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Meet the Blue Jays bar in remote Canada

There are no roads in and out.

Only planes can get you there, and of course, boats. But that’s only if Frobisher Bay isnâ€t frozen over (which it is for about nine months of the year).

Canadaâ€s northernmost city is closer to Greenland, nearer to the North Pole, than it is to Toronto.

“It feels like weâ€re on the moon,†Valerie Hill, general manager of The Storehouse Bar and Grill, told me in a call.

Although the residents of Iqaluit have spotty cell service, a climate thatâ€s more fit for polar bears and almost total darkness for much of the winter — they do, during these late, exceedingly exciting October nights, have their pennant-winning Blue Jays.

And during the teamâ€s greatest playoff run in 32 years, they mostly gather to watch in the warmth of The Storehouse Bar and Grill — one of the few watering holes in the zero-stoplight town.

In fact, more than two percent of the cityâ€s population can be found there.

“Our bar holds 215 people, and for the playoffs our crowds varied from 120-180 people for the games,†Hill said. “Itâ€s a huge number when you consider our communityâ€s population is only around 8,000 people.â€

For the majority of the year, Iqaluit – the capital and only city in Canadaâ€s Nunavut Territory – is a place where indigenous communities in the north come to visit. They travel down south for vacation, to eat at a restaurant or to, well, see people. And thereâ€s a good chance theyâ€ll pass through and get a drink at The Storehouse Bar, a 22-year-old pub attached to the local Frobisher Inn.

Hill is Mohawk, but about 75 percent of Iqaluit residents, and pretty much all the communities up north, are Inuit. Most signage, including city stop signs, is in English, French and the native Inuktitut.

“We meet people in our bar every day that hunt polar bears, hunt caribou, eat seals for breakfast, lunch and dinner,†Hill, whoâ€s lived in Iqaluit for two years, told me.

“They are real hunters that survive off the land. Berry-picking in the summer. Everyone has a boat. They go seal-hunting, whale-hunting; narwhals are a big thing up here.â€

Yes, the sea creatures from childrenâ€s books you probably thought didnâ€t actually exist, exist up here.

And these days, the bar thatâ€s usually adorned with musk ox hides is decorated in Blue Jays blue and red.

Customers take their snowmobiles and ATVs over to root on the team that’s playing more than 1,400 miles away. Or they just walk — Iqaluit is just about an hour across on foot. And, don’t worry, pedestrians don’t have to worry too much about running into a polar bear — the apex predators usually don’t wander into the city and roam a bit more up in the wilderness with the rest of the larger land mammals.

“The only thing that really survives on the land here are the people,” Hill laughed.

The 2025 postseason has been fun times for Hill, who grew up a huge baseball fan outside of Toronto.

“I was born in Buffalo, but as a child moved to Fort Erie, Ontario,†she said. “The Blue Jays have been the only team that my family has rooted for. My dad trained me as a baseball player — sometimes I couldnâ€t even eat dinner without throwing 50 strikes.

“I won some competitions when I was younger and one of the grand prizes was to go to the Skydome. And this was right after they won their first World Series. I remember going with my dad, holding his hand, and being in shock and awe of everything. Being on the field, meeting Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar. These are core memories that I still share to this day.”

Hill says people would show up during the regular season this year to watch games when the Jays were on a good run, but since the postseason, things have really picked up.

“We have them up on the big screen,†Hill told me. “All eyes on them, all the time.â€

Bartender Cory Allen, another big Jays fan originally from Toronto, has been in Nunavut for 10 years. He lived and taught among the indigenous communities up closer to the Arctic Circle for five years and moved down to the “big†city of Iqaluit in 2020.

“Being from Toronto, Iâ€ve never been in such a small yet diverse population like this city,†Allen said. “The experiences, the people you meet. In our bar, you can have people from every single province — cheering on or just hanging out. If you donâ€t really know anyone, and you just go to Storehouse and sit at the bar, someoneâ€s gonna just start chatting to you and youâ€ll make a friend.â€

Allen was a little too young to really remember the Jays†championships in 1992 and ‘93, so heâ€s excited to watch them try to win this one against the Dodgers. Heâ€s been on edge at times during their run, balancing paying attention to the screen while doing his job.

“I can tell you, during that last game, the waves are getting larger and larger of people coming to watch,†he said. “And when weâ€re all watching that ALCS game, I felt time freeze bartending. I was like, ‘I have a lineup of people wanting this Blue Jays Game 7 drink,†and Iâ€m like, ‘Hold on, this is the top of the ninth, we gotta hold on here.â€â€

The two mention a superfan customer named Jeff who always shows up, and was “willing to miss Thanksgiving with his family to go to the game.” But they also say there are numerous others who root hard for Toronto each night.

Patrons drink Molson Dry, a beer from a local brewery called NuBrew (yes, even a town of 8,000 has to have a brewery) and Jays-themed cocktails like the “Game 7.”

“It is super cool that we can provide a safe space for all these people to come together for one goal, and that’s to cheer on the Jays,” Hill told me. “It’s actually really beautiful.”

