TORONTO — After George Springer’s mighty swing delivered the first World Series to be contested on Canadian soil since 1993, this city’s emotions have run the typical gamut.
Booze-aided joy. Disbelief. Tears shed over a generational moment other loved ones are not around to experience.
Yet as the Toronto Blue Jays prepare to welcome the Los Angeles Dodgers to Game 1 of the World Series Oct. 24, the home team’s status as a truly national team in the USA’s national pastime will come to the surface.
And it’s perhaps the culmination of a shift in both identity and attitude for Canadians the past 10 months: Mixing the passive with the aggressive.
The stereotype of the genteel Canadian is one the locals generally embrace, as easily as they open doors and politely defer. But in the months since President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on Canada, floated the notion of making the country the USA’s 51st state and overseen increasingly invasive searches at the Canadian border, a national shift in attitude has the natives suddenly a little more restless.
