Chris Bassitt has moved on to his next stop in the major leagues, but he’s still harboring a lot of feelings for his ex-team, and plenty of pain from the 2025 Toronto Blue Jays‘ heartbreaking World Series defeat.
Newly-signed as a free agent and in camp with the Baltimore Orioles, Bassitt was asked if he’s still feeling the heartache from the Jays’ crushing Game 7 loss.
I’m not over it. I think the only way I can possibly get over it is to win one. I don’t think I’ll ever get over that. I still have a lot of pain from it for sure. It’s, for sure, unfinished business. Being so close, and yet, still so far away, it sucks. But, anything in baseball, and really anything in life, the failures teach you everything.
We failed. A lot of people will say, ‘You didn’t really fail. There wasn’t really a loser in that World Series.’ No, we lost. We failed. We did (some) things the wrong way. And I think the only way to get through things is to fail. Then it’s like, alright… you can learn from it and be a better person and a better player for it.
No doubt that one of those things he felt the team did “the wrong way” was the botched Isiah Kiner-Falefa play at the plate in the bottom of the ninth in Game 7. IKF, by the way, addressed that for the first time himself this week.
Bassitt took his talents to Baltimore, but it sounds like his heart is still in Toronto
Despite doing everything that was asked of him in his three years in Toronto (3.89 ERA across 95 starts, 1.04 postseason ERA), there just wasn’t room on the 2026 Blue Jays starting staff for Bassitt. He was forced to head elsewhere, but he won’t be too far away. Signing with the Orioles keeps him in the AL East, and ensures several meetings between the two sides this season.
There’s no doubt Bassitt will receive a very warm welcome from the Toronto faithful when he makes his return north of the border. The first visit comes on June 5th, when the O’s visit the Rogers Centre for a three-game weekend series.
The 37-year-old posted a heartfelt goodbye to Jays fans on social media this past week.
“Toronto and all of Canada,” Bassitt wrote. “I’m beyond grateful that my family and I chose to come 3 years ago. From having our youngest son there to getting to a World Series and everything in between. It was filled with love and friendships that my family will cherish for the rest of our lives. We gave you everything we had. Yall gave us so much more. Thank yall for literally everything.”
Sometimes, when teams and players have a divorce, it can get ugly. In this case, however, it sounds like Bassitt and his “ex” will always be on good terms. For the kids, and for the fans.
