Bruce Dowbiggin
Shohei The Way To Go Home– To Dodger Stadium

Pro tip: When considering hot stories breaking on social media it’s always best to apply the 48-Hour Rule. This states that, in times of internet fury, it’s advisable to believe nothing emerging from the Web for 48 hours. Examples are plentiful, but two words capture the wisdom of the 48-Hour Rule. Jussie Smollett.
Oh, that the loyal fans of the Cleveland North Blue Jays observed this simple advice last Friday. A well-place baseball reporter said that free-agent prize Shohei Ohtani was winging his way to Toronto on a private jet to announce at 6 PM local time that, yes, Toronto would be the new home of then Japanese Babe Ruth.
This news was captured and embellished by the gullible and the gormless in Blue Jays Nation. Stories of media preparations in Japan for the announcement were sent forth. The baseball chattering class immediately began handicapping the Jays’ chance in 2024. Betting sites prepared to narrow the odds on a Blue Jays trip to the World Series.
As we know now, the private jet awaited by breathless media contained not Ohtani but Canadian TV star/ entrepreneur Robert Herjavec. Ohtani was instead in his home in southern California. The Blue Jays were, alas, not getting the Japanese Babe Ruth. They were getting another phantom handshake from fate. And a Shark Tank dude.
But hey, they’ll get Ohtani in the flesh in April when the L.A. Dodgers— who were always the prohibitive favourites to sign Ohtani— come to play at Rogers Centre. To his credit, the originator of this deep fake, Sportsnet source Jon Paul Morosi, has offered a full apology for his gaffe. It won’t excuse the mistake.
BOB NIGHTENGALE: Sunday Notebook … Shohei Ohtani free agency hysteria brought out the worst in MLB media. We can do better. @Angels @Dodgers @BlueJays Nor will his contrition mollify Jays fans who add the Ohtani Miss to a litany of recent results (the latest the firing of harmless play-by-play radio announce Ben Wagner). @elliottbaseball
The car crash playoff that finished last season was supposed to be washed clean by an Ohtani signing. Even if it cost the GDP of PEI. Now, having seen prime offseason targets Ohtani and Juan Soto go elsewhere, Jays fans are left to contemplate a reprise of 2023’s Voyage of the Damned. The team is still beholden to Vladdy Guerrero’s whims and whiffs.
According to the Blue Jays water carriers, 2023 was meant to be different from the 2022 Barrio Boys. As we wrote in October, “For all the Rogers-generated hype, the Jays wound up winning three fewer games and barely squeezed into the postseason. (Which they celebrated like it was V-E Day) Where, once again, the Jays succumbed to stupidity, sloth and John Schneider’s curious pitching changes. Faced with another two-game submission, Toronto saw declining superstar Guerrero picked off second in a crucial late-inning situation.
But what had everyone in Jays Land really seething was Schneider’s decision to pull an unhittable José Berrios after 41 pitches— so he could flip the righty/ lefty batting order of the Twins. (Anyone who played Stratomatic in the old days knew this was daft.) Predictably the move backfired with Minnesota grabbing a lead they’d never surrender in the two-game sweep.
Schneider’s pitching decision was the thing Jays fans focused on when they asked, “Again?” In particular, the notion that the curious flip was made in the management suit, not the manger’s office, took hold. After all, GM Ross Atkins and president Mark Shapiro had never tired in telling fans how clever their analytics were, how they marched ahead of the crowd. It boggled the mind that Schneider, who’s never managed in the majors before, could have made his call in a bubble.
The suspicions were not allayed by the inept presser from GM Ross Atkins after the season in which most people thought Schneider was ready for the chop to protect the suits in the suites. First, Atkins threw his manager under the proverbial public transportation over the Berrios yanking decision.
“I found out about it when you did,” Atkins told reporters. “When (Yusei) Kikuchi was getting warm in the first inning, it was very clear that we had a strategy to potentially deploy. John Schneider made the decision to deploy that… There was not an influence from the office that factored into that, other than maybe it was an organizational strategy communicated to players…
“The guy makes Kamala Harris sound lucid. But in a massive tell, Atkins then said Schneider would be invited back as manager, a baffling decision sure to enflame the fan base. “This is extremely painful for me,” Atkins said. Think how Jays fans felt.
So ineffective was this combative presser that it was deemed essential that president Mark Shapiro, Rogers’ corporate-speak meister, be brought from the bullpen to smooth the potholes left by Atkins. Reiterating that the Berrios’ decision was indeed made by Schneider and his coaches, he then announced that Atkins was coming back in 2024.
“I understand the frustration, it’s palpable for me and for the other leaders in the organization,” Shapiro began. “It’s not acceptable for us to have fallen short of expectations.. When we fall short of expectations, the responsibility and accountability clearly lies with me. We’ve got work to do. It’s going to be a painstaking process.”
Will you, Mark? Okay, let’s help the painstaking process. The man Schneider and Atkins were hired to improve upon— Canadian Alex Anthopoulos— has made the Atlanta Braves a dominant team. Since AA moved to Atlanta they’ve won 90, 97, 38 (Covid year), 88, 101, 104 games. They’ve won a World Series and two other playoff series.
They’ve developed young everyday superstars who don’t get picked off second base. They have built a pitching staff largely from within, not splashy FA signings. They have swagger without cockiness. They are set for years to come.
The Jays? They’ve won 73, 67, 32 (Covid), 91, 92, 89. They’ve won zero postseason games while missing the playoffs in three seasons. The players they traded are starring for other teams in this postseason. They are again employing an inexperienced company guy as manager.”
And now they have whiffed on Ohtani. But, hey, that nifty new seating at Rogers Place for 2024 is sure to allay the ire of fans fooled by Shapiro and Atkins.
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Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his new book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca/book-personalaccount.aspx
Bruce Dowbiggin
Are the Jays Signing Or Declining? Only Vladdy & Bo Know For Sure


