Dave McKay (Vancouver, B.C.) and Dave Pagan (Nipawin, Sask.) were the first Canadians to play for the Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners respectively.

October 12, 2025

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

Some Canadian baseball news and notes from the past week:

Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays are expansion cousins

Major League Baseball awarded franchises to the cities of Toronto and Seattle on March 26, 1976.

Since then, the Blue Jays and Mariners have grown up together, but it’s taken 49 seasons for them to face each other in the American League Championship Series (ALCS).

So, let’s compare the two expansion cousins.

All-Time Regular Season Records: Both teams have played 7,711 regular season games. The Blue Jays are 3,855-3,856 while the Mariners are 3,689-4,022

Postseason Records: Blue Jays 34-37; Mariners 20-24

Postseason Appearances: Blue Jays 11, Mariners 6

American League pennants: Blue Jays 2, Mariners 0

World Series titles: Blue Jays 2, Mariners 0

First Canadian to play for the Blue Jays: Dave McKay (Vancouver, B.C.), April 7, 1977

First Canadian to play for the Mariners: Dave Pagan (Nipawin, Sask.), April 10, 1977

As opponents:

All-Time Regular Season Record: In 437 regular season games between the clubs, the Blue Jays have won 228 and the Mariners have won 209.

Postseason Record: The Mariners swept two games from the Blue Jays in a Wild-Card series in 2022. That’s the only other time they have met in the playoffs.

2025 Regular Season: The Blue Jays were 4-2 against the Mariners.

Canadians who have played with the Blue Jays and the Mariners: OF Rob Ducey (Cambridge, Ont.), LHP Paul Spoljaric (Kelowna, B.C.), LHP Steve Sinclair (Victoria, B.C.), OF Michael Saunders (Victoria, B.C.), LHP Andrew Albers (North Battleford, Sask.), RHP Zach Pop (Brampton, Ont.).

Canadians on current Blue Jays and Mariners rosters: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Montreal, Que.) with the Blue Jays and Josh Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) and Matt Brash (Kingston, Ont.) with the Mariners.

Most hits by a Canadian in a postseason game

Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Montreal, Que.) and Mariners first baseman Josh Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) each had two, three-hit games in their respective American League Division Series.

This got me wondering if three hits were the most by a Canadian in a postseason game. So, I asked Scott Crawford, the director of operations at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

He shared that there have been three, four-hit games by Canadians in the postseason: Terry Puhl (Melville, Sask.) for the Houston Astros in Game 5 of the 1980 NLCS, Larry Walker (Maple Ridge, B.C.) for the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of the 2004 World Series and Naylor for the Guardians in Game 1 of their AL Wild-Card Series in 2020.

Most Career Hits by a Canadian-born player in the MLB Postseason

With six hits in the ALDS, Naylor has moved up on the all-time Canadian postseason hit list.

Here are the leaders:

38 – Russell Martin (Montreal, Que.)

35 – Tip O’Neill (Woodstock, Ont.)

26 – Naylor

23 – Walker

18 – George Selkirk (Huntsville, Ont.)

16 – Justin Morneau (New Westminster, B.C.)

15 – Corey Koskie (Anola, Man.)

15 – Jason Bay (Trail, B.C.)

12 – Puhl

12 – Guerrero Jr.

*Stats are courtesy of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame

Guerrero Jr. has record-setting ALDS for Blue Jays

Guerrero Jr. homered in the first three games of the American League Division Series against the New York Yankees. The Blue Jays slugger finished 9-for-17 (.529 batting average) with nine RBIs and 1.609 OPS in the four-game series.

Just how good was this?

This good:

Brash shines out of pen for Mariners

Reliever Matt Brash (Kingston, Ont.) pitched two scoreless innings for the Mariners in their Division Series-clinching win over the Detroit Tigers on Friday. He didn’t allow a hit and had two strikeouts.

That was his fourth appearance for the M’s this postseason. He finished the Division Series with a 1.93 ERA and seven strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.

The American League Championship Series won’t be the first time Brash has faced the Blue Jays in the postseason. When the Mariners defeated the Blue Jays in a Wild-Card series in 2022, Brash did not permit a hit or a run, while fanning four, in 3 1/3 innings.

So, in total in the postseason, Brash has pitched eight innings and allowed just one hit and one earned run, while fanning 11 batters.

