The only team outside the U.S. to ever win a World Series

The Blue Jays' Back-to-Back World Series

The 1992 and 1993 Toronto Blue Jays remain the only team based outside the United States to ever win a World Series — and Joe Carter's walk-off home run to clinch the second one is still one of the most replayed moments in Canadian sports history.

The Toronto Blue Jays' 1992 and 1993 World Series championship rings — Blue Jays World Series rings, Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame — Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons licensed

Our sports culture guide notes the Blue Jays' back-to-back titles as the only World Series wins ever by a non-U.S. team. This page is the fuller story, including the single most famous swing in Canadian baseball history.

1992: the first title

The Blue Jays reached their first World Series in 1992 and beat the Atlanta Braves four games to two — a tightly contested series that included four one-run games. It made Toronto the first team based outside the United States ever to win a World Series championship, a distinction no other team has matched since.

1993: Joe Carter's home run

The following year, Toronto returned to the World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies. In Game 6 at SkyDome on October 23, 1993, with the Blue Jays trailing by a run in the ninth inning, Joe Carter hit a three-run, walk-off home run off Phillies closer Mitch Williams to win the game and the series. Radio broadcaster Tom Cheek's call — "Touch 'em all, Joe! You'll never hit a bigger home run in your life!" — remains one of the most replayed calls in Canadian sports broadcasting. It was only the second World Series ever to end on a walk-off home run, and the first ever won by a team that had been trailing.

A record that still stands

More than three decades later, the 1992 and 1993 Blue Jays remain the only team from outside the United States to ever win MLB's championship — a genuinely singular accomplishment in a league otherwise entirely dominated by American franchises.

Sources

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