Toronto Blue Jays' Bo Bichette swings for a three-run home run off of Los Angeles Dodgers' pitcher Shohei Ohtani during the third inning in Game 7 of the World Series on Saturday in Toronto.Ashley Landis/The Associated Press
On the day after Game 2 of the American League championship series, Mark Shapiro took a walk around his neighbourhood.
The president and chief executive officer of the Toronto Blue Jays was so deeply engrossed in the postseason to that point that he hadn’t really noticed that his neighbours, much like the rest of the country, had been consumed by his team. Its presence was everywhere.
“It was one moment that heightened my awareness,” Shapiro said on Thursday as the club put a wrap on its 2025 season.
That awareness crested on Sunday, the day after the Blue Jays lost in Game 7 of the World Series. He was inundated with text messages and e-mails from people who said, “Over the past month we’ve had unbelievable moments. We’ll never forget the memories that were made.”
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“We lifted a country from coast-to-coast,” Shapiro said. “We gave people a reason to feel better about everything in the world that’s going on right now.
“This is a group that savoured having its back against the wall. It gave people a reason to believe and to be a part of something.”
Toronto went from finishing last in its division in 2024 to first during the 2025 regular season. It beat the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners to reach the best-of-seven World Series.
Despite taking a three games to two lead, it faltered in the last contests at home.
Toronto Blue Jays president and CEO Mark Shapiro speaks during an end-of-season media availability in Toronto on Thursday.Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press
Shapiro hadn’t looked at the field at Rogers Centre since he had seen the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrating on it early Sunday morning. He finally brought himself to take a peek at it as he walked to Thursday’s media availability.
“I am inspired and committed to continue the pursuit,” Shapiro said.
Shapiro and general manager Ross Atkins have already resumed work in that direction.
Earlier in the day the organization announced it has extended a qualifying offer to Bo Bichette, its two-time all-star shortstop whose contract is expiring
The one-year offer for US$22.05-million ensures Toronto will received a draft pick as compensation if Bichette decides to test free agency and signs elsewhere.
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Bichette has spent the entirety of his seven-year career with the Blue Jays. Drafted in the second round in 2016, he has a .294 batting average with 111 home runs and 437 RBIs in 749 games with Toronto.
Shapiro said he remembers watching Bichette take batting practice at the club’s complex in Dunedin, Fla., when Bichette was a senior in high school.
“My comments around Bo are more about what he has meant here,” Shapiro said. Bichette returned from a knee sprain to hit .348 during the World Series. “That put an exclamation point on what has been an unbelievable career here.
“He has been a special part of our organization and he certainly makes our team better.”
Bichette has until Nov. 18 to accept the offer. Otherwise, he will enter unrestricted free agency.
The team had already extended a qualifying offer to manager John Schneider and further negotiations should begin soon.
“He keeps getting better,” Shapiro said of Schneider, who this week was selected among the candidates to be American League manager of the year. “Certainly he has put himself near the top of the great managers in the game.”
On Wednesday, starting pitcher Shane Bieber exercised the player option in his contract, staying in Toronto on next season for US$16-million. Bieber, who had undergone elbow restoration surgery, joined the team around the trade deadline and, “Was more than we could have hoped for,” Atkins said.
The signing is important with pitchers Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt about to become free agents.
Atkins said bench coach Don Mattingly decided not to return to the club and is open to other offers. Mattingly is likely seeking to return in a managerial role.