For the first time since 1993, the Toronto Blue Jays are back in the World Series.
On October 23, 1993, the Blue Jays secured their second consecutive World Series crown on the back of one of the most memorable series-clinching plays in MLB history. Down one run in the bottom of the ninth in Game 6, Joe Carter belted a three-run walk-off home run to win the series for Toronto. Blue Jays radio commentator Tom Cheek gave the moment an iconic soundtrack with his call of "Touch 'em all, Joe! You'll never hit a bigger home run in your life!"
Since Carter touched all the bases on that October night, Toronto hasn't been back to the league's biggest stage -- until now. From the dawn of another Canadian sports drought to a major (if short-lived) retirement, the world was quite a different place the last time the Blue Jays played in the World Series.
Here's a look back at what things were like 32 years ago.
A stacked Blue Jays roster boasts a number of notable names
Toronto's squad for its second consecutive championship was appropriately stacked with talent.
Then 36-year-old future Hall of Famer Paul Molitor produced one of the best seasons of his career following an offseason move from the Milwaukee Brewers. Molitor clubbed a career-best 22 home runs in the 1993 regular season, with his 111 RBIs marking another then-career best (he'd top the mark a few years later).
Second baseman Roberto Alomar would earn his fourth consecutive All-Star nod, as his streak of Midsummer Classic appearances that would eventually stretch to 12 began to emerge. Alomar stole a career-high 55 bases in that regular season and won one of his 10 Gold Gloves.
A third Hall of Famer on the Blue Jays' 1993 roster played the smallest role in the team's run, but may have been the most iconic: Rickey Henderson. Traded to the team mid-season, Henderson wasn't especially prolific in his time in Toronto -- amassing 35 hits across 44 regular-season appearances -- but was (along with Molitor) one of the runners driven in by Carter's legendary home run.
A good time for Canadian sports fans
It was a booming year for Canadian professional sports teams. While the Blue Jays celebrated their triumph, fans in the province to Ontario's east had plenty of reason to cheer in a different sport: hockey.
Months earlier, the Montreal Canadiens had lifted the Stanley Cup, dispatching the Los Angeles Kings in five games. The Canadians were powered by an impressively balanced lineup -- 12 players tallied at least two points for Montreal in the series.
Unfortunately, the Canadiens' triumph proved to be the start of an unfortunate streak for the NHL's clubs north of the border. To this day, the 1993 Stanley Cup Final marks the last time that a Canadian club has lifted the trophy at the season's end.
Significant news breaks in the NBA
A few weeks before the first pitch of the 1993 World Series, a major retirement shocked the basketball world: that of Michael Jordan.
Jordan, then 30 years old, was coming off his first three-peat with the Chicago Bulls and stated that he felt he had nothing more to prove in the sport.
However, Jordan's aforementioned three-peat is known as his "first" three-peat for a reason. The basketball legend wasn't much for retired life, and after a brief run-in with baseball, was back with the Bulls by 1995. A second three-peat would soon follow.
The MLB heads toward a notable 1994-95 season
Toronto would reign as the champions of Major League Baseball for longer than most clubs get to enjoy, as the ensuing season was cut short by a players' strike.
The MLB Players Association called for a strike in August amid attempts by the sports' owners to implement a salary cap. Eventually, that season's World Series was canceled for the first time since 1904.
The strike would come to an end in time for a 1995 season that was shortened to 144 games.
In pop culture...
While Joe Carter rounded the bases, Mariah Carey was ruling the radio waves.
"Dreamlover," the first single released off of Carey's 1993 album "Music Box," spent six weeks atop the Canadian charts in the fall, including the duration of the Blue Jays' postseason run. Elsewhere on the music scene, Whitney Houston thrived -- her rendition of "I Will Always Love You," released late in 1992, ruled the charts early in the year and would eventually finish atop Billboard's top Hot 100 songs of 1993.
On the screen, a number of iconic films were released, including "Jurassic Park," the first movie in the franchise of the same name. It grossed $338,929,640 domestically, the best such finish by a movie in 1993 by a wide margin.