Every player who started for the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series Monday night previously played at least one game for the Buffalo Bisons. It is the latest of highs in a special relationship between two baseball clubs dating back 12 years.
The Bisons became the Class AAA affiliate of the Blue Jays in 2013. Whether it was a player rising up through development or a major leaguer spending time in Buffalo for injury rehabilitation, the Bisons have helped many players secure roster spots with their American League parent club.
But on the morning after the Jays captured the American League pennant, in a 4-3 victory sparked by George Springer’s three-run homer, Bisons assistant general manager Brad Bisbing was noting that players aren’t the only ones who have earned promotions to Toronto though this relationship.
“That's special enough, being able to root for those guys and see those guys reach the World Series, knowing that you worked with them here in Buffalo. But it's also not just the players. It's the people that we work with in the player development department and the media relations department, and all those partnerships we have. They’re going to the World Series too,” he said.
Major League Baseball clubs rely on strong partnerships with their minor league affiliates, but the Toronto-Buffalo relationship became truly special during the COVID pandemic. With the US-Canada border first closed, and then later heavily restricted, Buffalo’s Sahlen Field served as home to the Blue Jays.
“Forty-nine games over two years,” Bisbing recalled. “First in 2020, when there were a lot of questions about what was going on with everything, and we weren't able to have fans. I think of that team that clinched a playoff berth here in Buffalo that year, and how that was a part of this team getting to where it is now, in 2025. And then the following year, when we were able to have fans, first socially distanced, and then filling more and more of the ballpark as the summer went along.”
Western New York has traditionally been home to fans of the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, Pirates, and Guardians. But Bisbing suggests the Bisons have helped grow a loyal base of Blue Jays fans.
“There's a lot of Blue Jay fans in Western New York, not just in our staff, but throughout Western New York because of those experiences,” he said of Toronto’s fan base. “I think they're going to have a lot of Buffalo pulling for them against the Dodgers.”
