Monday FTB: How about them Blue Jays?

Good morning Toronto Maple Leafs fans!

It was a quiet Leafs weekend, but it was a great Toronto sports weekend as the Blue Jays won their first two playoff games against the New York Yankees by a combined score of 23-8.

When I was a kid games would be called after a 10 run lead, and it's a shame the MLB is leaving the Yankees out on the field to be embarrassed like this.

I try to get out to one Jays game a year, and while I was in Toronto in July I stopped in for a belated look at the new renovations. Here's my notes from that trip:

I had to go to Toronto for a weekend to be the adult with a credit card who can rent hotel rooms. My kid abandoned me, and I had a couple days to do the things no one in my family wants to do:

Go see a Blue Jays game! Being a very cheap man I nabbed the lowest cost ticket at a Jays game. $20 gets you a general admission ticket. Entrance to the game, no guaranteed seat.

The atmosphere in major league sports depends on many factors. How good is the team? Who's the opponent? What's the capacity and how full is it?

My Jays game came the day after an historic four game sweep of the New York Yankees in Toronto. The first time that ever happened, and it also put the team in first place in their division. The fans turned up, and were ready for some dingers.

The opponent was the California Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (or whatever they're named this week), but without superstar Shohei Ohtani on the roster it's just another team.

The crowd was a decent size, but it's a 55,000 seat baseball l stadium, so unless it's full everything tends to feel distant.

I didn't know much about the general admission ticket, so I went straight up to the 500 level, as I assumed us cheapos would be banished up there. Two decks welcomed us. Tables, chairs, couches. It was a real party atmosphere. One area was sponsored by Schneider's and had a hotdog you could ride!

Baseball can be a little slow sometimes, so I wandered around the stadium. When I went down to 100 level, I realized I missed out on more great seats. Right behind the bullpen!

Also some good spots to just lean on a counter and take it in. For 20 bucks you may not get a seat but you get a great view.

The Jays would break open late in the game and take the win that night. It was well worth the price of admission, but maybe not the price of the popcorn. As Hank Hill says "Five dollars a ton if you feed it to pigs. It's the same corn."

The real catch on heading to a Jays game is whether they're good or not. A good Jays team brings out the fans and the fans make it worthwhile. An open dome absolutely changes the feeling of the building as well. I got lucky, as this was my first ever game with an open dome, and I loved it. It was about 3/4 full and you could feel the passion of the fans. I'm not surprised the Jays routed the Yankees this weekend. A full stadium and an open roof? Unbeatable.

Or, to be more crass:

Enjoy the game one more time.

Oh this is a Maple Leafs website?

Fine.

Ha.

The Leafs did put four players on waivers yesterday:

Matt Benning, Dakota Mermis, Michael Pezzetta, and Henry Thrun.

Who will still be a Maple Leaf today? We'll find out this afternoon.

How long will Easton Cowan stay up with the big team?

Berube thinks Cowan is ready to play at NHL level with Maple Leafs

After watching Easton Cowan play in five of Toronto’s six pre-season games, Craig Berube believes the 20-year-old winger is ready for the NHL level.

TSNMark Masters

The pre-season is over. Regular season begins Wednesday night against Montreal. But so is game three for the Jays against New York. [Corrections: Tuesday is game 3, game 4 will be Wednesday if necessary. The Tuesday game starts at 8 pm, the Wednesday at 7 pm.]

Get a second screen, it's a big night.

Enjoy your day!