Figure 2 Rogers Centre is the place to be for baseball
Toronto loves its sports. There are teams that can trace their history back to the early 19
th century and there are some excellent stadiums and arenas for fans of a wide range of sports to enjoy. This city is also one of just five in North America to have won championships in all five major leagues – and the only one to include a Canadian Football League champion on the list too.
Whatever the time of year and whatever sports you want to watch, you have the opportunity in Toronto (if you can get a ticket). Not all the teams will be favored by the
sites for online sports betting in Maryland and other states, all the time. But you will always have a good time watching one of our teams.
Hockey
As with the rest of Canada, Toronto has a love affair with hockey. There are plenty of junior teams to watch, as well as the Toronto Six women’s team and the Toronto Marlies of the AHL. But if you are looking to enjoy watching one of the most established – and successful – teams in North America, you will want to catch the Maple Leafs.
The Scotiabank Arena in downtown Toronto is the place to be on game day – and even those without tickets can watch the big games in Maple Leaf Square just outside. The Leafs can trace their history back to 1917 and have won the Stanley Cup 13 times, second only to the Montreal Canadiens. The fans are extremely loyal – and loud – and everything stops when the puck hits the ice.
Basketball
Scotiabank is also home to the Toronto Raptors – and it is the NBA team that has won a championship more recently, famously beating the Golden State Warriors in 2019. Kawhi Leonard was the hero of the city back then and the triumph ended a 25-year wait for a Canadian sports team to win a major championship.
Leonard has moved to Los Angeles since then but the team has still competed at a high level and has made the playoffs on a number of occasions. Considering the franchise has only been in existence since 1995, that is not a bad record. As the only Canadian NBA team, the Raptors enjoy a wide fan base and count Drake as a global ambassador spreading the word about the organization.
Baseball
If you prefer a sport more associated with the summer then Toronto has you covered as well. The Blue Jays joined Major League Baseball as an expansion team in 1977 and broke all kinds of records for attendance in the very first season. Whatever the score, the fans have consistently turned out to get behind the team.
The early 1990s were the glory days for the Jays, with back-to-back World Series wins in 1992 and 1993. Things have quietened down a little since then but the last few seasons have seen Toronto make the postseason once again. The Blue Jays play their home games at the Rogers Centre, right at the base of the CN Tower on the north shore of Lake Ontario.
Figure 2 Rogers Centre is the place to be for baseball
Soccer
Exhibition Place is another hub of sporting venues in the city, just outside downtown, and one of the most popular in BMO Field - home of Toronto FC. The franchise joined Major League Soccer in 2007 and was the first Canadian team in the league. Success on the field took a while but the atmosphere created by the fans quickly became well known throughout MLS.
Toronto soon became the best team in the country and has now won the Canadian Championship on eight occasions. That earns it the right to compete in the regional Champions League, a competition it made the final of in 2018. That was a year after Toronto’s only MLS Cup triumph to date.
Top Italian players have made a second home at BMO Field in recent years and the fans are used to watching elite soccer these days.
Football
Unlike the other major sports, when it comes to football, Toronto has stayed in Canada. The Canadian Football League is a keenly fought competition that has featured American teams in the past but is now solely for organizations within the nation’s borders. The Argonauts are Toronto’s team – and they share their home field with Toronto FC at BMO Field.
This is the oldest existing professional sports team in North America and it will be celebrating its 150
th birthday later in the year. The players have lived up to the franchise’s history in recent years, adding more Grey Cup triumphs to the honour list – making it 18 in total (for now). The fans enjoy a heated rivalry with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats but every game is a hugely enjoyable experience.
Toronto Sports City
Toronto is home to countless other minor and amateur sports teams that represent the city to the fullest – and enjoy fan bases that put even larger cities to shame. If you want to watch top-quality sports with an atmosphere to match, there is nowhere better than right here in Toronto.