Thirty-two years ago, Stewart leads Jays past Sox to second AL pennant

It was 32 years ago today that right-hander Dave Stewart started and limited the Chicago White Sox to two runs on four hits in 7 1/3 innings in Game 6 of the ALCS to lead the Blue Jays to a 6-3 win at Comiskey Park. With the victory, the Blue Jays clinched their second straight American League pennant and would face the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series.

Offensively, in the contest, Devon White had three hits – including a home run – while Pat Borders went 2-for-4 with three RBIs.

Thomson’s future as Phillies’ manager in question

Rob Thomson (Corunna, Ont.) has guided the Phillies to the postseason in each of his four seasons as manager. His .580 regular season winning percentage is the highest in franchise history for any skipper that has managed more than 150 games for them.

In my view, that’s a strong resume.

But after the Phillies were ousted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Division Series on Thursday, there was speculation that he could lose his job.

Thomson was asked about his future right after their 2-1, 11-inning loss on Thursday.

“I’m not even thinking about that (my job) right now. I’ve got 60 people in there that are brokenhearted right now. I’m thinking about that a lot more than my job right now,” Thomson told reporters.

Philly Inquirer baseball scribe Scott Lauber wrote about Thomson on Saturday. The gist of his article is that the players love Thomson, but “history shows replacing a manager is an easier way to change course than a roster overhaul.”

Fox baseball reporter Ken Rosenthal told Foul Territory on Friday that he wasn’t sure if Thomson will want to come back. Thomson had been set to retire at the end of the 2022 season before he was offered the job to replace Joe Girardi as the Phillies manager.

Ron Taylor (Toronto, Ont.) recorded the save in the New York Mets’ first World Series win 56 years ago today.

56 years ago, Taylor notched World Series save

On this date 56 years ago, right-hander Ron Taylor (Toronto, Ont.) recorded the save in the New York Mets’ 2-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles in Game 2 of the 1969 World Series.

It was the Mets’ first World Series win.

Taylor replaced Mets starter Jerry Koosman with two outs and runners on first and second in the ninth and got future Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson to ground out to third base for the final out.

Happy 90th Birthday to Tony Kubek!

Former Blue Jays TV analyst and Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Tony Kubek turns 90 today. Born in Milwaukee, Wis., Kubek won three World Series as a shortstop with the Yankees between 1957 and 1965 before becoming a popular broadcaster for NBC. He spent 25 seasons behind the mike for the network and called 11 World Series and 10 All-Star games, as well as the Saturday afternoon “Game of the Week.”

The Blue Jays were fortunate to land Kubek as an analyst on their TV broadcasts in 1977 and during his 13 seasons in the booth for the club, he educated tens of thousands of Canadian viewers on CTV and TSN about the sport.

For his efforts, Kubek was the first broadcaster to work exclusively as a TV analyst to win the National Baseball of Fame’s Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting excellence in 2009. He was also the first Frick Award winner to have called games for a Canadian team. Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Tom Cheek (2013) and Dave Van Horne (2014) have also since been honoured.

40 years ago, Oliver hits ninth-inning double to propel Blue Jays to win in ALCS

It was exactly four decades ago today that Al Oliver delivered a pinch-hit, two-run double in the ninth inning off Dan Quisenberry to propel the Blue Jays to a 3-1 win over the Kansas City Royals in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series.

The win gave the Blue Jays a 3-1 series lead.

In previous years, that victory would’ve advanced the Blue Jays to the World Series, but in 1985, MLB switched to a best four-of-seven league championship series format.

Remembering John Peter Vossen

My condolences go out to my friend and longtime Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame supporter Phil Parkinson on the passing of his father John.

John passed away on October 7.

“John was born and raised in St. Marys, retiring from 25 years at Shur-Gain a few years ago,” reads his obituary in part. “John’s passions were golf, baseball, billiards and riding his Harley Davidson motorcycle with his friends and travelling with Cheryl (his wife). John loved the Toronto Blue Jays, Toronto Maple Leafs and will be a Dallas Cowboys fan forever!”

You can leave your online condolences here.

Interesting Fact of the Week:

This is courtesy of Christopher Kamka, a great writer and researcher for the Marquee Sports Network:

BWDIK: Brash, Naylor, Guerrero Jr., Kubek, Taylor, Thomson