Toronto Blue Jays on Sportsnet is a live telecast ofToronto Blue Jays baseball games that air onSportsnet,Sportsnet One, orSportsnet 360 and stream onSportsnet+ in Canada. Starting in2003, some games were broadcast inhigh definition. As of2007, all games that air on the network are presented in high definition, and as of2016, all home games are broadcast inultra-high definition. Sportsnet began showing Blue Jays games in1999 and is now their official television carrier, carrying all televised Blue Jays games throughout the regular season.
Sportsnet is also the main television outlet forMajor League Baseball (MLB) in Canada. Non-Blue Jays games on Sportsnet are branded asMLB on Sportsnet.
Sportsnet launched in October 1998 as CTV Sportsnet and began covering Blue Jays games on April 6,1999. During the early years, Sportsnet would broadcast between 40 and 60 games. Starting in2002, Sportsnet began broadcasting more games thanTSN (The Sports Network) and took over the majority rights. Rogers Sportsnet broadcast 120 Jays games in2003 and2004, 103 in2005, 122 in2006 and2009, 116 in2007 and all 162 games in2010. Games also began to air on digital channelSportsnet One upon its launch in August 2010. Since the Blue Jays and Sportsnet are both wholly owned byRogers Communications, Sportsnet's rights are of indefinite duration. As of the 2023 season, the only Blue Jays games not shown by Sportsnet have been those exclusive to digital platforms worldwide—specificallyFriday Night Baseball onApple TV.
Sportsnet also holdsCanadian rights toFox'sSaturday MLB games, theAll-Star Game, and the postseason. The Sportsnet channels also carry a variety of non-Blue Jays games simulcast from U.S. regional sports networks. Sportsnet formerly also aired ESPN'sSunday Night Baseball, but sub-licensed the games to TSN in exchange for its previous package of Blue Jays games.
On October 5, 2015, Rogers announced that it would broadcast all Blue Jays home games during the2016 season in4K.[1]
Due to the structure of Rogers' MLB broadcast contracts, Sportsnet was not permitted to use its domestic production for Blue Jays games if the team is in postseason play (as it is technically still considered a regional broadcaster), and instead carried the U.S. broadcast (such asFox in 2015, andTBS in 2016). Buck Martinez has served as a colour commentator for post-season coverage ultimately simulcast by Sportsnet, including Division Series games for TBS, and on theMLB International broadcast of the2016 World Series.[2]
In2020, Sportsnet — a sibling property to the Blue Jays underRogers Communications and televises their regular season games — received the right to produce its own telecasts of postseason games as MLB's national Canadian broadcaster, which would allow the network to carry its "regional" production into postseason games if the Blue Jays were to advance.[3] This occurred for the first time with the2022 American League Wild Card Series.[3]
The2025 World Series between theBlue Jays and theLos Angeles Dodgers was the first World Series to have a dedicated Canadian English-language television broadcast; due to MLB rules, Canadian broadcasters were previously required tosimulcast the American telecast during the Blue Jays' postseason appearances (such as the Blue Jays' World Series appearances in1992 and1993, whereCTV simulcast theCBS coverage), which faced routine criticism from Canadian viewers. Sportsnet used its own production resources, including 21 cameras and an aerial drone, to augment resources being provided byFox Sports and MLB as part of the American production.[4] Additionally, all playoff Toronto Blue Jays games that aired on the mainFox network were simulcasted on the Rogers-owned television networkCitytv.
As of 2010, Blue Jays games are preceded by a pre-game show,Blue Jays Central (formerlyJays Connected), hosted byJamie Campbell, which starts half an hour before the game. Campbell also hosts studio segments presented during the game.
As of the 2010 season, Blue Jays games were called byBuck Martinez on play-by-play, withPat Tabler as analyst. In September 2014, Sportsnet extended their contract with the network through 2019.[5] Beginning in 2016, formerSunday Night Baseball commentatorDan Shulman called play-by-play on selected games, with Martinez taking on a colour role.[6] Beginning in the2020 season, Shulman expanded his role to become play-by-play voice for most games, with Tabler taking on a reduced role that season due toCOVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions.[7][8] From the start of the 2021 season through July 2021, the television commentary was simulcast on theToronto Blue Jays Radio Network.[9]
Following the2022 season, Sportsnet decided not to renew Tabler's contract, leaving Shulman and Martinez as the main play-by-play commentator and analyst, respectively, for the majority of games.[10] In the2024 season, Ben Shulman—who had become the team's new radio announcer[11]—also made his television debut an alternate for Dan Shulman during a scheduled break.[12]
Dan Shulman was not available for postseason broadcasts in 2022 due to his commitments toESPN Radio's coverage.[3] In 2023, he stepped down from ESPN Radio's coverage to focus more on his role as ESPN's topcollege basketball commentator, thus allowing him to appear on postseason coverage for Sportsnet.[13][14] Shulman made his first postseason appearance on Sportsnet during the2025 American League Division Series.[15]