City man witnessed historic Jays game

By Lethbridge Herald on October 24, 2025.

Nathan Reiter
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

It was the best last-minute ticket purchase that Mitch Ankermann has ever made. 

Ankermann, who lives in Lethbridge, was in attendance for decisive Game 7 of the American League Championship Series at the Rogers Centre in Toronto on Monday. Ankermann was in the Toronto area to visit his girlfriend, Sydney, and the pair made the decision to attend the game.

“I looked at tickets for Game 6 and I was holding out for Game 7, which I think was the right call in the end because it was pretty unbelievable to go to.” Ankermann explained in an interview with the Herald on Thursday afternoon. “I was looking at tickets throughout the week, keeping my eye on it. I just happened to be here and it happened to work out perfectly and I’m really glad that we went.”

Ankermann sat in section 521 for the contest, which is in the upper deck slightly towards the first base side. In order to attend the game, Ankermann needed to commute into downtown Toronto from where he was staying. He says the atmosphere could be felt the second he hopped onto public transit. 

“It was pretty crazy the whole time. From where we are, we take the train to get there so every stop people with Jays jerseys were getting on the train. By the time you got off the train and started walking, it was just craziness in the streets. There were people everywhere and the stadium was packed. I got tickets in the 500 section. Considering it was game 7 they were pretty reasonably priced but I also did get them last minute. I kind of waited until the day of (the game) and decided to just get some tickets and we went.”

The Blue Jays were down two runs to the Seattle Mariners heading into the bottom half of the seventh inning. With two runners on and one out, Blue Jays designated hitter George Springer flipped the script with a three-run home run to left field to give Toronto a lead they would never relinquish, winning the game and the series 4-3. 

Ankermann says the crowd reaction after the blast was a moment he will always remember. 

“When the seventh inning was there, you could feel something in the air a little bit. It was like if they don’t score here, it’s likely over. When they got the leadoff guy and the two hole on base, and then I believe it was Gimenez bunted them over to third and second, you could tell something was going to go down. When Springer hit that ball, that place was deafening. It was like nothing I’ve ever heard at a sporting event before. It was chaos in there, the stadium was shaking.”

The Ankermann family has a strong presence in the Lethbridge baseball community. Mitch, along with his two younger brothers Nick and Lukas all played for the Prairie Baseball Academy. Mitch has been a member of the coaching staff for the CCH baseball program for the last several years while Nick served as the head coach of the Lethbridge American Legion Miners last summer. His parents Katie and Dave have also been longtime supporters of the sport, even after all three brothers finished playing. 

Mitch has heard from a lot of friends and family since the game. 

“Everyone I’ve talked to about it, they can’t believe I was there.” Ankermann says. “That’s a memory that you’ll have for a lifetime right so that’s the way I look at it, I was lucky enough to be out here and everything worked out that I was able to go and experience that and I’m pretty grateful for that. As for the actual environment and everything there, it was crazy. You get chills talking about it. Pretty much from that seventh inning on, I don’t know if anybody sat down the rest of the game. It was pretty much everyone out of their seats the whole time.”

The win in Game 7 of the ALCS gave Toronto their first World Series berth since 1993, when Joe Carter hit a walkoff three-run home run off Philadelphia Phillies closer Mitch Williams in Game 6 to win their second consecutive title. 

Game 1 of the World Series goes tonight at Roger’s Centre. Trey Yesavage takes the ball for Toronto while the Los Angeles Dodgers counter with left-hander Blake Snell. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.