play (base)ball
Here's the not-so-secret secret: I'm a born and raised Torontonian. The reason this is the moment to say it is because for the first time in a decade, the Toronto Blue Jays are finally crushing their way through the play-offs.
Baseball is one of my inherited loves. I was raised on Jays games sitting in the kitchen, on the car radio, cheering in the stands, all with my dad. As he fondly describes it, it's the 'thinking man's sport'. Every little hand signal, every little play matters. Once I left for uni, we continued watching baseball games together yet apart, chatting on phone calls or texting our commentary back and forth.
The last time the Jays were this close to victory, I was 9 and didn't realize the kind of history I was witnessing. My dad and a few family friends clamoured all of us kids together in the 500s in the last week of the regular season, when we were scrounging for the division win. The very last row. Nosebleeds to even the nosebleed goers. That baseball team was the one that I grew up with: Jose Bautista, Josh Donaldson, Edwin Encarnacion. And of course, that was the game with the iconic Ryan Goins walk-off run. That era of baseball will always hold a special place in my childhood memories.
This year is different. Now I'm an adult, and I feel more connected to my home than ever before, even while I'm away. I've lived, worked, loved, lost, all in the city boundaries. Although this year I feel much more at home and connected to my university city as well, I think going back to Toronto after experiencing being away fully cemented my love and belonging.
If you're keeping up with the sports world at all, let alone the baseball world, I'm sure you've read about how badly we're demolishing the New York Yankees in the ALDS. Instead of watching it in my home city, right where the action is, I'm here, 5 hours away and certainly not in baseball-loving area.
It's funny how my homesickness has snuck up on me in the funniest way. I don't want to hear the crowd's grand slam roar through video clips, I want to be a part of it. If the Jays carry on, and even go on to win this, I would be celebrating one of the most major Toronto cultural moments of my life from miles away. Out of every little reminder that I am here and everyone else is there, this is the one that's gotten me most.
Every clip I see of the games tugs the invisible strings my heart's tied to just a little harder. The reminder that this could be a once in a lifetime thing given my city's track record (see: last Jays World Series: 1993, last Maple Leafs Stanley Cup: 1967, me: 2006) is not lost on me.
Should we make the World Series, the first game would land when I'm home for the week, which does seem like a sign from the heavens (or whatever entity is watching over the City of Toronto) that I'm meant to be there at least for the start.
All this to say, go Jays go!