Toronto the good (and bad and ugly)
No Grey Cup wins, no MLS titles. Not even close. The year in Toronto sports saw a first-to-worst scenario for the CFL defending champion Argonauts, and Toronto FC failed to make the playoffs after winning the MLS crown. Records were broken, though — the Leafs in the regular season, Cam Levins in the marathon — and gamechanging players such as John Tavares and Kawhi Leonard arrived. Oh, and there was one pretty cool championship, thanks the Calder Cup champion Toronto Marlies. Here’s a look at Toronto’s moments from 2018, a year short on championships but long on drama: April 25: Gone in seven games There was plenty of excitement around the Maple Leafs after they set a franchise record for points (105) in the regular season. But the first round had a familiar opponent and an all-too-familiar result. Boston and Toronto went seven games, just as they had in the opening round five years earlier, and the Bruins proved they still own the Leafs in the post-season. Boston’s top line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak combined for 30 points in Boston’s four wins, including seven in Game 7. May 7: The king and his court Speaking of familiar feelings: The Raptors won a franchise-record 59 games in the regular season, took the Atlantic Division for the fourth time in five seasons, and got eliminated by LeBron James for the third straight spring. Cleveland improved to 12-2 against Toronto over that stretch, completing a
second consecutive secondround sweep with a 35-point victory. NBA coach of the year Dwane Casey was gone soon after, and a blockbuster trade was coming. May 8: Closer heads to court Former Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna was arrested and charged with assault in relation to an incident in Toronto. Major League Baseball suspended the 23-year-old righthander for 75 games under its domestic violence and abuse policy, but the assault charges were withdrawn in September when the complainant refused to return from Mexico to testify. Osuna, who agreed to stay away from the mother of his child for a year, was traded to Houston days before his MLB suspension ended. May 19: Stevenson, Jack fight to a draw Adonis Stevenson and Badou Jack battled to a draw in a fight that thrilled boxing fans at the former Air Canada Centre. The fight was scheduled for Montreal, but Al Haymon, the billionaire who manages both fighters, insisted they change the venue to Toronto. They moved it here on three weeks’ notice and sold about 5,000 tickets. A tiring Stevenson retained his WBC title after two of three judges scored the fight 114-114. About seven months later, Stevenson, now 41, awakened from a threeweek coma, the aftermath of a knockout loss to Ukraine’s Oleksandr Gvozdyk in Quebec City. June 12: Toronto should be part of World Cup draw The city will likely host a few games of the 2026 FIFA World Cup after North America’s joint bid beat out Morocco for the men’s soccer event. The current plan has the United States hosting 60 games and Canada — with Toronto, Montreal and Edmonton targeted — and Mexico getting 10 apiece. Canada, ranked 78th in the world, made its one and only appearance in 1986. It’s expected all three host countries will get to skip qualifying and receive direct entry into the 48-team tournament. June 14: Marlies win the Calder Cup Toronto, swooning for a hockey championship, finally got one, albeit in the American Hockey League, when the Marlies capped a dominant season with a championship in June. The trophy was a crowning statement for a balanced and talented roster that included AHL goalie of the year Garret Sparks. It might be best remembered for the celebration by the usually reserved Kyle Dubas, the Marlies GM who a month earlier had taken over the same position with the Maple Leafs. July 1: The tweet that could have broken Twitter The tweet, with a photo of a young John Tavares asleep in Toronto Maple Leafs sheets, was all Leafs fans needed to see. “Not everyday you can live a childhood dream,” Tavares posted, confirming he had chosen to sign with the Leafs as a free agent. The signing legitimized Toronto as a serious Stanley Cup contender. Rightly or wrongly, the Leafs rocketed to No. 1 in the NHL pre-season rankings. And the belief that Toronto could end its 51-year Stanley Cup drought was as strong as ever over that time span. July 15: Canadians challenge at the Honda Indy Scott Dixon won the Toronto Indy for a third time, joining the likes of Will Power, Dario Franchitti and seven-time winner Michael Andretti, but Guelph’s Robert Wickens and Oakville’s James Hinchcliffe were as much a part of the story, finishing third and fourth, respectively. It was the third straight year a Canadian was on the podium; Hinchliffe