If that name sounds familiar, Teoscar was a Toronto Blue Jay from 2018-2022. He pounded 121 homers in the span as part of the Jays’ order. But when Toronto decided it needed bullpen help he was traded to Seattle in 2022 for pitchers Erik Swanson and Adam Macko. While Swanson has battled injuries and Macko is no-go, Hernandez keeps pounding the ball.
In his one year in Seattle he had strikeout problems but did hit 26 homers with 93 RBIs. In the winter of 2023-24 he signed as a free agent with the aforementioned Dodgers. Batting behind Shohei Ohtani he launched 33 homers and 99 RBIs. He won the All Star Home Run Derby. His key hit in Game 5 of the World Series propelled L.A. to the title. The stacked Dodgers liked him enough to give him a three-year, $66 million contract.
Why are we telling you this? Because the Blue Jays also started their 2025 season at home, matched against the Baltimore Orioles. And while there are reasons to believe the Jays will not replicate their 74-win disaster of 2024, there remain the old bugaboos of injuries and pitching. In the four games against the division rivals they need to beat, Jays’ pitching gave up 24 runs while scoring 18—nine of them in one game.
The splashy acquisition of 40 year old HOF pitcher Max Scherzer has already gone sideways as a bad thumb has put him on the IL. The new stopper, Jeff Hoffman, was rejected on medical grounds by two other teams before Toronto’s money made him healthy. The rest of the bullpen— a disaster in 2024— got off to a rocky start with Orioles hitters playing BP against them. They’ve already DFA’d one pitcher and called up two more from the minors. The re-made pen performed well in Game 4, but how it holds up in their next 158 games is a mystery.
On offence, while their rivals in Boston and New York added sexy pieces to their rosters the Jays were only able to acquire veteran switch-hitting Baltimore slugger Anthony Santander. More typical of their other signees is ex-Cleveland 2B infielder Andres Giminez who in 2023 had the lowest average exit velocity of all AL batters (84.8 mph), and led the AL in percentage of balls that were softly hit (21.7%). He does play a slick second base.
The winter story line for the Jays offence was what to do about Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, the erstwhile star-dust twins who were— along with Cavan Biggio— supposed to guarantee titles when they emerged in 2019. Biggio is gone, so the other two carry the credibility of the management team of Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins. From the outside the Jays seem paralyzed to act.

