Blue Jays' playoff berth rejuvenates a city

I'm not the biggest baseball fan, but I do follow it some. So, let me chime in with kudos to the Toronto Blue Jays for getting to the playoffs for the first time in 22 years (I still wear a World Series Champs sweatshirt from 1993).
Four games ahead of the Yankees, with nine games to play, New York could still theoretically catch them (although on recent form that seems unlikely). But, after last night's win against Tampa, combined with a bit of luck as both Minnesota and Los Angeles also lost their own respective games, the Jays are now assured of at least a wildcard playoff berth. And what's more, they've done it with some style, with a league-leading offense (217 home runs so far), and a league-leading record since the All Star break (43-19).
But what's really interesting is what it's done to the city. With a bunch of major league sports franchises long used to losing and underachieving (in baseball, hockey, soccer, and to a lesser extent, at least just recently, basketball), the city has been starved of success for decades. The fans are remarkably forgiving, and still turn out in droves to home games, but until this baseball season they turned out with an air of resignation and doggedness rather than enthusiasm.
But with this sniff of a possible return to the good times, the excitement is palpable. The 50,000 seat baseball stadium sells out every home game, and playoff tickets sold out within two hours. People who haven't shown any interest in baseball for years are now professing to be die-hard fans (much to the chagrin of the "real" fans).
There is a kind of electricity in the air throughout the whole city, a discernable animation. Driving back through the city from the theatre last night, there were people everywhere and a kind of hum in the air. Conversations on the radio and in the street are peppered with references to the phenomenon: "How 'bout those Jays, eh?",  or the equivalent. The whole city - no, even the country - seems more upbeat than I have seen it for some years.
It's amazing what a few judicious baseball trades and the consistent sound of bat on ball can do for a city.