With Toronto Blue Jays out, are Philadelphia Phillies now Canada’s team?

Which team will residents of Canada be pulling for in the 2022 World Series? Don’t be surprised if Toronto Blue Jays fans become Philadelphia Phillies supporters when the Fall Classic begins on Friday in Houston.

Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson said his team is getting plenty of love from Canada and Toronto Blue Jays fans

In an interview with Audacy’s SportsRadio 94WIP (Philadelphia), Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson, who is a native of Canada and represented Canada when baseball was a demonstration sport in the 1984 Summer Olympics, joked that his team is now “an international team” because of all of the texts and calls he is getting from north of the border.

“Now that the Blue Jays are out of it, I know that there’s a lot of interest in our ball club,” Thomson said. “That’s good. We’re an international team.”

You can listen to the entire interview below, including the remarks about Canadian support, which comes at the 6:13 mark.

Of course, the Phillies and Blue Jays do have an intertwined World Series history, with Joe Carter’s home run off Philadelphia reliever Mitch Williams providing one of the most memorable walkoff homers in MLB history and giving Toronto the 1993 World Series title.

It has been quite a year for Thomson, who took over as Philadelphia’s interim manager on June 3 when Joe Girardi was fired after the Phillies got off to a 22-29 mark. Despite the early record, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski emphasized that, with the talent on the roster and Thomson at the helm, he believed Philadelphia could bounce back.

“I think we can make the playoffs. I think we’re in a position where we can battle back to do that. I do believe that,” Dombrowski said at the time of Girardi’s firing.

Thomson and his team have proven those words to be prophetic, with the Phillies going 65-46 under his watch and clinching their first postseason berth since 2011.

With the Phillies in their first World Series since 2009 and with a native son at the helm, it appears that Philadelphia will have plenty of support from Canadian baseball fans when Game 1 against Houston begins on Friday.