While the Jays dithered, the price for players like Guerrero and Bichette soared. Using Juan Soto’s Mets $765 M deal as a yardstick Guerrero turned down a Jays offer of just under $600 M, saying he was done talking during the season. If Shapiro/ Atkins had anticipated the market Guerrero would have cost a lot less in 2023-24. If there is no progress by the trading deadline the Jays will be forced to get what they can in a trade.
Shortstop Bichette— a gifted player who battled injuries in 2024—is likewise up for a new deal. He has started strong in 2025 and would command a handsome return in a trade. He says the Jays are waiting to see what happens with Guerrero first. Having sold the pair for years to their loyal fans, having to trade them will be a massive PR blow. And while Jays’ national audience can be an advantage, having a whole country pissed with you is devastating.
The rest of the secret sauce for a Toronto comeback revolves around one of their hitting prospects taking a step forward. Any/ all of Will Wagner, Alan Roden, Addison Barger or Leo Jimenez can have a job if they show their bats are for real. Otherwise Shapiro and Atkins will hope that Dalton Varsho, George Springer and Alejandro Kirk can find a little magic in their aging bats.
A failure to retain talent may prompt fans to recall that Rogers decided that Shapiro and Atkins, who dumped Teoscar, were worthy replacements for the previous GM who’d walked away. The man Schneider and Atkins were hired to improve upon— Canadian Alex Anthopoulos— has made the Atlanta Braves a dominant team. Since AA moved to Atlanta they’ve won 90, 97, 38 (Covid year), 88, 101, 104, 109, 89 games. They’ve won a World Series and two other playoff series. They won six straight NL East titles before injuries sank them last year.
The Braves have developed young everyday superstars like Ronald Acuńa Jr. who don’t get picked off second base. They have built a pitching staff largely from within, not splashy FA signings. They have swagger without cockiness. They are set for years to come.
The Blue Jays? Since AA left they’ve won 73, 67, 32 (Covid), 91, 92, 89, 74 games. They’ve won zero postseason games while missing the playoffs in four seasons. The players they traded are starring for other teams in the postseason. They are again employing an inexperienced company guy as manager.
While it’s true that the sun can’t shine on the same team every day, Jays fans believe it would be nice if the great orb would find their club as it did back in the 1992/93 World Series days. Instead of the reflected glory of past stars winning for other teams. Patience is thin. And time is ticking.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, his new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.
2025 Federal Election
Chinese Gangs Dominate Canada: Why Will Voters Give Liberals Another Term?

There’s an old joke that goes, the Japanese want to buy Vancouver but the Chinese aren’t selling. Glib, yes. But with enough truth— Chinese own an estimated 30 percent of Vancouver’s real estate market— to pack a punch; Especially in this truncated rush to anoint Mark Carney PM before anyone finds out exactly who’s his Mama.
The advertised narrative for this election is Donald Trump’s vote of no confidence in the modern Canadian state. A segment of Canadians— mostly Boomers— see this as intolerable foreign interference in the country’s sovereignty. So rather than look inward at why Canada’s closest partner is fed up with them the Liberal government has chosen a pep rally rathe than any uncomfortable questions.
Namely about Chinese interference in Canada’s politics, the distortion of real-estate prices in Canadian urban markets, the exploitation of banking and the thriving drug trade that underpins it all. And how it’s driving a wedge between generations in the nation. As we like to say, Canada’s contented elites have been sitting in first class for decades but only paying economy.
They’d like you to forget insinuations that Canada is a global money-laundering capital. Better to blame Trump for the “willful blindness” that has Americans and others losing trust in Canada to keep secrets and contribute its fair share tom protecting against the growth of China. (The same geopolitical concern that saw Trump kick the Chinese out of the Panama Canal Zone.)
Thanks to the diligent reporting of journalist Sam Cooper and others we know better. And it’s ugly. An estimated trillion dollars from Chinese organized crime has washed through Canada since the 1990s. They’ve used underground banks and illegal currency smuggling to circumvent the law. They’ve bribed and intimidated. And they’ve poisoned elections.
This penetration of the culture/ economy by well-organized Asian criminal gangs have been around since the 1990s, but under Trudeau they hit warp speed. By the time Trump inconveniently raised the issue of border security in January, Canada’s economy could fairly be characterized as a real-estate bubble with a drug-money-laundering chaser. The Chinese Communist Party now operates “police stations” in many Canadian cities to supervise this activity and report to Beijing.

