Rogers Centre will host an Opening Day game on Wednesday when the Baltimore Orioles come to town. Unfortunately, baseball won’t be the only topic of discussion during the game.
On a day where fans will celebrate the return of the baseball season, they’ll also get a reminder of the effect politics have on sports. During the national anthem, throughout the stadium, there were scattered boos during the Star-Spangled Banner.
A smattering of boos spreads across the crowd here at Rogers Centre during the U.S. national anthem. This is the first MLB game in Canada since the start of the second Trump administration. pic.twitter.com/i6kQUDNVd5
— Matt Weyrich (@ByMattWeyrich) March 27, 2025
It’s become something that happens throughout classes between US teams and Canadian teams. While the intersection seemed inevitable, booing the national anthem of another country is a step too far.
Be mad at how President Donald Trump is handling the start to his second, but to boo the Baltimore Orioles is more petty than anything. Booing the team that has no direct correlation to the person you’re upset with just isn’t productive.
All it does is create a hostile environment and cause more problems than not.
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Toronto Blue Jays fans booing the National Anthem isn’t productive, it’s just unnecessary hostility
Canadians can be mad at what President Trump is doing in regards to the tariffs, but to boo the national anthem unjustly just isn’t right. There can be a common ground. When the Edmonton Oilers and the Buffalo Sabres played earlier this month, there was no booing.
Both fan bases even cheered after the National Anthems concluded in that hockey game. That’s how it should be. And when you look at how important Opening Day, why let something like that become the focus.
We’ve seen how bad things can get. When the United States and Canada played in the 4 Nations Face Off, three fights broke out within the first nine seconds of that match.
While the Canadian fans booing the national anthem may not be the sole reason, it’s a sign of disrespect. People handle disrespect differently. The teams could take that out on each other. And Opening Day should be about the return of America’s past time.
Instead it will be marked with an asterisk because the US-based teams know it could be a hostile environment in the worst way possible playing against the Blue Jays in Toronto.