Here's why you should still be happy after Toronto Blue Jays lose World Series

The Toronto Blue Jays' historic 2025 World Series run was really more than anyone could have asked for, and while fans coast to coast to coast may be feeling more than a bit depressed right now, there is still so much reason to celebrate.

This isn't an article I was hoping to write, and probably not the one you were hoping to read today. We were two outs from a World Series title, only to see it evaporate before our eyes. That's going to hurt for a lot of us, and it's understandable. 

But, if you hear me out, maybe together, we can convert some of that inconsolable pain into pride for what was accomplished, and hope for what's to come next.

For starters, only the most starry-eyed, wildly optimistic fans could have predicted World Series contention for the Toronto Blue Jays this year. And even then, few would have believed them.

Managing to go from a laughingstock bottom-feeder to a top-two league juggernaut in the span of one season — without adding much starpower in the process — is a feat in and of itself. 

But it was the story of how the team pulled that off that will live on for generations. The 2025 Blue Jays ran a masterclass in the fundamentals of the game — always just pushing to get that next batter to the plate — while still peppering in regular heroics throughout the batting order.

There was just something different about this team that will be remembered. The never-say-die mentality shone through with a league-leading 49 comeback wins this year, representing more than half of their 94-win total.

You could never count them out. Never turn off a Jays broadcast. Never leave the Rogers Centre in the 8th inning to beat traffic. There was just too much risk you'd miss a big moment. They were the must-see TV everyone talked about at the water cooler. Their seemingly limitless ability to win games brought friends, families, the city, and arguably the whole country closer together.

And that only intensified in the postseason after the Jays narrowly clinched the AL East in a whirlwind September. 

The offensive juggernaut Yankees, led by a dominant Aaron Judge, survived a Wild Card series with the scrappy Red Sox, but fell in 4 games to an all-out assault by Jays bats in the ALDS. A Vladimir Guerrero Jr. grand slam was the defining moment of that series, but there would be even more consequential homers to celebrate in the weeks to come.

Next, it was the ALCS, where the Jays exercised the demons of their 2022 Wild Card defeat against the Seattle Mariners despite dropping the first two games of a seven-game series at home. 

The Jays were in trouble in Game 7 until George Springer's mammoth 7th inning three-run home run put the team up 4-3 and sent the Rogers Centre into an absolute frenzy. That era-defining home run ultimately became the biggest of the playoffs (sorry, Vladdy) and sent the Blue Jays to the World Series for the first time in 32 years.

But, before we talk about the World Series, it's important to remember how the pain of how things end usually subsides, leaving just the amazing memories.

Think of how often the Jose Bautista bat flip or the Edwin Encarnacion walk-off bomb still get airplay on best-of reels a decade later. There's a good chance you have a clearer memory of those high points than the back-to-back ALCS defeats in 2015 and 2016. 

That's just how memory works. It takes a traumatic defeat to overshadow the good memories (think every Leafs postseason, but mostly 2013), but when your team exceeds its 32-year high-water mark and is defeated by a team arguably unrivalled in baseball history, the good really outweighs the bad.

I don't think we can say the same thing for the Seattle Mariners fanbase, who were just two innings away from their first-ever World Series appearance, only to have it all collapse with the swing of George Springer's bat. While Seattle will be haunted by that moment, Toronto will revel in it for decades to come.

The World Series gave us even more moments to celebrate, and while we ultimately didn't go the distance, the highlights will live on in Blue Jays lore for decades to come.

A decisive Game 1 win before an electric home crowd silenced the David vs. Goliath narrative and a widely expected thrashing from the Dodgers.

But L.A. would bounce back in Game 2 to even the series on the back of a complete game from Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, sending the World Series back to Los Angeles tied 1-1.

The series moved to Los Angeles with what turned out to be a marathon Game 3, with the Jays dropping the game 6-5 after a mind-boggling 18 innings — tied for the longest World Series game on record. The game featured what seemed like the Jays' darkest hour, when veteran George Springer left the game mid-at-bat after a swing that left the 36-year-old wincing in pain.

