Before each of the two games that the New York Yankees lost to the Blue Jays over the weekend, nearly 45,000 Toronto fans stood silent and still as they took in “The Star-Spangled Banner,” then roared with applause as the singer approached the anthem’s final notes.
The “Yankees suck” jeers would come later, in the fourth inning on Sunday after Vladimir Guerrero Jr., the Montreal-born first baseman, hit a grand slam to put Toronto ahead, 9-0. But the American anthem was shown a reverence typically reserved for church hymns.
It was a stark contrast from February, when in response to President Trump’s threats to impose tariffs and make Canada the 51st state, Canadians began booing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at hockey and basketball games. At the time, Canadians were also starting to rally around their flag, boycott American products and cancel plans to travel south.
Mr. Trump’s threats have not let up, making this a striking moment for the Blue Jays, Canada’s only Major League Baseball team, to be dominating one of America’s most storied teams in the playoffs.
Game 3 of the American League division series will be played in New York on Tuesday. The Blue Jays have outscored the Yankees by 23-8, chased both starting pitchers after only a few innings and made the star outfielder Aaron Judge look like your next-door neighbor.
Toronto won the World Series in 1992 and ’93, and except for brief indignation when a U.S. Marine color guard unfurled the Canadian flag upside down before a game in Atlanta, political tensions were nonexistent. But this series is beginning to feel like a barometer for U.S.-Canada relations.
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The post As Blue Jays Advance, America’s Pastime Is in Canada’s Cross Hairs appeared first on New York Times.
