TORONTO – Michael Angeletti says he knew he would catch George Springer’s home run ball before it actually happened.

The Toronto native was sitting in the front row out in left field at Rogers Centre — wearing a Springer jersey — during Game 7 of the American League Championship Series. The game was a do-or-die matchup between the Blue Jays and the Seattle Mariners, who were tied at three games apiece and both just one win away from clinching a historic World Series berth.

The score was 3-1, with the Blue Jays down in the seventh inning, when Springer stepped up to the plate.

“I was actually texting my cousin — telling him I was front row, about to catch the home run ball — to leave me alone,” Angeletti said.

“And I dropped the phone, caught the ball, and here we are.”

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Mere seconds before the swing, Angeletti said he had just told the person sitting next to him that seventh innings are historically big for the Jays.

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“All the magic happened in the seventh inning with Bautista and the Rangers way back when,” Angeletti recalled saying, referring to the 2015 American League Division Series game that saw Jose Bautista’s iconic bat flip.

Angeletti said he’d hoped to experience some of that seventh-inning magic, and with one swing of Springer’s bat, he and more than 44,000 other fans in Rogers Centre erupted into roaring cheers.

The three-run home run led the Jays to a 4-3 victory over the Mariners, clinching the Toronto’s first World Series berth since 1993. The Jays will now face off against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the fall classic, with Game 1 set for Friday night.

Angeletti said he’s travelled to 72 countries and five continents, but the feeling of being in the crowd during that moment was unmatched. As the owner of tour company Niagara Toronto Tours, he said he knows what it takes to make an experience memorable.

“Stay unpredictable,” he said, and you might just end up with a piece of baseball history.

“I was tired of being on the couch and scrolling and just passively watching,” Angeletti said. “I needed to feel something real, and that’s why I spent this money tonight.”

“I felt the most real I’ve ever felt in my life.”

After catching the iconic home run ball, Angeletti kept it in a black baseball glove he’d brought to the park, hoping to have it authenticated at the suggestion of fellow fans. Post-game, he was momentarily escorted down to the field by staff, he said, but later had to leave to get home.

He’s open to doing “what’s best for the ball” if it means trading it back to the Blue Jays as a piece of historic memorabilia, he said, but for now he’s content with savouring the moment.

“I feel blessed to be a part of Canadian sports history,” Angeletti said. “I’m a Toronto sports fanatic. I love all our teams, especially the Blue Jays.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2025.

&copy 2025 The Canadian Press

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner no longer has a front row seat to the theatrics of the Ontario Legislature.

Schreiner, a three-time MPP who made history in 2018 when he won the Green party’s first seat at Queen’s Park, has been relegated to one of the back rows in the legislative chamber – a decision that’s left the party leader puzzled.

“That was a decision made by the speaker,” Schreiner told reporters shortly after the first Question Period of the fall session ended.

“The speaker told me in the federal parliament the Green Party sits in the back row, so she felt that we should sit in the back row in the provincial parliament as well,” Schreiner added.

The decision, Schreiner said, has been opposed by all other party house leaders – including the Government House Leader – who have expressed a desire to “go back to the old seating chart.”

“I think the speaker has united all the parties in saying we should go back to the old seating chart, show respect, not be partisan and have the leader of the Ontario Green Party be on the front row,” he said.

While a majority government has a lot of sway sway at Queen’s Park, the Speaker acts as the ultimate authority over the day-to-day running of the legislature. The speaker position is a non-partisan role and the MPP elected to the position does not caucus with the governing party.

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The Ontario Green leader was originally placed in the middle of a mix of Liberal and independent MPPs in 2018 and was gradually moved to the front row of the independent section.

Ted Arnott, a PC MPP, was the speaker at the time.

While Schreiner returned to the same front-row seat after the snap February election, he was recently told he and fellow Green MPP Aislinn Clancy would be moved to the back row – now behind three rows of Progressive Conservative MPPs.

This time, the decision was made by Donna Skelly, also a PC MPP.

Skelly told Global News the government’s ejection of MPP Chris Scott over criminal charges, afforded her the “first opportunity” to rearrange the legislature.

“I think it’s unusual to have independents sitting on the front bench,” Skelly said. “It didn’t make sense … it’s unheard of.”

Skelly said officially recognized parties in the Ontario Legislature, with a minimum of 12 seats, have “priviledges that go with party status” including legislative funding for research and staff along with proxility to the speaker.

“The privilege of, the closer you are to the speaker usually is indicative of the government, opposition and then third parties,” Skelly said. “So that’s also consistent with the placement.”

Skelly confirmed that other parties, including the Progressive Conservatives, prefer the previous seating chart.

When asked whether she was “okay with disregarding the opinions of other house leaders,” Skelly confirmed she was.

“I have to. It’s completely non-partisan. It’s my decision.”

“As the and as the speaker, I felt it was proper that independents would not be holding a front seat on the front benches, that they should be in the back benches,” Skelly said.

She added that if the Ontario Liberals lost party status again – as they did in 2018 and 2022 – “they would have been in the back as well.”

For his part, Schreiner isn’t putting up a fuss and said while all house leaders “disagree” with her decision it’s upto Skelly to decide.

“The speaker has made her decision, but I’ll just say there is no bad seat in the Ontario Legislature,” Schreiner said.