was third in 2016 and 2017. Wickens, an IndyCar rookie, fractured his neck and spinal cord in a horrific crash at Pocono a month later and is currently rehabbing. Dixon would go on to win the IndyCar series for a fifth time. July 18: DeRozan departs in deal for Leonard, Green Ah, yes, that blockbuster ... DeMar DeRozan, the face of the Raptors for much of the last decade, Jakob Poeltl and a draft pick to San Antonio for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green. It was an amazing deal that came with all manner of excitement, and baggage. It made all kinds of sense for the Raptors, who felt they could go no further with the current roster after the annual playoff disappointment against Cleveland. In Leonard, they got something of a mystery man who has been thought of as one of the top five players in the NBA when healthy. DeRozan, though, later explained how he felt betrayed by the trade. The revelation engulfed team president Masai Ujiri in controversy and forced him to make a public apology. The Raptors, meanwhile, started the season by winning 12 of their first 13 games. Aug. 13: Rafa and a run at the Rogers Cup Rafael Nadal won his fourth Rogers Cup title with a 6-2, 7-6 (4) win over Stefanos Tsitsipas, capping off a week in which the top seed also beat Stan Wawrinka and Milan Cilic on the way to his 80th ATP title. Nadal is one of the greatest athletes in any sport, so watching him win in Toronto was a treat for local tennis fans. But Tsitsipas, the young Greek star who celebrated his 20th birthday during the tournament, came close to stealing the show by beating four top-10 players on the way — No. 8 Dominic Thiem, No. 10 Novak Djokovic (now No. 1), No. 3 Alexander Zverev and No. 6 Kevin Anderson. Sept. 30: The end of the dog days for the Jays That fourth-place finish was only because Baltimore was so terrible — the Orioles were last in the division with just 47 wins. The Jays were headed in the wrong direction right from spring training, when Troy Tulowitzki failed to make it back from his severely sprained right ankle and battled bone spurs that required surgery, and Josh Donaldson began to have calf issues and then later inflammation in his shoulder. Tulowitzki would eventually be ruled out for the season, while Donaldson never got on track from his calf muscle injury before an August trade sent him to Cleveland. By then, the window had closed on a roster that had delivered post-season thrills just two seasons earlier. Another Jays icon in manager John Gibbons was let go at season’s end, a sign the Jays would be headed in a new direction, not only with management and players but with analytics and management techniques. Oct. 6: TFC fails to make the playoffs The darlings of the MLS a year earlier, TFC fell from grace in 2018, failing to make the MLS post-season in a totally unexpected and miserable season. A loss to Vancouver in early October sealed their fate. The season opened with some promise: TFC was in Guadalajara in the spring and came oh-so-close to defeating Chivas in the final of the CONCACAF Champions League, which would have made Toronto the first MLS team to win the continental competition. But injuries and an inability to get back to 2017’s winning form haunted the club. Oct. 7: Wolfpack can’t get one in a Million Pound Game It was a tough moment for the Wolfpack, who needed an October win in the all-or-nothing game to secure promotion to the English Super League. But a 4-2 loss in Toronto to the London Broncos meant the Pack would have to try again in 2019. Toronto, playing before a franchiserecord crowd of 9,266 at Lamport Stadium, was aiming to make English Rugby League history by becoming the only team to land promotions in back-to-back seasons. Oct. 23: Levins turns marathon into a sprint Cam Levins, a former Olympian over 5,000 and 10,000 metres who had been plagued by injuries, made his first marathon a memorable one, breaking Jerome Drayton’s 43-yearold Canadian men’s record at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon. “I thought, ‘I’m taking back my career,’ ” said the 29-year-old from Black Creek, B.C., after finishing the race in 2:09.25, 44 seconds better than Drayton’s mark. He also took home a $43,000 bonus, $1,000 for every year the record had stood. Nov. 2: Going from Grey and fading to black The Argos ended a dismal season where they went from Grey Cup champs to East Division basement dwellers with a 24-9 loss in Ottawa. Toronto, which finished 4-14, lost starting quarterback Ricky Ray to a neck injury in the opening game of the season and the offence foundered with quarterbacks McLeod Bethel-Thompson and James Franklin under centre. Coach Marc Trestman was fired the day after the season ended, replaced by Corey Chamblin last week.