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On this day 32 years ago: Blue Jays’ Joe Carter walks off Phillies to win World Series
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Photo credit: @BlueJays
Ryley Delaney
Oct 23, 2025, 08:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 23, 2025, 05:49 EDT
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So far in October, the Toronto Blue Jays have been the primary focus of most Canadian sports fans.
After a spectacular three-run blast off the bat of George Springer, the Blue Jays have earned their first World Series appearance in 32 seasons. Since then, there have been fun seasons, the mid-2010s come to mind, but nothing has felt as special as this postseason.
Game 1 against the Los Angeles Dodgers is set to kick off on Friday in Toronto. By November 1 at the latest, we’ll know if the Blue Jays have won their third World Series. In the 21st century, only one Canadian team in the Big Four North American sports leagues has won a championship, the Toronto Raptors in 2019.
Aside from the Raptors’ win, you’d have to go back all the way to 1993 for the last time a Canadian team won its league’s championship. Ironically, it was the Toronto Blue Jays on this very day (October 23), 32 years ago. 
The first 1993 World Series was the 90th to ever be played, with the first coming back in 1903. Of the 120 World Series ever played, only 11 have ended in walk-off fashion, and only two have been a walk-off home run. Bill Mazeroski was the first in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series. The other one came off the bat of Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Joe Carter in 1993.
After four games in the series, the Jays had a 3-1 series lead over the Philadelphia Phillies, before dropping Game 5 by a score of 2-0 to send the series back to Canada. Entering the bottom of the ninth, the Blue Jays were trailing 6-5. 
This big moment needed help, and the Jays got that with a lead-off walk by the late, great Rickey Henderson to put the game-tying run on base. The next batter up, Devon White, flew out, which brought up Paul Molitor. On a 1-1 pitch, Molitor hit a single to push the game-tying run to second and put the World Series-winning run on first. Up stepped Joe Carter.
Facing Mitch Williams, Carter got ahead 2-0 in the count, but Williams earned a called strike and a whiff to make it 2-2. On the fifth pitch of the at-bat, Carter hit the most famous home run in Blue Jays history.
The Blue Jays have had a lot of fantastic moments in the playoffs. It took 22 seasons to reach the postseason after Carter’s home run, but our patience was rewarded when José Bautista hit a three-run homer against the Texas Rangers in Game 5 of the ALDS. This was my generation’s famous home run.
It took just another season for a massive home run, as Edwin Encarnación walked off the Baltimore Orioles with a three-run home run in the 2016 American League Wild Card game. The Jays went on to sweep the Rangers in the 2016 ALDS, before falling in five to the Cleveland Guardians.
They didn’t register another win in the postseason until 2025, which has quickly become a special season. Springer’s home run in Game 7 is just one of many magical moments so far this season.
Hopefully, the Jays can win their third World Series in franchise history, with Carter throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at some point during the series.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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