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Toronto Blue Jays players fire back at Baltimore broadcaster who insulted Canadian baseball fans

Preston Hodgkinson
Preston Hodgkinson
|
Sep 14 2025, 8:57 pm
Toronto Blue Jays players fire back at Baltimore broadcaster who insulted Canadian baseball fans
John E. Sokolowski/Imagn Images

Toronto Blue Jays players are taking a stand after a Baltimore Orioles broadcaster insulted the intelligence of Canadian baseball fans on Friday night.

The incident began after fans at Rogers Centre rained down boos after Baltimore pitcher Shawn Dubin threw to first, trying to pick off Myles Straw. It’s a fairly regular occurrence for the play to cause fans to boo, but MASN Orioles broadcasterĀ Brian Roberts decided to use it as an opportunity to insult Canadian baseball fans.

He said that sometimes he has major questions about the baseball intelligence of Canadians, and that they know more about hockey than baseball. Hockey may be the top sport in Canada over baseball, but the comments were way off base, as the country is not only passionate about the sport but also very knowledgeable.

Blue Jays third baseman Ernie Clement knows this and fired back at Roberts in an interview with the Toronto Star. He specifically aimed at the Orioles’ waning attendance compared to the Blue Jays’ soaring numbers.

“Iā€™m surprised that [Roberts] would say that,” Clement said. “The more I play here and the more I get to know the people in Toronto, the more I gain a respect for what they know about baseball.

“We get 40,000 a night here. I mean, they probably get 5,000 a night, so it makes sense that youā€™d be a little salty about that.”

Clement was not the only player who disagreed with Roberts. The Star also interviewed Isiah Kiner-Falefa about the matter, who was able to give a specific example of the intelligence of Blue Jays fans.

“You saw it [on Thursday] night,ā€ said IKF. ā€œVladā€˜s first at-bat, he hits a ground ball to first [to advance the runner], and the crowd erupted. I think the Canadian fans are awesome.ā€

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. also spoke with the Star, where he gave a short and sweet answer.

“They understand baseball, and theyā€™re the best fans in the world.”

Toronto’s social media admin poked fun at the comments after Saturday’s dramatic 5-4 walk-off win.

Roberts did end up apologizing for the comments during Saturday’s game, saying that he didn’t intend to insult Canadian baseball fans. The broadcasters also said that Toronto is one of their favourite places to travel to in the MLB.

“I do want to apologize to Toronto fans for something I said on the air the other day,” Roberts said. “Never ever meant to cause anyone to feel like I was disrespecting them at all.

“I hope that they will accept my sincere apology for what I said on the air the other day.”

It was the Blue Jays who got the last laugh as they completed a series sweep of the Orioles on Sunday afternoon. They now sit 3.5 games up on the New York Yankees in the AL East and are 2.5 up on the Detroit Tigers for the top spot in the AL.

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