breaks both field and calendar records.
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The rarest kind of extra innings
Nobody anticipated to write "November baseball in Canada." The country has already seen Arctic air blow through the North, daylight savings creeping away and temperatures dipping below -25ºC in parts of Nunavut.
On October 18, Eureka, Nunavut reported -25.4ºC, followed by -25.8ºC the next day. Fall storms have drenched British Columbia, as the season's first atmospheric rivers pass through.
The country has officially swapped in its sunscreen for snow shovels, with the exception of Toronto, where the dome remains closed and the crowd's breath is only visible in anticipation.
Even the sun has declared it a season. Since the longest day of the year, Toronto has lost more than five hours of daylight. Yet here we are, playing ball in the pale glimmer of November's early nightfall.
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Cold facts, hot stage
While the Jays aim for glory in the relative warmth of the Rogers Centre, the rest of Canada is still in winter mode. Northern regions are already experiencing subzero temperatures, reminding us how unusual this moment truly is.
In previous years, Nov. 1 has witnessed temperatures as low as -42.2ºC in Eureka, Nunavut (1966), -38.4ºC in Red Deer, Alberta (1984) and -27.2ºC in Cranbrook, B.C. (1935). Even Timmins, Ont., has experienced temperatures as low as -16.7ºC this season.
It's not the latest World Series game ever, as that title goes to Houston in 2022, when Game 5 was moved to November 5—but it's new ground for Canada.
Tonight, a country waits beneath a closed roof and an open sky full of national pride. Baseball has returned in November, bringing with it the possibility of making history.