Montreal may have lost its MLB team over two decades ago, but baseball fandom still runs deep throughout Canada.
That’s thanks in large part to the country’s only remaining franchise, the Toronto Blue Jays. The team has one of the loudest and most loyal fanbases in the league, which is something an American broadcaster learned the hard way over the weekend.
During a Jays home game against the Baltimore Orioles on Friday, MASN colour commentator and former Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts questioned the “baseball IQ” of Canadian fans.
The remark came after Toronto fans booed an Orioles pitcher for trying to pick off Jays outfielder Myles Straw at first base (a pretty common fan reaction in MLB stadiums).
“I got to be real, real careful what I say, but sometimes we had some major questions about the baseball IQ of some Canadians here and there,” Roberts said during the broadcast. “I think, you know, at times it felt like maybe they enjoyed or they knew a little bit more about hockey than baseball.”
To make matters worse, Roberts once played north of the border himself, spending part of 2003 with the Ottawa Lynx ( the Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate at the time) before solidifying his MLB career.
Even Roberts’ broadcast partner, play-by-play commentator Kevin Brown, cautioned him in real time. “You got to be really careful,” Brown told Roberts. “I’d shut that down now if I were you.”
“We’re not on the air in Canada, are we?” Roberts responded.
“There’s this thing called the internet,” Brown said sarcastically.
“Oh yeah, that’s right,” Roberts replied.
Of course, as Roberts’ broadcasting partner predicted, the comments quickly made their way online, angering a ton of Canadian baseball fans.
And by Sunday, the broadcaster apologized during the Jays’ series finale against Baltimore.
“I do want to apologize to Toronto fans for something I said on the air the other day,” Roberts said. “I definitely never ever meant to cause anyone to feel like I was disrespecting them at all. I have always enjoyed coming to Toronto, I’ve always enjoyed playing here, I told you that when we first got here. So I hope that they will accept my sincere apology.”
The Jays went on to sweep the Orioles with an 11–2 win that day. Toronto currently sits first in the AL East, while the Orioles remain in last place.
Meanwhile, the Jays’ social media team got some revenge of their own. While sharing some victory photos on X, the team included a caption that mocked Roberts’ original statement: “We gotta be real careful when we say this, but… High-IQ fans are the key to being above .500 at home.”
Something tells us that when Roberts returns to Toronto, the boos he hears might not be about something happening on the field.
