Editorial — There’s room for joy in Mudville

October 31, 2015 · 0 Comments

It’s a common experience that we’ve all had from time to time.
We get the feeling that something really great is in the offing, and then we find things coming up short, and we feel let down.
Toronto Blue Jay fans are probably in tune with such emotions. It’s only natural. The local Major League Baseball heroes got their season off to kind of a so-so start, but things really started to improve in the second half of the campaign, and many of us were temped to dare think that another World Series would be coming this way.
Well, that didn’t happen. But we believe the Jays exceeded a lot of expectations this season. And who knows? Had a couple of breaks gone different ways in a few games (including some in Kansas City) the whole story could have been different.
But is that not really one of the attractions of sports?
As most of you know, the Citizen runs an online poll every week. The poll question in the April 16 edition asked if people thought the Jays would make the playoffs this year, and 60 per cent of respondents said “no.’
While it’s certainly not a scientific poll, this was one of those occasions when we really believed the results were reasonably close to the general opinion out there. That means there were a lot of minds that were changed over the months since April.
And why not?
The local baseball operation was able to assemble a team with the skills and attitudes to make themselves competitive, much to the delight of their fans, and in the end, they left a city, if not a country full of people anxious for more.
And there could well be more good days to come. It does seem that we always look forward to “next year” when the Jays’ or Leafs’ season come to an end.
But we anticipate the interest will be rekindled this coming April, and the fans will be ready for some more excitement.