The Fifth Liners

Prior to arriving in Canada I was aware of the existence of the game of baseball, but being European I never quite grasped its appeal! The games seemed like 'The Never Ending Story' and I marveled at the fact that their main championship was named the World Series when in fact no other nations participated. But watching baseball films such as Bull Durham, Moneyball, Eight Men Out and Major League perked my interest in this game and I found myself reading more. The Toronto Blue Jays were a franchise I had been aware of for some years as they were Canada's only MLB franchise who had not only claimed back to back World Series wins in 1992-93 but had also not reached the playoffs again since then. As I was facing a long wait until Hockey season rolled around and the 2014 World Cup really wasn't peaking my interest this time, I decided to immerse myself in the beautiful game that Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Mickey Mantle and Cal Ripken Jr have made so popular. Arr...

Hockey season has been and gone, so making the most of Alex Watson: Toronto Correspondent, here's a question about the Blue Jays, Canada's only representatives in the MLB: "The Blue Jays haven't seen World Series success since the heady days of the early 90s, does the team have the potential to challenge again? Or is it destined to wallow in mediocrity, surviving on being the only MLB franchise in the county?" Alex's Answer The city of Toronto still casts its mind back to the night of October 23, 1993 when Joe Carter 's three run homer at the bottom of the ninth inning sealed back to back world series titles for the Blue Jays! As the fireworks exploded over the Toronto SkyDome, the city could finally consider itself among the elite of baseball. But since then the Jays have suffered a 20 year playoff drought and have not placed higher than second in the American League East Division since then. Despite some fine individual players such as multiple ...