The Dodgers were up 2-1 in the series, and Springer seemed like he could be done for the series. Those two things seemed like a combined death knell in that sleep-deprived 3 a.m. postgame haze, but the fanbase would be given another jolt of life in Game 4.

But, battered and bruised, the Jays would swing back with an authoritative 6-2 victory over a fatigued Shohei Ohtani on the mound in Game 4 the next day (technically later the same day), tying the series at two games apiece, guaranteeing a Game 6 back in Toronto, and securing the World Series finale in Canada for the first time in 32 years.

The series had been reduced to a best-of-three, and Game 5 was an absolutely dominant record-breaking performance from 22-year-old pitcher Trey Yesavage, where the breakout rookie ace struck out 12 batters and sent the series back to Toronto with the Jays up 3-2, just a win away from a title.

Toronto was practically planning the victory parade ahead of a Game 6 at the Rogers Centre, but starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto — in his second appearance of the series — had other plans for the Blue Jays. The Jays rallied in the 9th but fell flat, with the game ending on a double play that included a brutal baserunning error by Addison Barger.

A history of past Game 7 heartbreak in Toronto shared between the Blue Jays, Leafs, and Raptors dampened the energy. After squandering two series leads, the Jays would go into the decisive winner-take-all game on the defensive.

The Jays took an early lead on a three-run bomb by Bo Bichette in what may have been his last game playing for Toronto. But the Dodgers rallied back and closed the gap to 4-3 late in the game. With one out in the bottom of the 9th, Miguel Rojas silenced Toronto with a game-tying solo home run.

The game would go to extra innings, but a monstrous slap of a home run by catcher Will Smith put the Dodgers up 5-4 in the 11th, crushing the spirit of a previously raucous crowd. A rally in the bottom of the 11th inning was not quite enough to even the score, and the Jays dropped the series 4-3 in heartbreaking fashion.

Despite the Jays' crushing defeat in the World Series, there are just some things that the Dodgers can't take away from us.

Toronto is left with some pretty spectacular memories, and a new American League Champs banner hanging from the rafters of the Rogers Centre next season will stand as a permanent reminder of the team that almost did it.

A new banner in the Rogers Centre is more than just another feather in the team's cap. The permanent recognition of 2025's AL Champs will finally take attention away from that much-maligned "participation" banner recognizing the Jays' Wild Card defeats in 2020, 2022, and 2023.

And then there's the hope for what's next. 

There is also the argument that the sudden success of the team — which has seen some spectacular swings and misses on free agent signings in recent years — could give Toronto newfound appeal among this off-season's free agent class.

The off-season free agent scramble has left Toronto Blue Jays fans disappointed in past years, but, with the team asserting itself as a force to be reckoned with, and players around the league seeing a country united behind one squad, maybe, just maybe, the biggest free agents will be clamouring to sign north of the border in 2026.

And on an even broader scale, political tensions between Canada and the United States added an element of nationalism to the first international World Series since 1993.

It's hard to know what conversations were unfolding in U.S. living rooms and sports bars during the World Series, but having Toronto's sweeping cityscapes and dedicated fans broadcast onto millions of American screens painted the country in a positive light at a crucial time.

I'm not saying baseball will move the needle on international trade negotiations, but being subjected to incessant helicopter pan shots of the Toronto skyline must make Canada seem just a bit less foreign to the share of American audiences who still picture the country as a windswept tundra where rivers of maple syrup flow free.

In this World Series, Americans saw a different side of Canada — a country willing to eschew the stereotypical Canadian politeness to chirp slugger Shohei Ohtani. A country that was willing to put intense hockey factionalism on the back burner for one shared team — even turning NHL arenas into baseball watch party venues. They saw a place that deserves another couple of MLB teams.

This postseason may not have produced a trophy for the Blue Jays, but it produced heroes, villains, and commanded the respect of the league and fans around the world.

So, don't be depressed that it's over. Be happy that it happened. They may have lost Game 7, but they won the admiration of an entire country along the way.