Canada's only Major League Baseball team is looking to take the crown of "America's pastime" in a World Series matchup that opens Friday with an unusually heavy dose of national pride on the line.
The Toronto Blue Jays are hosting the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday for the first game of the championship series, at a time of unprecedented tensions between Canada and the United States.
On the eve of the matchup, US President Donald Trump abruptly ended trade talks with his northern neighbor over what he claimed was a deceptive ad criticizing his tariff policies.
"CANADA CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT!!!" Trump thundered on Truth Social.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney made the prediction earlier this month that Canadians would be "coming down for the World Series."
The comment came on October 7, when the Blue Jays were still two weeks away from clinching their first World Series spot in 32 years.
They knocked out the New York Yankees -- from Trump's home city -- the next day.
They then beat the Seattle Mariners to claim the American League pennant, sending them to the World Series against the Dodgers.
The Blue Jays occupy a unique place as the only surviving Canadian team in the major leagues.
Canada's first MLB franchise was the Montreal Expos, but they had limited on-field success before ownership challenges and dismal attendance forced a relocation and rebrand as the Washington Nationals.
After the Blue Jays beat the Mariners in a do-or-die game seven, manager John Schneider -- who was born in New Jersey -- was asked if the World Series might become a US-Canada grudge match given lingering bilateral tensions.
"We'll see. I know it will be the Blue Jays versus the Dodgers," Schneider told reporters. "But I know that these guys in there know that they're representing the country too."
For Blue Jays fan Chris Kitowski, who has watched several playoff games at a packed Toronto sports bar, Trump's actions have added energy to the World Series.
"There's a confrontation happening between Canada and the US," the 60-year-old told AFP, speaking before Trump's latest threats.
Now there's a "confrontation over the American national sport," he said, adding that the timing was "perfect."
- National pride -
US-Canada sports tensions erupted earlier this year during the Four Nations ice hockey tournament in February.
Trump, who had only returned to office in January, was then regularly talking about making Canada the 51st US state and mocking then-prime minister Justin Trudeau, calling him "governor."
When the puck dropped in an opening-round US-Canada game, three fights erupted within the first nine seconds -- an extreme rarity that some said highlighted tensions between the two countries.
The US national anthem was booed before the contest began.
With resentment simmering, Trump called the US team to cheer them on before the final, which Canada won in overtime.
Annexation threats have eased, but Trump still mentioned a US-Canada "merger" in his recent Oval Office meeting with Carney, while US protectionism has battered key sectors of the Canadian economy.
"There's obviously the potential for serious political tensions and national pride to be on full display during this series," University of Toronto political scientist Lewis Krashinsky told AFP.
The last World Series game played outside the United States was in October 1993, when the Blue Jays defeated the Philadelphia Phillies.
For Kitowski, the series that opens in Toronto and moves to Los Angeles next week should serve as a reminder of the enduring passion for baseball in Canada.
"We play your game and we're going to win," he said. "What are you going to do then?"
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