In 2019, Leafs twitter legend ActingTheFulemin tweeted three sentences that I think I have referenced more than any other online post ever.
“I think a lot of people think the point of sports is that your team will win and then you will be happy. That is not the point of sports. The point of sports is to be sad in a group.”
This morning, tens of millions of Canadians are waking up sad.
I am a Leafs fan. Heartbreaking and devastating losses are my bread and butter. I am used to this, or so I thought.
I really thought they were going to win, man.
Sports, man
Why do we cheer for this city’s sports teams? Outside of the Raptors Championship in 2019, which is looking more and more like they made a deal with the devil considering we basically immediately returned to being terrible, there has been precious little for this city to cheer about.
If you look at the portrait of your average Toronto sports fan, you’ve got the Raptors, the Blue Jays, the Leafs, and just for some added pain, a bunch of Buffalo Bills fans.
One emotion that is notably more absent or subdued after this loss is anger. After most Leafs losses (in fact, every single one except 2013), the primary emotion is usually anger. Anger at the players for their effort, anger at the league for their rules, anger at the management for their personnel decisions. This loss however, I can’t bring myself to feel angry. Sure, I now despise the Los Angeles Dodgers and will for the rest of my life, but it’s not the same kind of anger.
This Blue Jays team honestly reignited a love for sport. They came at a perfect moment for me, bringing vibes that were sorely needed, in this place, at this time. No other sports team in my memory embodied “the power of friendship” more than this team. At a time when the Raptors stink, the vibes surrounding the Leafs are atrocious, and the world seems to be only getting worse, this Jays team gave us something pure and joyous to cheer for, and for that I will always be grateful.
Back to being a Leafs fan
What now though? If you’re like me, that’s what you woke up thinking. It feels as if there is a hole in my heart, and I honestly don’t want to fill it with the Toronto Maple Leafs at this moment (I have re-signed myself to its inevitability however).
At the beginning of this season I wrote how I was excited because I felt that the narratives were going to be calmer. That this was the chance for a fresh start where the Leafs could let hockey do the talking and have fewer distractions. That is no longer the case.
The Leafs benefited more than any other sports team in Toronto from the Jays postseason run. They were allowed to play second fiddle in the city that normally has their every action under a microscope. But now, those eyes that were so intently focused on the Rogers Centre, have turned towards Scotiabank Arena, and they are not happy.
The Blue Jays 2025 season got off to a slow and underwhelming start. Their star player, the face of the franchise, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. under-performed during the regular season, was supported by his teammates, with stars George Springer and Bo Bichette stepping up, and showed up in the postseason, basically the exact opposite of the Leafs’ pattern.
To start the 2025–26 NHL season, the Leafs have gotten off to a slow and underwhelming start. Their star player, the face of the franchise, Auston Matthews, has under-performed but is being supported by his teammates, with William Nylander and John Tavares stepping up.
The Blue Jays turned their season around, won the division, and made it to the World Series, where, in a Game 7, they came the closest one possibly could to winning it all.
Reignited
I don’t know where to go from here. The Leafs won last night, Matthews scored and Easton Cowan got his first NHL goal. The clip of him smiling ear-to-ear and the overjoyed reaction of John Tavares, especially when compared to his own subdued reaction to scoring 500 goals, gave me the first hint of something similar to the magic of the 2025 Blue Jays.
The rest of this season will inevitably be a comparison. It’s impossible to avoid, especially because the taste of this defeat will linger on our tongues for a while. The Toronto Maple Leafs have an opportunity. They are talented enough, and regardless, we just saw that it is possible to take the most expensive lineup in sports history to the very edge of defeat. The Leafs can choose to get over the hump, will they?
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