Could this be the Last Baseball Post of the Year? Not likely...

    I wrote down on paper what I thought the title would be:

    "Canada Got a Bit Darker: Extra Innings" did the trick.

    Admittedly, not all of Canada and its peoples root for or invest their hopes in the Toronto Blue Jays. But, it seems like the country was ready to welcome back their home team champions from the early 1990s. The Joe Carter days. It has been a while.

    The Blue Jays had this series wrapped up, a number of times.

    But the scrappy, artful Dodgers, came up big in the late innings, and then extra innings, and the Canadian hopes were dashed.

    Sorry, Canada. I like you. I mean, maybe I love you. Canada has given me few reasons not to like you. You have been good to me.

    I happen to be a niner, which means I have been to nine of the ten provinces of this great land. I have enjoyed them all. Since I was child in the 1970s, even very small, I have loved seeing Quebec and the Maritime provinces. I have taken my own family to parts as well. 

    The poutine and the A and W root beers, the croissants and baguettes, the lobster and the... other things. Fun times from Atlantic to Pacific. Even Prince Edward Island. Land of Anne of Green Gables, a bit magic to us. 

    More recently we saw the magic, somewhat, of the plains provinces, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. With a little bit of British Colombia. 

    Sorry, Canada and Maple Leaf fans! Perhaps this winter got a bit darker and colder with this so close win, snatched by the boys of L.A.

    There is hockey, though.

    Enjoy the cold months, see you next year.