In his 2021 book Willful Blindness (and subsequent reporting) Cooper patiently records this evolution with brazen Asian gangs using casinos in BC and Ontario as money-laundering outlets to wash drug money and other criminal proceeds, turning stacks of dirty twenty-dollar bills into clean hundred-dollar bills or casino chips. (When Covid closed the casinos they used luxury mansions as private casinos.)
All financed by underground banks and loansharks. This process became known internationally as The “Vancouver Model” to help establish Chinese proxies overseas and extend the CPP ‘s reach. Hey, the real estate kingpin is named Kash-Ing. (Kaching!) It’s currently being used to buy farm properties in PEI, much to the anger of residents (who will still vote Liberal to protect their perks.)
While investigators and some authorities attempted to expose the schemes the perps were protected by compromised government officials, corrupt casino employees and the inability of courts to deliver justice. It’s why Canadians were so shocked that TD Bank was fined $3B in the U.S. for allowing money laundering. “Not us! No way! We’re Simon pure”.
Much of this money ended up in Canada’s feverish real-estate market, with vacant properties creating insane price spirals across the nation. It’s driven the inability of under 40s to buy homes— another major crisis the Liberals are trying to disguise under Mark Carney the compliant banker. Still more of the proceeds were used to build stronger drug-supply chains between Asia, Mexico and Canada— with heroin and fentanyl then distributed to the U.S. and in Canada.

Against this explosion of housing and drug debt were stories of the political influence of these gangs into the Canadian system. The sitting Canadian prime minister, who praised the Chinese form of governing before he reached the PM post, has been seen in photos with underground Asian gang figures. As were previous Liberal leaders like Jean Chretien who made no secret of his lust for the Chinese market. Chinese money was used to build extensively in Chretien’s Shawinigan riding.
Donations to Trudeau’s Montreal riding association and to the Trudeau Foundation were favourites of shadowy Chinese figures. “In just two days (in 2016), the prime minister’s (Outremont) riding received $70,000 from donors of Chinese origin, and at the same time, the government authorized the establishment of a Chinese bank in Canada,” Bloc leader Yves-Francois Blanchet said on Feb. 28.
Donations to Trudeau from all across Canada constituted up to 80 percent of the riding’s contributions that year. In May 2016, one such fundraiser saw Trudeau hosted by Benson Wong, chair of the Chinese Business Chamber of Commerce, along with 32 other wealthy guests in a pay-for-access event. The patterns exposed by Cooper finally prompted a commission by Quebec justice Marie-Josée Hogue looking into Chines interference in Trudeau’s successful 2019 and 2021 elections.

An interim report released last year by Hogue determined that while foreign interference might not have changed the outcome of Canada’s 2019 and 2021 federal elections, it did undermine the rights of Canadian voters because it “tainted the process” and eroded public trust. So petrified was Trudeau of the full Hogue Report that he prorogued parliament for three months and handed in his resignation rather than test his 22 percent approval rating in a Canadian election. Or his luck with the courts.
Luckily for Liberals Trump came along to smoke out Trudeau and allow for the current whitewash of the party’s record since 2015 under Carney. So instead of agreeing with Washington about Canada’s corrupted economy Canadians have decided to engage in a Mike Myers nostalgia fest for a nation long gone. A nation overly dominated by its smug, satisfied +60 demographic that sits back on its savings while younger Canadians cannot get into the economy.
Reaching past the sunset media to those people is Pierre Poilievre’s task. He has a month to do so. For Canada’s long-term prospects he’d better succeed. The Chinese are watching closely.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, his new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.
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