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Written by Zoe Levesque, 10/06/2026.
Hello everyone,
My name is Zoe Levesque and I am one of the editors of The Stand this year. During my time on the paper, I have written many articles about movies and food reviews but a lack of content focused on sports. I follow a few sports teams but I have recently realized just how many professional sports leagues Toronto is a part of.
Think about it, how many can you name? I could only name about five but after some more research I found there are eight professional teams whose seasons will be going on between now and the winter break. They play in five different sports! All of these teams play at a professional level and represent Toronto across Canada and North America. I will be discussing the results of teams who played in the past two weeks and highlighting a different Canadian athlete in each article so that you can understand more about Toronto’s sports. This article will discuss five teams and highlight WNBA star Kia Nurse!
The first team I have chosen to discuss are the Toronto Blue Jays. Unfortunately, the Jays have already been eliminated from the playoffs but they still had a notable season. After their World Series run last year, I know everyone including myself had high expectations for the team.
They ended the season 79-83 and five games back from the final wild card spot. They put up a good fight despite numerous injuries during the season. 42 year old starting pitcher Max Scherzer might have pitched his last start on September 27 but he closed out the season with a 5-1 win for the Jays. If you are interested in more about why the Blue Jays were unsuccessful this year and the injuries that set them back, look out for my article in the next issue which will look at Vladimir Guerrero Jr’s impact on the team this year
The Toronto Argonauts play in the Canadian Football League and are doing very well given their starting quarterback Chad Kelly has had numerous injuries and a suspension in the last two years. He is infamous for throwing very long plays about as often as he throws interceptions. However they are somehow on a four game winning streak with two wins against their rivals the Hamilton Tiger Cats this year. (ti-cats suck) Hopefully, they can make it to the Grey Cup this year after just missing out last year.
Toronto FC are not mathematically out of the MLS Cup playoffs yet, but they are close. To secure the final wild-card playoff spot (9th place), Toronto FC likely needs to earn at least 14 to 16 points over their final seven matches of the regular season. In 2017, they won the treble (won the MLS Cup, Supporters' Shield, and Canadian Championship) and it was the first time an MLS club achieved a domestic treble. They made it back to the MLS Cup in 2019 but didn’t win. This year they will need 5 wins of their remaining 7 games or more to qualify for the playoffs.
This is the second season that the National Super League has run and AFC Toronto is once again putting up a great show. Last season they won the supporters shield, having the most points during the regular season, and this year they are three points back from the Montreal Roses but with star players Kaylee Hunter and Olivia Chisolm back from their international appearance in the U20 Women’s World Cup, we expect to see much more from AFC in the next few weeks. On September 26th, they won 3-0 against the Ottawa Rapid with number 28 Lena Silano scoring two goals. They play next on October 18 after an international play break.
This year the WNBA added two new teams as part of their expansion project: the Portland Fire and the Toronto Tempo who are now the first Canadian team to join the league. With this new team, they set out to start this franchise with a bang. They signed Canadian player, Kia Nurse!!! She is a guard and is in her eighth season in the WNBA. (excluding 2022 for COVID) This year the Hamilton born player helped to bring the new team together with her many years of experience however she only signed a one year contract so we might not be seeing her back in purple next year.
Nurse has played for the Canada Women's National Basketball team in 107 games and three Olympic appearances. She first played for Canada in the 2015 Pan-Am games where Nurse was the flag bearer for the closing ceremonies. In her three Olympic games (Paris 2024, Tokyo 2020, Rio 2016) In her Olympic debut at Rio 2016, Nurse led Canada in playing time (2:33:20) and scoring (66 points) as the team made it to the quarterfinals. At Tokyo 2020, she again paced the team in scoring with 39 points and averaged 36.1 minutes per game as she accumulated the most playing time on the team.
Nurse was taken fifth overall in the 2018 WNBA draft by the New York Liberty. She played there for three seasons, making the 2019 All-Star Game before joining Phoenix in 2021. She made the WNBA Finals in her first year with the Mercury. She next played for the Seattle Storm before being traded to the Las Vegas Aces in 2024. Overall, Kia Nurse was an amazing addition to the Toronto Tempos even if it was just for one season. Sadly her addition to the team did not lead them to playoff contention but she helped show some real promise in the future of the team.
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