Cory Litwin’s earliest memory of the Toronto Blue Jays goes back to 1993, the year the Jays took home their second consecutive World Series championship in a dramatic victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. A victory parade had sprung up from Queens Park and Litwin, just a kid then, watched with his sister, grandparents, and parents from a hotel as millions of fans flooded the streets of downtown and made their way to the Skydome (now Rogers Centre). For many Canadians, that moment of national pride and unity would resonate long after the crowds cleared.
With the Jays taking a 3-2 series lead and the teams heading to Toronto for Game 6, the championship has taken on a deeper significance that goes beyond which team gets to four wins first. The Blue Jays are Canada’s team, and there has been a national shift as Canadians come together with a united purpose. Needless to say, the game is both a reminder of Canada’s growing dominance in sports and a statement of its resilience.
For Litwin — who now lives in Los Angeles, where is he is a managing partner of Range Media and co-founder of SHWIN with Boris Shvarts, which recently partnered with Kenan Thompson’s AFA — Canada will always have his undying devotion. “It isn’t just about sports,” he tells Rolling Stone. “This is such a deeper thing. It’s national pride. This is Canada versus the world.”
I’ve lived in Los Angeles for nearly a decade, and I love it. But when it comes to sports, my heart is always with Toronto, where I was raised on Blue Jays games thanks to my grandparents. My Bubby Sarah — who was one of the most special women in my life — watched every game and knew every single detail about every player.
In the music industry, I’m known for being a Canadian ambassador. Hardly home, but always reppin’. So being at Game 3 on Monday night, as it went to 18 innings, I was thinking of my grandmother with fingers crossed behind my back. It was a sentimental, nostalgic moment for me and my pride swelled. This is my city.
The Blue Jays are Canada’s team. It’s not a city or a province or even a geographic area that’s behind the franchise. It’s an entire country. So it wasn’t at all surprising to meet Blue Jays fans at Dodger Stadium from all over Canada — Vancouver, Winnipeg, and of course, Toronto.
For three nights this week, it’s been a sea of blue at Chavez Ravine, as L.A. locals refer to the temple of baseball’s location — where the 5 meets the 10 and the 101, in Californians’ speak — but in addition to sharing a color, we have a lot more in common than meets the eye. I’ve been wearing my Blue Jays cap everywhere, and was expecting people to give me shit, but what I realized is that people in L.A. are often from somewhere else.
Likewise, Toronto is uniquely a place of transplants. Everyone hails from different countries, but we all still feel Canadian. Working and living in L.A. for seven years, which I love, Canada will always be a part of my blood, my soul, and every Canadian that I knew growing up — whether their parents and grandparents are from European countries, African countries, Caribbean countries — they all still felt such Canadian pride. Canada will always be in my heart.
This isn’t just about sports. It’s a much a deeper point of national pride. This is our country versus the world. This is us having something to prove. This is a success story, like the Weeknd, Bieber, Drake, Shawn Mendes, PartyNextDoor, Alanis Morissette, and Avril Lavigne — Canadians who made it big in our much bigger neighbor to the south. The Toronto Raptors know this sensation. They emerged victorious against the Golden State Warriors at the NBA finals in 2019, but that California-Canada face-off wasn’t about winning so much as just being in the competition. Now, we’re beating the mighty Dodgers, and getting here is a triumph in itself.
The World Series is a mirror of issues we’ve faced recently as Americans and Canadians, from politics to rap beefs. At the same time, the Canadian-American relationship has been an inspiring, positive example to the rest of the world.
This is such a moment for us, and I’m so excited to share it with the many Canadians living in L.A., my American-Canadian son, Noah, and all my friends and family back home. My city, my country, my late grandparents, all of Toronto — I know how much it means to them.
