No simulcast deal this time around for Jays’ game against Rays on Friday night

TORONTO — Baseball fans in Canada should not expect a repeat of a deal that allowed Sportsnet to air a simulcast of Apple TV’s Friday Night Baseball broadcast that featured the Toronto Blue Jays last week.

As a result of the agreement, the streamer was given the rights for Friday’s game between the Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays.

“Apple has it exclusively,” a Sportsnet spokesperson said Thursday afternoon in an email.

Sportsnet, the Canadian team’s domestic rights-holder, reached a deal with the Blue Jays, Apple TV and Major League Baseball ahead of last Friday’s game between Toronto and Kansas City.

That matchup had the potential to be a playoff clincher for the Blue Jays. The Royals pounded Toronto 20-1 that night but the Blue Jays would secure a post-season berth two days later.

Entering Thursday’s games, there was a scenario that could have seen the Blue Jays move into a potential clinch situation for the American League East Division title on Friday.

But when Toronto defeated the Boston Red Sox 6-1 and the New York Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox 5-3, the Blue Jays’ magic number was trimmed to three. That left Saturday as the earliest possible clinch date.

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Instead of airing on Sportsnet, Friday’s Jays-Rays matchup will only be shown on Apple TV+, leaving non-subscribers without a viewing option.

There were no plans to change that arrangement, a baseball source confirmed Thursday.

Almost all Blue Jays games air on Sportsnet, but a handful of Toronto games throughout the 162-game season air on Apple TV+ as part of the streamer’s partnership with MLB.

Toronto is looking to win the East crown for the first time since 2015. The Blue Jays hold the tiebreaker over the Yankees in the event they finish the regular season on Sunday with the same record.

The top two division winners will earn byes to the best-of-five division series. The other four AL playoff teams will play in best-of-three wild-card series.

Toronto made the playoffs three times between 2020 and ’23 but was swept in the wild-card series each time.

The Blue Jays haven’t won a post-season game since 2016. Toronto’s last World Series title came in 1993.

Sportsnet and the Blue Jays are owned by Rogers Communications.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2025.

Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press