Under bright sunshine at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Florida, where the Blue Jays of Toronto are conducting their training camp for the 50th consecutive season, the bright red of Team Canada met the royal blue of Jays Tuesday afternoon.
Riley Tirotta sealed the 10-7 victory for the Jays with a three-run homer in the eighth inning, but the final score seems almost incidental. This exhibition game was more than just a tune-up ahead of the 2026 season Blue Jays and Canadian participation in the World Baseball Classic (WBC): it was the celebration of a sport in full swing in the country.
The moment is pivotal. THE Blue Jays are coming off a historic 2025 season capped by a participation in the World Series, an achievement that acted as a real shock for Canadian baseball. For its part, the national selection is refining its preparation for the WBCdriven by an enthusiasm for the sport that Canada has not seen in decades.
The domino effect of professional success
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For Jason Dickson, CEO of Baseball Canada, the link between the success of the only Canadian major franchise and the development of the sport is undeniable.
Historically, when a national organization is linked to a professional team and it progresses, it helps enormously
explains the former pitcher drafted in 1994 by the Angels of California, which has overseen Baseball Canada for the past ten years.
Jason Dickson, CEO of Baseball Canada and former major league pitcher, sees the Blue Jays’ recent success as a key driver for the growth of amateur baseball in the country.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Nicolas Haddad
We saw it with soccer, we see it with hockey. We saw it in 2016, and last year, it was huge. It could be felt across the entire nation. Everyone was playing baseball, more kids were buying gloves, you were seeing more people talking about it and becoming Jays fans.
We anticipate that registrations will jump. The level of interest in the sport will jump, which is very positive for us
adds Mr. Dickson.
Skyler Seccaspina, who came from Ottawa to watch three preparatory games of the Blue Jaysconfirms this renewed interest on the baseball field of his seven-year-old son.
It’s night and day compared to my time, 30 years ago. There are so many more children today that the infrastructure and the number of referees are struggling to keep up.
Coming from Ottawa to attend training camp, Skyler Seccaspina notes that the craze for the Blue Jays is creating an unprecedented demand for minor baseball in his region.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Nicolas Haddad
For this father of a family who breathes baseball, there is no doubt that the successes of Jayswhether in 1992, 1993, 2015 or last year, have contributed a lot to amateur baseball.
It will attract the interest of children and even older people who play softball. It’s simply beneficial for this sport
he believes.
A solid bridge between the Blue Jays and Team Canada
The collaboration between the two organizations is at the heart of this success. Jasmin Roy, a recruiter of young talents for Blue Jayshighlights the constant involvement of the Toronto team in local programs.
The promotion of baseball in Canada, Blue Jays take it seriously
he affirms with conviction. He gives as an example the Canadian Futures Showcasea tournament that brings together the 150 best prospects aged 15 to 17 in Toronto every September.
Blue Jays recruiter Jasmin Roy believes that the success of Canadian players in the majors depends on the development programs supported by the organization.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Guillaume Cyr
Most of the players on the field this afternoon participated in this tournament, such as the Naylor brothers, Édouard Julien, and Adam Macko
specifies Mr. Roy.
All Canadian players who find success in the majors go through this tournament.
The presence of Adam Macko on the field for Team Canada this afternoon perfectly embodies this bridge: not only is he one of the best Canadian prospects in the Blue Jays in recent years, but he will also wear the maple leaf during the World Baseball Classic.
Making sport accessible to support growth
Faced with this growing demand, Baseball Canada is banking on innovative programs to ensure the next generation. For Jason Dickson, community development is the central pillar of the success that Baseball Canada aims for.
We work with the Jays and the foundationJays Care to develop more grounds and encourage more officials and volunteers to get involved
he said.
Two flagship programs support this foundation. First, the program Rally Cap : aimed at ages 4 to 8, this program teaches the five fundamentals (throwing, receiving, hitting, base running and motor skills) in a dynamic format of three teams of six players.
Then, to get around the challenges, such as finding fields or umpires, Baseball Canada offers Baseball5: a version for concrete spaces that can be played anywhere without gloves or bats, only with a rubber ball, ideal for schools and urban environments.
A new generation who is no longer afraid of anything
Despite the absence of Freddie Freeman this year, Team Canada is banking on a talented new guard who no longer has complexes in front of the stars of the MLB. Players like Jacob Robson, author of a solo home run Tuesday afternoon, or Owen Caissie, who produced a run, show that the next generation is ready.
This enthusiasm also forces broadcasters and sponsors to invest more. Jason Dickson, however, does not hide the fact that financial challenges remain, following a 20% cut in funding from Sport Canada.
It forces us to be creative. We generate a lot of our own dollars through sponsorships, but funding remains a challenge for all national sports at the moment.
The CEO of Baseball Canada drew a direct parallel between his situation and that of Olympic athletes, saying: I don’t think it’s a surprise, […] you just heard the Olympic Committee talk about the lack of funding
.
According to him, baseball is no exception, and must now deal with increasingly limited resources on a national scale.
The baseball bug has no boundaries
Far from Toronto, its skyscrapers and its Rogers Center, baseball is now taking root in the most isolated regions of Canada. Natasha Sanborn and her family traveled from Thompson, a mining town eight hours north of Winnipeg, to experience the Blue Jays in Florida.
Natasha Sanborn and her family traveled more than 3,000 km from Thompson, Manitoba, to see their idols in action. His daughter Emma wears a mustache in homage to Blue Jay Davis Schneider.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Nicolas Haddad
His daughter Emma, 11, plays baseball in a mixed league, and the family experiences first-hand the lack of local resources. Finding coaches for the kids has been a real challenge. Natasha, who plays softball herself, says she’s considering coaching to fill that gap.
For the Jays, the more successful they are, the easier it is for the Canadiens to follow suit
observe-t-elle. The children admire them. They want to be like them, that’s their goal.
Meanwhile, on the professional pitches, preparation continues for the WBC.
On Tuesday, after Logan Allen and Noah Skirrow, pitchers like Indigo Diaz and Antoine Jean limited the Jays to just one hit through four innings. On Wednesday, Canada will face Philadelphia before flying to San Juan, Puerto Rico.
That’s where Michael Soroka will be the starter for the first official game of the World Baseball Classic on Saturday against Colombia, followed by Jameson Taillon against Panama on Sunday.
Regardless of the final score of this preparation series, the observation is clear: Canadian baseball has already won its bet.
