For Toronto Blue Jays star Ernie Clement, baseball has been about the friends you make along the way

Most years, Toronto Blue Jays infielder Ernie Clement would be spending his fall weekends in Orchard Park, New York.

Once his baseball season ends, the 29-year-old has often been focused on his pastime of being a diehard Buffalo Bills fan, hanging out with his longtime pals and watching football.

But 2025 hasn’t been most years.

A Rochester native, Clement has been one of the key reasons behind Toronto’s first World Series appearance in 32 years. Only Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has had more hits than Clement in the 2025 playoffs, both among his teammates and across the entire MLB.

And given that it’s his first playing appearance in the postseason of his major league career, it’s thrown off his ability to cheer on his favourite football team, at least in person.

But his friends don’t seem to mind coming to him.

Clement told the 6ix Inning Podcast earlier that his usual tailgate crew takes a Buffalo Bills-themed RV each home game weekend on the 75-minute journey from Rochester to the team’s home stadium. But with Clement playing in the biggest stage of his life, they’ve opted to come to Toronto for Game 1 and 2 of the World Series.

“I’ll have the boys up. They’re all excited. I think they’re taking the Bills RV up. So it’ll feel like a Bills game for them. They’ll probably try to do a little tailgating in a Toronto parking lot. I don’t know if they’ll [be allowed], but yeah, they’re gonna get rowdy. It’ll be fun,” Clement told Offside on Thursday.

Clement’s been unable to attend any of the three Bills home games so far this year, though only one has come during the MLB postseason. Buffalo’s next home game is November 2 against archrival Kansas City Chiefs, one day after a possible World Series Game 7.

While we won’t make any guarantees either way on Clement’s attendance for that one, you can bet he’ll at least be trying to tune in, no matter what the result of his own series is.

College roommates crossing paths

In the American League Championship Series, Clement saw an old college roommate of his from the University of Virginia in the Seattle Mariners bullpen.

No, it wasn’t a pitcher, but Mariners bullpen catcher Justin Novak.

Bit of a deep cut tidbit I learned this week:

Back in his college days, Ernie Clement had a roommate at @UVABaseball named Justin Novak.

In 2019, the Japanese-born Novak took a job with the Mariners that included translating duties for then-rookie pitcher Yusei Kikuchi.

In… pic.twitter.com/t6w8hIXhV2

— Adam Laskaris (@adam_la2karis) October 21, 2025

In 2019, the Japanese-born Novak took a job with the Mariners that included translating duties for then-rookie pitcher Yusei Kikuchi, who later played with Clement on the Blue Jays.

In 2020, Novak signed a minor league deal with the Mariners, but the pandemic wiped out most of that season. He was released in 2021 without ever playing a game and never made it as a pro, but eventually signed a contract as the team’s bullpen catcher.

Before the two teams faced off last series, Novak surprised Clement in front of the Jays dugout to say hello.

“I’m so happy for him that seems like he fits right in over there, and they love him. And he was an awesome teammate to have at Virginia,” Clement said about Novak.”I got to know him really, really well, and to see his journey and baseball continue is really special. And like I said, I’m just really happy for him. It’s awesome.”

Clement’s journey to Toronto

Clement landed with Toronto in March 2023, signing as a free agent with Toronto after being released by the Oakland Athletics.

A New York Yankees fan growing up, Clement ended up within a few hours of driving distance within his upstate New York hometown. Having been drafted by Cleveland but only playing 106 games at the major league level, Clement was a negative WAR player in his first 109 games across two franchises, Clement eventually stuck as a full-time player with Toronto in 2024.

This past season, he was third behind only George Springer and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in WAR among Toronto players, a far cry from his first two major league seasons in 2021 and 2022.

“He’s a grinder. Obviously, there’s guys that come into the big leagues are able to stay right away. He bounced around and was going to team to team, but he’s the ultimate grinder,” Toronto teammate Daulton Varsho said.

A Blue Jays roommate

Among the Blue Jays players, it’s hard to find anyone that’s closer with Clement than Davis Schneider. The two became fast friends in 2023 spring training.

“He’s been one of my best friends ever since. And we do a lot of stuff off the field that make us kind of be best friends. We play a lot of golf, just hang out with each other, go to eat. But you know, he’s been fantastic friends ever since [we met],” Schneider said.

Clement and Schneider spend quite a bit of time together, and have called each other roommates for each of the past three years during the baseball season, a fact Toronto fans have come to love.

“We still live together every season. His relationship is really special to me… he’s always been there. And you know, when he got first called up [to the major leagues in 2023], I was so happy for him, because he’s, he’s just such a good dude and such a good friend, and he’s somebody that I’ll stay in touch with forever, even after baseball’s over,” Clement said about Schneider.