The Blue Jays’ home opener this year was extra special as the team celebrated its 50th anniversary and winning the AL champion title from last year.

Now with the standing tickets, the team could welcome more fans into Rogers Centre, and I bought a standing ticket on a whim to be there for the first game of the year.

So, here’s what it was like to watch the game in person with no assigned seat.

While this may sound unremarkable, this should mean a lot, especially coming from someone who’s only 5-foot-2.

Maybe it’s because I got lucky in terms of where I was standing at the 100 level of Rogers Centre, around the first base side, but I didn’t have any issues watching most of the ceremony standing, even with some tall people blocking my view.

I could still feel the emotion of the 50th anniversary video and enjoy the full banner reveal. Yes, I even caught the Davis Schneider and Trey Yesavage mix-up live.

The only caveat I will say is that it’s extremely hard to get any good photos or videos if you’re short like me, because your camera will just be full of spectators instead of what’s happening on the field. In order to get a better view and photos, I recommend getting to the stadium at least an hour and a half or an hour earlier than the game start time, so you have time to find the best standing spot (unlike me, who dealt with some issues on the TTC).

Frankly speaking, the Opening Day game was painfully slow, with Kevin Gausman and Luis Severino each pitching their own gem, which gave me a chance to take a lap around the 100-level concourse.

Walking around the 100 level was more interesting than I anticipated because the Blue Jays now have displays of their history and memorabilia throughout the right field area of the concourse. I was fascinated by Roy Halladay’s glove, old Blue Jays’ ticket stubs, George Springer’s helmet worn during ALCS Game 7 and the base from Game 1 of the 2025 World Series at Rogers Centre in place for Addison Barger’s grand slam.

The crown jewel of the display is, of course, the two World Series trophies from 1992 and 1993. I’m telling you, quite literally everyone was trying to take pictures with it, and there was a lovely staff member who volunteered himself to take photos for people – someone needs to give him a raise.

Because the Blue Jays’ first-ever game in 2026 ended up being a pitcher’s duel, this personally gave me more freedom to walk around and take things easy.

This also translated into I could walk and then stop at any part of the stadium to watch the game if I felt like there was an interesting play happening on the field. For example, when I realized Andres Gimenez hit a bases-clearing triple, I could stop around the right field area at the 100 level to watch the action unfold and cheer the team on. I didn’t end up changing my view that much, but watching Jeff Hoffman’s closer entrance was also one of the biggest highlights of my experience. Whether you like Hoffman or not, his entrance is such a vibe with the lighting and people’s camera flashes all coming together.

Standing tickets are pretty great if you are the type of person who likes walking around to experience the vibes and is okay with not being glued to every single action. They are also much more affordable than tickets with assigned seats, which can be helpful for people to bring their friends and family who may not necessarily be into baseball.

You’ll get the best value for your standing tickets if you go between the end of June and early September because summer weather in Toronto is quite gorgeous.

All in all, I think standing tickets can be great alternatives for fans who are more on the fence about investing in assigned seats this season. For it to happen on Opening Day, is even more of a treat.

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