As the ALCS has moved to the World Series, and the Jays have moved along with it, the crowds have become larger at the Storehouse.

During the short “summer” months, people might go clam-digging, spend more time hunting and fishing or live in cabins up north. But in the fall, especially this fall, it’s all baseball.

“Everyone has great positive vibes,” Allen said. “Hugging each other, shaking hands, cheers-ing.”

Game 1 of the World Series was “standing-room only” at the Storehouse. What started as a close game became a surprising 11-4 blowout win for the Blue Jays over the favored Dodgers. A tremendous start to the Fall Classic if you’re a Toronto fan.

“First ever World Series grand slam,” Hill messaged me during the game. “It was incredible. Everybody in sync with cheers. It was everything we could have hoped for.”

“The dynamic is, I don’t know want to say magical, but it is so endearing,” Allen said. “It’s heartwarming. When you come here, you feel like you’re in someone’s living room.”

No matter what happens the rest of the series, the Blue Jays’ Iqaluit stronghold will remain. And probably only grow.

“Still hopeful,” Hill told me. “The more games the better. … The intensity is building every day.”

Up where trees can’t survive, where arctic foxes run through the streets, where the skies are pitch black and maps run out of space — the glow of the TV will be burning bright at the Storehouse Bar and Grill. Tuned in to the country’s home team.

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Baseball

MLB playoffs 2025: Toronto Blue Jays watched from home, bed and even a bar as Mariners won epic, marathon Game 5

TORONTO — Everybody was talking about it. How could you not?

Even here at Rogers Centre, a building bursting with anticipation for ALCS Game 1 on Sunday, folks were bleary eyed from taking in the eternal thrill ride that was Game 5 of the ALDS between the Seattle Mariners and Detroit Tigers. With the victorious Mariners airborne en route to Toronto, many of the Jays players and coaches were asked how they experienced the chaotic, 15-inning marathon the night prior.

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Some stayed up into the wee hours to see which team the Blue Jays would square off against with a trip to the World Series on the line. Others, by design or by accident, went to bed.

[Yahoo Sports TV is here! Watch live shows and highlights 24/7]

The latter the case for Game 1 starter Kevin Gausman, who admitted during his Saturday media conference that he didnâ€t watch the mayhem. Manager John Schneider went out to dinner with his wife on a rare night off this month; he was surprised to see the game was still going when he returned home. Starting pitcher Shane Bieber stayed up until the 13th inning but then called it quits, perhaps exhausted by the sheer number of runners stranded in extras.

Ty France, the Jays†backup first baseman who spent four years in Seattle, also conked out around the 13th but was shaken awake by his wife, who happened to wake up just before Jorge Polanco ended the evening. Ernie Clement was proud to share he made it through all 15 from the comfort of his couch. Daulton Varsho didnâ€t watch a pitch.

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But the best tale from Blue Jays land about ALDS Game 5 came from outfielders Myles Straw and Davis Schneider, who decided to watch the winner-take-all contest from a bar. The duo thought it would be a relatively relaxing evening — grab a few brews, watch a ballgame, see who their opponent would be.

“We were literally like, ‘All right, weâ€ll just watch the game, but weâ€re not leaving ’til the game is over,â€â€ Schneider told Yahoo Sports. “And then it f***ing took forever.â€

Straw and Schneider did stay for the whole thing, chatting with Jays fans about whom theyâ€d rather face in the next round. Given Schneiderâ€s conspicuous mustache, he and Straw were easy to spot, and they had a fun night. Thankfully, the Jays had just a light workout Saturday, with an afternoon start time.

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For the Mariners, the turnaround is much more imposing. By the time J.P. Crawford touched home in the bottom of the 15th, sending T-Mobile Park into revelrous pandemonium, the clock was already past 10 p.m. local time. On the East Coast, Friday had already turned to Saturday. But the Mariners didnâ€t skip town in a rush; there was some well-earned Champagne that needed popping. In fact, the team didnâ€t head east until Saturday morning — and only after the team charter was delayed.

The Mariners are alive, but they are also running on fumes, with a pitching staff depleted from the eternal madness of Game 5. Had they won that contest in anything resembling normal fashion, Seattle would have almost certainly started Luis Castillo in ALCS Game 1. But he pitched in relief Friday for the first time as a big leaguer, earning the unlikely win. Instead, the Mâ€s will turn to Bryce Miller, who took the ball in Game 3 of the ALDS, on short rest.

The Seattle bullpen, too, even with the so-called off day, will not be at full strength Sunday. Itâ€s a dynamic that benefits the Jays, who watched Game 5 with increasing glee. But speaking Saturday, Mariners manager Dan Wilson seemed unfazed by this latest wrinkle.

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“I think a lot of times players will gain some energy from that,†he said of the epic victory.

Besides, his team is used to this. “The Mariners do a lot of traveling. We do a lot of East Coast traveling,†he said. “It’ll just be an extension of the season in some ways. We should be good to go.â€

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