I don’t know how often Blue Jays fans think of it, but the 1993 World Series, Mitch Williams, and Joe Carter will be forever in the broken hearts of Phillies fans. For those of us old enough to remember (I was a crying 10-year-old), there will not be a time when playing Toronto won’t rekindle painful memories. And just in case any of us have moved on, the broadcast will remind us of the famous homerun EVERY – SINGLE – GODDAMN – TIME. I will not be breaking that agonizing cycle.
Toronto winning in 1993 ushered in a dark time for baseball. Directly following the World Series there was talk of a strike. The season started on time, but the lingering effects of Philadelphia’s loss wouldn’t allow either side to make much headway in negotiations. Eventually the season was halted, and the playoffs were cancelled. Very clearly, this was Joe Carter’s fault. Had the Phillies won, who knows what would have happened in 1994? I can say with complete certainty though that baseball only shut down after Toronto won, that much is clear. A Phillies’ win would have changed everything…probably.
As punishment for their sabotage of the American pastime, Canada’s team was not allowed to make the playoffs for 20 years. This resolution passed 27-1 with even the Montreal Expos voting against them. So shamed were the Expos by what happened that they eventually fled the North for the US Capitol to become the Nationals. For some reason Toronto continued to field its baseball team, but never finished higher than 2nd place and never won more than 88 games.
This exile was especially frustrating for pitcher Roy Halladay. Upon first being called up to majors, Halladay was not very good. His emotions got the best of him as he could not accept that by simply being a Blue Jay he would not be allowed to participate in the playoffs. He wasn’t even on that dastardly 1993 team! Toronto eventually demoted him to Single-A and told him to, and I quote: “deal with it.” Not one to simply accept his postseason-less fate, Halladay visited famed sports psychologist Harvey Dorfman. Dorfman told him that there was only one possible solution, he would have to become the best pitcher on the planet and hope that the great Philadelphia Phillies would trade for him. Halladay returned to the majors set in his singular purpose.
After 9 more seasons and 5 Top-5 Cy Young Award finishes, Halladay finally got his wish and the Phillies came calling. On December 15, 2009 Halladay was traded to the Phillies for Travis D’Arnaud, Kyle Drabek, and Michael Taylor. For their trouble, the trio would combine for a robust -.1 WAR over their time in Toronto.1 Roy Halladay would win another Cy Young in Philly, throw a perfect game, and, in his first ever playoff start after freeing himself from the chains of Toronto’s no-playoffs oppression, he threw a no-hitter, Andy Dufresne style.
In 2015 and now with their 20-year banishment over, Toronto won the AL East behind an MVP performance from future alleged racist Josh Donaldson. Their World Series dreams were cut short by eventual champions the Kansas City Royals. The following year, Cleveland knocked them out in the ALCS. Since then they have qualified for the playoffs 3 times and have not won a game going 0-6. So sad.
Presently, Toronto is 31-28 and running a $270m payroll behind often injured free agent signings Max Scherzer and Anthony Santander. Unfortunately, they have won 5 in a row while our heroes have lost the last 4. Due to the pending birth of Zack Wheeler’s 4th child, he was scratched for Tuesday’s start. The revised matchups are as follows:
- Tuesday, June 3 at 7:07p: Cristopher Sanchez v. Bowden Francis (R) 5.04 ERA
- Wednesday, June 4 at 7:07p: Mick Abel v Jose Berrios (R) 3.86 ERA
- Thursday, June 5 at 3:07p: Jesus Luzardo v. Chris Bassitt (R) 3.80 ERA
PS…I don’t really want to hate Toronto and I don’t most of the year. When we play them though, I go back to the crying 10-year-old I was back then and can’t shake it. That’s the memory that cemented me as a Phillies fan for life.
- To be fair, D’Arnaud was at least traded (along with Noah Syndergaard) for knuckleballer extraordinaire R.A. Dickey. ↩︎
Philly Front Office 
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