Blue Jays baseball is back. But first, thank you 2025.
- Jaclyn Kula
- Mar 27
- 6 min read
Updated: Mar 29
TORONTO - Opening night, it’s really here! The Toronto Blue Jays play meaningful baseball once again and I couldn’t be more excited.
Following a season filled with the highest highs and the lowest lows, it feels good to see the boys back at the ballpark.
The same place where the Jays lost in game 7 of the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers, they will be hosting their season opener against the Athletics tonight. The place where a ball got “lodged” in the wall, a foot was inches away from home, a potential walk-off was robbed and a broken bat ended the season. A lot of difficult memories were made the last time the Blue Jays played at Rogers Centre, but it’s a new year and we’re ready for new memories.
Will Jays fans ever forget losing in such heartbreak? No. But, we can think of the good that came out of the season and what we are looking forward to.
The 2025 season was the year I truly fell in love with baseball….before the Jays were good.
The 2015-16 Blue Jays seasons were a part of my life and I loved those teams dearly. Kevin Pillar was my favourite…he was superman! I even dressed up as him for Halloween in 2016.
Fall game, 2014
Blue Jays baseball was fun, but following the departure of big names like Pillar, José Bautista, Edwin Encarnación and Josh Donaldson, it was hard for me to commit to this team. Who are these new guys? I’m not ready for change!
After the 2017 season, I wasn't focused on MLB. I committed most of my sports time watching the NFL, NBA and NHL, and kind of forgot about baseball.
I always knew sport media was my passion. Since I was 12, this was what I wanted to do. But, film became another passion of mine in University, so I was going back and forth with myself on who I was and what I wanted to do. Then, when I decided to fully pursue a career in sport media, in the spring of 2025 at the age of 23, I said to myself “I need to get back into baseball.” So, slowly, I started watching the Jays again, and just like when I was a little kid, I fell in love with the guys.
My Jays passion returned before they turned into a “good” team. They were, I believe, below .500 when I started tuning in and loving them. Guys like Addison Barger and Daulton Varsho caught my attention. The team wasn't winning much yet, but they were fun to watch.
Then, I fell in love with the entire team. Obviously Vladimir Guerrero Jr. became a beloved player of mine, Ernie Clement, Alejandro Kirk, etc. But, George Springer soon became my favourite. Not for his skills, but for his personality and his story....okay, and his skills!
I grew up with a stutter and still deal with one to this day. I learned about Springer’s stutter when he was still on the Houston Astros and I always appreciated how he spoke about it. When I started watching him more on my team, the more I learned about him as a person, and he may even go down as my favourite Jay of all time. Sure, his 2025 season was historic, but he as a person is what I’ll remember most.
The Blue Jays becoming great was just the cherry on top. I loved baseball last spring and summer, win or lose. If I was in the car during a game, I would be listening to it. If I was at a friend's house who doesn’t care about sports, I would either sneak the remote and turn it on or watch it on my phone. Whatever I needed to do to tune in, I did it.
And, the best part of falling in love with the Blue Jays and them becoming great? My brother became a fan.
Since we were kids, I have tried getting my brother David into sports. We share many hobbies and have a great relationship, but the sport aspect was always missing, until it changed during a regular season game.
One night in the car, I put on the game. He usually just tunes it out if I’m listening, but this time it was different. The game was on August 15, 2025. I can’t remember the exact moment he started listening, but I remember us freaking out when Varsho scored on a bases-loaded walk. Then, when we got home, he ran inside to turn on the TV to watch the rest of the game, where funny enough, Kirk stole a base for the first time!
After that, it became a family affair, where my family and I would watch together every night. David’s first game when he actually sat down and watched with me was when Myles Straw hit two home runs. Now, and forever, that’s his guy.
I was lucky enough to attend 11 games in 2025, where the Blue Jays won EVERY SINGLE ONE. Yes, I went 11-0. Every game was spectacular, with some of the highlights being the Canada Day game, Kirk’s walk-off sac fly, and all of the postseason games I went to (ALDS game 1, ALCS game 6 and World Series game 1).
At the Canada Day game, while reacting to Springer’s grand-slam, I tore something in my chest and was later diagnosed with Pneumomediastinum. Too much air was filling in my chest that caused a small tear. I ended up in the emergency room, but thankfully it was minor and no surgery was required. The doctor wasn't exactly sure what caused this, but believes the actual tear happened from too much cheering.
Following that scare, I had to be VERY careful while celebrating home runs. However, I cheered an absurd amount following Barger’s pinch-hit grand-slam in game 1 of the World Series. Thankfully, no tear occurred.
The World Series was some of the best baseball I have ever seen, but sadly, my favourite team lost and the historic Blue Jays run ended in defeat.
Following the last play of the World Series, where a double-play ended it all, I sat and stared at the TV. Utter shock. I thought the Jays were going to win it all, I really did! So, it took some time to set in. Then, after about 20 minutes of staring, I remembered I promised my podcast viewers an episode post-game, win or lose, I was going to film it. Since game 1 of the ALDS, I filmed an episode postgame for EVERY game played. Some were filmed at 6:00pm and some were filmed at 4:00am. Yes, I filmed after the 18 inning game.
So, I got up, went into my home studio/office and just hit record. Everything I said came from the heart. No sugar-coating anything. It was raw, real and sad.
It would have been nice to film a celebratory episode with happy tears in my eyes. But, this is what happened and I owed it to my subscribers who followed the journey with me all season long.
To my surprise, this was my highest viewed and liked episode. As of right now, March 27, 2026, it’s sitting at 21,637 views and 589 likes, with my channel having 816 subscribers, many of whom subscribed that very night. Another surprise was how many positive comments I received, many from baseball fans all over, Jays fans and even Dodgers fans! This made me realize how much of a community baseball is. We live and die for our team, but understand at the end of the day, it’s sports and it’s something we love!
This offseason, myself and my classmate/friend had the opportunity to go to Blue Jays Spring Training with media credentials, thanks to our program coordinator at Centennial College for Sports Journalism, Malcolm Kelly. Along with our credentials, MLB.com's and Centennial alumni, Keegan Matheson, agreed to be our chaperone and introduced us to the baseball heaven that Dunedin, Florida is.
Thanks to Keegan and all of the amazing people I met at both the Player Development Complex and TD Ballpark, I was able to interview players and coaches, such as Josh Naylor, Davis Schneider, Riley Tirotta, Arjun Nimmala and Russell Martin. This was a surreal experience and something I will never forget.
Tonight, the Blue Jays are back. Opening night at Rogers Centre, with Kevin Gausman on the mound. The emotions are high, but all positive ones! I’m excited for this season. It’s a new year and time to bury the 2025 loss. None of that matters anymore. It’s all about 2026. High expectations for this team, but it’s nothing they can’t handle.
2025 Blue Jays, thank you for the memories. Hello 2026!
Comments