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By Loren Kopff
Sports Editor | Follow X
November 7, 2025
Due to a prior commitment covering the Artesia High girls volleyball semifinal playoff match, I wasn’t able to watch Game 7 of the 2025 World Series from beginning to end. However, through the power of SiriusXM, I was fortunate to hear Ben Shulman’s call of Bo Bichette’s three-run home run in the bottom of the third inning on the Toronto Blue Jays feed as I was approaching Loma Linda Academy.
Then I was able to keep one eye on the baseball game on my phone and the other on the match. Unfortunately, I didn’t see Will Smith’s eventual game-winning home run live—and even more unfortunate was the fact that I was driving home when Alejandro Kirk grounded into the game-ending double play that gave the Los Angeles Dodgers another World Series title and broke the hearts of Blue Jays Nation.
Needless to say, it was not an enjoyable drive home, as the loss overpowered my joy in Artesia advancing to its first girls volleyball championship appearance in school history. Just listening to Shulman and his color analyst, Chris Leroux, on Sportsnet 590 The Fan—followed by the postgame talk show with Jeff Blair and Kevin Barker—you could hear in their voices how demoralizing this loss was. You could also hear it from the people who called in to voice their opinions.
I could feel the same pain reading posts from the most loyal Blue Jays fans on X and seeing how enthusiastic they had been throughout the season. It kind of made me wish I’d been in Toronto this entire season—one of the best ever in the 49-year history of the franchise.
This World Series loss hurts more than you’ll ever know because the 2025 Toronto Blue Jays were not on anyone’s bingo card to do much when Spring Training began in February. This was a team that finished last in the American League East in 2024 and did not have rookie sensation Trey Yesavage on the Opening Day roster.
Not much was expected when the playoffs began, especially against the defending World Series champions. Many prognosticators predicted Los Angeles would either sweep or win in five, but when the Blue Jays took two out of three in Southern California, people started to notice how real this team was.
Just seeing how close the Blue Jays came to their third World Series title is enough pain for me to endure. They outscored the Dodgers 34–26, outhit them 75–53, and did not make an error in the seven games. But baseball is a game of inches, and one pitch can lose it for you no matter what the statistics say. Three of the four losses were by a combined four runs, and in those games Toronto stranded 42 baserunners to Los Angeles’ 33.
The 2015 team that went 93–69 and won the A.L. East by six games over the New York Yankees was expected to at least get to the World Series with Jose Bautista, Josh Donaldson, Edwin Encarnacion, Russell Martin, Kevin Pillar, and David Price as the stars. But that squad lost to the Kansas City Royals in the American League Championship Series in six games.
The next season, the Blue Jays—led by R.A. Dickey, J.A. Happ, Marcus Stroman, Troy Tulowitzki, and the returning stars from the previous year (minus Price)—finished second, then took care of the Baltimore Orioles 5–2 in the Wild Card game and knocked out the Texas Rangers in the Division Series before losing to the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS in five games. That team was also expected to reach the World Series.
The 2025 Blue Jays were not expected to reach the Fall Classic, especially when they trailed the Seattle Mariners three games to two heading back to Ontario’s cosmopolitan city. But look what happened—they played in Game 7 of the World Series and were two outs away from the title, one out away from keeping the game tied going into the bottom of the 11th inning.
The turning point of the season, I think, came when they swept a four-game home series against the Yankees from June 30–July 3, going from three games behind the Bronx Bombers to a one-game lead. From that point on, Toronto remained in first place and ended the regular season winning 49 of its last 70 games.
While the Blue Jays won back-to-back World Series titles in 1992 and 1993, this loss hurts more than any previous postseason setback because it came to the one team I dislike the most—and people were beginning to see the talent the Blue Jays had beyond Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Kirk, and George Springer. No one outside of Toronto, Ontario, or Canada knew who Addison Barger, Ernie Clement, Nathan Lukes, Myles Straw, or Daulton Varsho were—but now they do.
And before you even suggest I just recently jumped on the Toronto bandwagon, guess again. I’ve been a diehard fan since 1977 when Toronto entered Major League Baseball. I have memories of Otis Nixon of the Atlanta Braves bunting to Mike Timlin, who threw to Joe Carter to end the 1992 World Series—and of course Carter’s memorable home run off Mitch Williams of the Philadelphia Phillies to close out the 1993 World Series.
Most of you know my passion for the San Diego Padres because I grew up in America’s Finest City, and although I live in Orange County, I would never trade the brown and gold for the other blue team in the Southland. I will also remain a loyal fan of the Blue Jays because there’s no law against having two favorite baseball teams. I don’t know how long it will take me to get over this loss, but pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training in three months. And I know Blue Jays Nation on social media can’t wait for the first game on Feb. 21 from Dunedin, Florida.
The Blue Jays will be back—stronger than ever—in 2026. Don’t be surprised to see them in the World Series again, sooner rather than later.
