The Current - Blue Jays superfans get ready for Game 1 of the World Series

Episode Date: October 24, 2025

Will history repeat itself? The Toronto Blue Jays have made it to Game 1 of the World Series. Fans are hopeful as they face one of the best teams in the league: The Los Angeles Dodgers. Superfans Maddie Cholette and Tyler Carpentier share their excitement over Game 1.

This ascent isn't for everyone. You need grit to climb this high this often. You've got to be an underdog that always over-delivers. You've got to be 6,500 hospital staff, 1,000 doctors, all doing so much with so little. You've got to be Scarborough. Defined by our uphill battle and always striving towards new heights. And you can help us keep climbing.

Donate at lovescarbro.cairbo. This is a CBC podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway, and this is the current podcast. Blue Jays fans, let's do this together. Take a deep breath. In, out. Tonight's the night. Game one of the World Series,

the Jays taking on the reigning champion, Los Angeles Dodgers. Rookie Jay's pitcher, Trey Savage, is starting the game. Fans coast to coast to coast will be on the edge of their seats jumping up and down. needing those deep breaths to calm the nerves. Two of those fans are with us now.

Maddie Chalet is with me in studio in Toronto. Tyler Carpenter is on the line from Camloos, British Columbia. Good morning to you both. Good morning. Maddie, you and I spoke just before the Js started the playoff series against the Yankees. Yeah. You were unequivocal. You said, guaranteed on this program, that the Jays would win.

And so how are you feeling just hours before they take on the Los Angeles Dodgers in game one? of the World Series. I feel so excited. Like, I can't believe we're here, but at the same time, it's like with this group, it's all you could expect is, you know, what you don't expect. And when you put unwavering faith in this team, this is what they give you this year. Tyler, how are you feeling? I'm also really, really excited.

They've got such an unbelievable group right now that you can't do anything but have a lot of hope for them. But it's the World Series. Can you believe, Tyler, that the Toronto Blue Jays, a team that, was terrible. I mean, finished last place last year, that they're here. They're now in the World Series. Well, that's baseball. This game can really turn around really, really quick.

Yeah, their group has been talented for a lot of years. They had terrible results last year, but that didn't mean that they were terrible players. You believe in the players, and the players will get the team to this point. You believe in something special that's going on

in this team, Tyler? Yeah, absolutely. Maddie, you were at Game 7. You were there? Yeah, it was. Somehow. Somehow. Yeah. George Springer is a special kind of player. So special, in fact, you have what tattooed on your arm?

I've been number four. Why would you do that? He was one of my favorite playoff players to watch growing up when he was with the Astros. And so when he signed here, it meant a lot to me. And, you know, I got this tattoo a few years ago. But all I've ever really wanted is to see my team in the World Series and to see him have one of those playoff moments. So when he hits that home run, the Dinger, the Dinger, that sends the Jays into the World Series, did you lose your mind in the stands? I did.

Like, the people saying next to me, like, I started crying. And the guy next to me was like, are you okay? Tyler, you're in British Columbia. We keep calling this Canada's team. Is it truly Canada's team? I think so. I mean, you know, I'm involved in baseball a lot out here, and there's a lot of people that have their teams that they root for, but so many people, even all the way out here, are so invested in what the Blue Jays are doing, that national identity for them really does go coast to coast to coast. And part of that's about the farm team.

We talked about this on the program before, but, I mean, one of the J's farm teams is in Vancouver, right? Yeah, and the Canadians are an amazing team. and Nat Bailey Stadium is an absolutely gorgeous ballpark. Yeah, it's just natural that they're part of their farm system. Tell me about the baseball program that you run and what the success of this team, the big league team, means for the kids who are there on the field with you. Yeah. So the Challenger baseball program, it's adapted baseball for kids with any kind of disability.

And whether it's physical or neurodivergent or anything along those lines. And last year, last summer, we actually had completed drive and raised well over $100,000 and brought our whole team and family and support people out to Toronto for some baseball with the Challenger program out there. And Jay's Care was absolutely fantastic for these kids. They got to go to a game in the Doc Holiday box and watch the Blue Jays beat the Orioles. It was an absolutely amazing, amazing trip. And, you know, you think about a trip across country with a kid is a difficult thing to do.

Never mind, you've got 20 or so kids that are all neurodivergent or all have some kind of disability. It was a huge, huge undertaking. And all the kids were so excited that the trip went off without any real problems. What did it mean for them to be in that box and watch the Jays win? What did it mean for them to see that? It was life-changing for them. You know, that's, for a lot of these kids, it's once in a lifetime experience. Most of them would never be able to even sniff an opportunity like that, never mind to actually be there.

Maddie, they're putting the kid, Trey Savage, on the Hill, to take on the Los Angeles Dodgers. This is what, his seventh major league star? Yeah, it feels surreal, and I'm not even him. Like, I can't imagine what he's feeling. Like, started the year in, you know, Dan Eden, right? And somehow he's ended up here. It's so cool to see and to. for us to kind of, you know, grow up with him over the past, like, few months.

We're kind of watching him become, like, an MLBier. Are you nervous for him? I am. I feel like I might be more nervous than he is. He never seems nervous. But, I mean, Tyler, you would have seen him perhaps playing at Nat Bailey Stadium because he was pitching for the Vancouver Canadians, what, like, this summer. Yeah.

His rise is, like, Meteoric doesn't even describe it. Like, this is the kind of thing. thing that you can't even do if you're playing a video game. It's absolutely unprecedented how far he's come this season. They're up against the Los Angeles Dodgers, gazillion dollar payroll, the new evil empire, John Schneider manager of the Jays said, we're going to do our best to not make baseball evil again. Do they have a chance, Maddie? Yeah, they always do. Yeah, that's the answer. Well, yeah, because they didn't get this far by everyone believing in them, you know, everybody dead this team

the entire year, you know, they still do. There are still people who, you know, think there's like all these factors coming together, getting them here, and no, it's the players, it's this team, and they love each other, and you know, their desire to win as a group is what got them here, so why can't they? Tyler, do you feel good about this?

I really do. Absolutely, there's zero doubt. Where will you be watching, Tyler? How, I mean, I don't know if you have some sort of ritual, you wear the same thing, you don't wash the socks or what have? What are you going to do to watch the game? But I'm just going to be watching at home. It's such a tense thing for someone that's been following this team for so long.

I started following them in 92, which was a great time to do that. But there's so much anxiety wrapped up in the excitement of it all that being able to just be at home and relax as much as I can while I'm watching it is big. Maddie, what about for you? You have some sort of horseshoe where it seems like you get into it. to games, that there are no ticket. Are you going to a game? I'll be there tomorrow. Tomorrow. But I do agree with him in that sometimes watching from home, like I need to be in solitude,

but I have to be out one of these games. Come on. Go Jays. I love the enthusiasm that you have and the faith in this team, both of you. Thank you very much for being here. Thank you. Thank you very much. Maddie Chalet is from Oakville, Ontario. Tyler Carpenter is in Camloops, British Columbia. Game one of the World Series featuring your Toronto Blue Jays.

This has been the current podcast. You can hear our show Monday to Friday on CBC Radio 1 at 8.30 a.m. at all time zones. You can also listen online at cbc.ca.ca slash the current or on the CBC Listen app or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.ca slash podcasts.