Thanksgiving dinner looks a little different this year for one Vancouver couple.
The typically well-stocked table with turkey and all the fixings will be replaced by a take-out turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce, and casual dinner table conversation will be replaced by a highly anticipated Blue Jays baseball game, Helen Vlahos said.
Vlahos visited Toronto with her partner Wolf Schneider for a family event this weekend.
“This is more important than a big, full turkey dinner,” Vlachos said.
The Blue Jays will play Game 1 of the American League Championship Series against the Seattle Mariners on Sunday. This is the first time they have come this far since 2016.
The second game is scheduled for Monday.
The games coincide with Thanksgiving this year, reason enough for many fans to move dinner from the dinner table to their televisions.
Vlachos and Schneider said they plan to arrive in Vancouver in time to get home on Sunday and settle into the couch before the game. While their plans for the holidays this year were to keep things light, Schneider said the day wouldn't have looked any different if they had planned a big celebration alongside the game.
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“If we were going to have Thanksgiving dinner … we would probably still be together (and) watch the game during dinner,” he said. “Or Thanksgiving could be moved to another day.”
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Before returning home, the couple was able to visit the official Blue Jays merchandise store in downtown Toronto early Saturday morning and finally select Schneider jerseys.
“We made a little bet that if the Jays made it to the championship series, we'd finally buy our jerseys because we've been putting it off for a long time,” said Schneider, who also shares his last name with the Blue Jays' Davis Schneider.
The series will move to Seattle for Game 3 on Wednesday, with Game 4 on Thursday and Friday if a Game 5 is needed.
If necessary, Toronto will host Game 6 on Oct. 19 and Game 7 on Oct. 20. The ALCS champion will advance to the World Series against the National League champion. The Blue Jays haven't won the Fall Classic since 1993.
But this time, fans across the country are cheering on the Jays ahead of the playoffs, and some are choosing to go to the game instead of making Thanksgiving plans.
Colman Zarowny and his six-year-old son Kai are on a boys' trip and come to Toronto from Lloydminster, Alta., to watch the game in action at the Rogers Center downtown. A Jays game and a visit to the Hockey Hall of Fame replaced traditional holiday festivities this long weekend.
“This will be fun,” said the six-year-old.
Kai said he hoped the team would win again “because they've been winning all year.”
Nearly half of Canadians will skip Thanksgiving dinner to go to a Blue Jays game this weekend, according to a Rogers poll released Sunday. Meanwhile, 52 percent of Gen Xers would choose a game over dinner.
The report surveyed 1,503 online Canadians between Oct. 6 and Oct. 8.
The polling industry's professional body, the Canadian Research Council, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.
For Sudbury, Ont., resident Nicole La Flèche, baseball is a way to spend time with her dad.
“I just sit with him, ask him a lot of questions… and he just likes to explain it,” La Flèche said. “But this is our time together.”
This holiday for the duo will be no exception.
“It’s family time, and I’m sure the game will continue until dinner is served—turkey and baseball,” La Flèche said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 12, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
