Maple Leafs to push up Thanksgiving Day game to accommodate for Blue Jays ALCS game

Thanksgiving weekend is here for Canadians. The tradition of eating turkey and spending time with family also includes watching sports, with numerous options available. One of those options is postseason baseball. For fans of the Toronto Blue Jays, it's that special opportunity to watch them play in the American League Championship Series.

Thanksgiving Monday will coincide with Game 2 of the ALCS, which will take place in Toronto at Rogers Centre against the Seattle Mariners. It's also the day the Toronto Maple Leafs host the Detroit Red Wings at Scotiabank Arena. As it turned out, the Maple Leafs decided to ensure that Toronto fans don't have to choose between the two.

Maple Leafs change the time of their puck drop for the Blue Jays

Initially, the Maple Leafs were scheduled to play the Red Wings on Thanksgiving Monday at 4:00 pm EST. It would've interfered with Game 2 after MLB announced a start time of either 4:38 pm EST or 5:04 pm EST (depending on the result of Game 5 between the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers.

The Maple Leafs released a statement Friday afternoon announcing the start time of the game was moved up to 2:00 pm EST. Regardless of what time the Blue Jays play at, the Maple Leafs wanted to make sure fans caught both games and not flip between the two.

""While the time for Game 2 of the Blue Jays’ American League Championship Series has not yet been announced, the Toronto Maple Leafs announced today that the team is moving their home game on Monday against the Detroit Red Wings from 4 p.m. to 2 p.m. to avoid a conflict and create a double header that Toronto sports fans will certainly be thankful for." "

Toronto Maple Leafs PR, Oct 9, 2025

On top of that, the Maple Leafs also announced that fans who attend the game are welcome to stay inside Scotiabank Arena to watch the Blue Jays once again, as they did during the season opener.

Hilariously enough, on TSN 1050's Overdrive, Bryan Hayes, Jamie McLennan, and Jeff O'Neill were complaining about the Maple Leafs' initial start time of 4:00 pm and stated the move should happen to 2:00 pm.

"The overlapping of the Leafs and the Jays: very disappointing," stated Hayes. "Couldn't they change that?" asked McLennan to which Hayes replied: "When have the Leafs in their existence moved for anybody? Get the Leafs at 2 o'clock. Move the Leafs up." O'Neill was confident that the time switch would happen.

Are the Overdrive guys the ones to thank for the time switch? Maybe? Regardless, it'll be a busy day of watching for Toronto. The Maple Leafs game will be broadcast on Amazon Prime as Rogers' Sportsnet continues its Postseason coverage of the Blue Jays.