1992 World Series: Blue Jays Make History

On October twenty fourth, nineteen ninety two. The final game of Major League Baseball was played that year when the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Atlanta Braves in the World Series, winning their very first World Series and becoming the first team in Major League Baseball history to win a World Series outside of the United States, showing the growth of the league and how strong of team the Blue Jays really were. They were going to dive into how they won this World Series on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide as you daily learn about sports history, increasing your sports knowledge. Now, Major League Baseball is primarily known as an American sport. We call it America's pastime, and it really did start in America, but Canada isn't too far from where a lot of the teams play. And despite most of these most of the US professional sports teams primarily playing in America, except for the National Hockey League, we still call them world championships even though we don't play against the world. But in nineteen seventy six, baseball started to change their strategy the Toronto Blue Jays as baseball was expanding and they were one of the new teams to join the major leagues, although they weren't the first Canadian team to join Major League Baseball, as that was given to the Montreal Expos, and we mentioned them briefly when we on ourn episode about the Seattle Pilots, who expanded that same year in nineteen sixty nine, and baseball continued to expand and Toronto was prime as they were a major city now for them to join, they needed to pay a franchise fee of seven million dollars and they held a contest to name the team, naming it the Blue Jays after the Lebatts Brewing company from Toronto were the Toronto Blues. And they struggled that first decade as many expansion teams do, as we talked about in the Seattle Pilots episode, and they didn't win a division title till nineteen eighty five, but they started to put things together as the nineties came around, winning the AL East in nineteen eighty nine, nineteen ninety one, nineteen ninety two, and nineteen ninety three. And at this time in baseball, they did not have the wildcards, so whoever won their division would play in the ALS or NLS, depending on which conference you were in, so winning your division at the time was huge. That meant you had the chance to go in the postseason. In nineteen ninety one, they had a good team, but unfortunately they lost out to the eventual World Series champs, the Minnesota Twins in five games. But they would come back stronger than ever in the nineteen ninety two season, as in the offseason they would sign pitcher Jack Morris, who had just won a World Series with the Minnesota Twins, giving them that World Series veteran that they needed to get over the hump, and they also signed Dave Winfield to help solidify their team in the outfield as well as led by returning veterans in Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter. They would go on to win ninety six games that year, with the goal coming in to win to win the division and make it to the World Series. And they made it, and they would win their division, beating out the Milwaukee Brewers by four games, and at this time, the Al East consisted of seven teams including the Orioles, the Indians, the Yankees, Tigers, and Red Sox, and they would go on to face the Oakland Athletics, who they would take care of in six games, winning their very first American Pennant and becoming the first non US team to make it to the World Series, and they would face off against the Atlanta Braves. Now, we briefly mentioned this team in this series in the episode about Deon Sanders trying to play in the NFL and Major League Baseball in the same day, as he was one of the best players on the Atlanta Braves, and they would win the Al West by eight games, but would face a daunting pittper Pirates team led by Barry Bonds, who took them all the way to seven games where they would win in that crucial seventh game and to go to win the pennant and go to the World Series. And they were led that year in pitching by John Smoltz and Tom Glavin, and their hitting lineup was led by Terry Pennington and David Justice. So we come to Game one of the World Series on October seventeenth in Atlanta, Georgia, where Hall of Famer Tom Glavin takes off pitches against Jack Morris in a hard fought game. Jack Morris, who was the MVP of the nineteen ninety one World Series, and it wasn't until Joe Carter put the Blue Jays on hit a solo home run in the fourth inning to give the Blue Jays an early lead, but that would be the only time they would score, and the Braves would hit a three run homer in the seventh inning which gave them the lead in the final score of three to one, giving the Braves the early series lead. The next game was the following day, still in Atlanta, and before the game, when they were doing the national anthems as when you play a Canadian team playing against the US team, they played both the Canadian and the US national anthem, but the color guard accidentally flew the Canadian flag upside down. Now this wasn't meant to be malicious, but it was kind of a diss. A Mini took it as a diss and it gave Toronto a little bit of incentive but Atlanta. In the first four innings, Atlenta would score would take the lead two to zero, and both teams would score two runs in the fifth, having a score of four to two, but to close out the game, the Toronto Blue Jays would score three runs, winning the game, tying the series one to one. As they would go back to Toronto, playing the first World Series game outside of the US, in another close game where Toronto would take an early lead in the fourth one to zero, and they would go on trading runs until the ninth inning when it was tied two to two, when Toronto would drive in a run in the bottom of the ninth, winning the game in walk off fashion, taking a series lead two to one. The following game was on the twenty first, still in Toronto, in another close game. Toronto would score in the third and go on, but Atlanta would tie, was score in the third and in the seventh, giving them a two zero lead. Atlanta would score one time in the eighth, but falter in the ninth, giving Toronto again the win as they would go up three to one. In a pivotal Game five, which would be the final game in Toronto, Toronto really wanted to win this game to have the chance to celebrate in Toronto with their fans, but unfortunately John Smoltz in the Atlanta Braves had other planned, especially in the fifth inning, as the game was tied two to two heading into the fifth, but Atlanta would go on a run, scoring five runs in the fifth, effectively ending the game. Seven to two for the Braves, giving the Braves another chance to fight at their home stadium in Atlanta. So on October twenty fourth, nineteen eighty two, was Game sixth of the World Series. Toronto only needed one more game to win it all and they had David Cone and the mount facing off agains Steve Avery for the Braves, and the scoring started in the third inning when the Blue Jays were able to get on the board when David White hit a sacrifice fly to send a runner in to make the score one to zero. But in the bottom of the inning, the Braves were able to match it with David Justice driving in a run, tying it one to one, and they would stay tied until the sixth inning, when when the Braves took the lead when Ron Gant hit a home run, putting them up two to one, and that's what the store would stay until the ninth inning win With two outs, Braves closer Jeff Reardon gave up a single to Roberta Alamar in another hit to David Winfield. Having two runners on base, the Blue Jays were able to drive in another run, tying the game, sending it into extra innings, and in the tenth. Both teams would remain scoreless until at top of the eleventh when Dave Winfield came up with two runners on hit a double, driving in two runners, giving the Blue Jays the lead four to two, and the Braves had a chance to match it in the eleventh and Otis Dixon was able to drive in US one run, but unfortunately, with two runners Onlue Jay's closer Mike Timlin, was able to shut the Braves down, getting them to ground out and giving the Blue Jays the win in the first World Series, in the first World Series for any team outside of the US. Not only that, their manager, Cito Gaston, became the first black manager to win the World Series, and they would have a lot of success as they would come back the next year and win it all again. Unfortunately, in nineteen ninety four, though, there would not be a World Series due to the strike, but the following year, in nineteen ninety five, the Braves would actually win their first World Series in n Atlanta, and they would make it to the World Series five times during the nineties, the only winning that one in nineteen ninety five. And if you want more Blue Jays content, check out bat Flips and Maple Dips, where hosts Justin and Mark dive into everything you need to know about the Blue Jays and what's going on with the team so you can become more of a Blue Jays fanatic. We'll put a link in the description below so you can check them out. And if you enjoyed today's episode of Daily Sports History, make sure you subscribe wherever you're listening. That way, you do not miss a single episode, and we'll be back tomorrow for more Daily Sports History.