A letter from Warriors coach Steve Kerr, discovered months after the Blue Jays’ World Series loss, offers a masterclass in resilience that could shape Toronto’s 2026 championship quest.
The Toronto Blue Jays spent the winter processing a season that ended one win short of the franchise’s third World Series title and first appearance since winning back-to-back championships in 1992 and 1993.
After a run to Game 7 of the 2025 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, however, Toronto quickly moved on and focused on how to improve a group that will go for it once again in 2026.
In an interview with The Athletic published on Sunday, Blue Jays manager John Schneider revealed a surprise he found in his office after arriving there last week. That was an unopened letter that had been sitting there for nearly five months, dated Nov. 11, one day after the Blue Jays’ Game 7 defeat to the Dodgers.
The letter was from Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, who had some words to share with Toronto’s manager after he and his team failed to take the final step toward history.
“As I read it,” Schneider said, “I was like, ‘holy (expletive).’”
Kerr reached out after watching Schneider’s leadership during the World Series, feeling “compelled” to get in touch with the manager. The Warriors’ head coach compared the Blue Jays’ loss to his own experience in 2016, when his team lost Game 7 of the NBA Finals to the Cleveland Cavaliers after leading the finals 3-1 entering Game 5.
Schneider said the message reinforced what the team has stressed since the loss.
“It was the message we’ve been preaching all offseason and in spring,” Schneider said. “The run was great, and the heartbreak was real, but it’s not going to define who we are.”
Below is the full letter Kerr sent Schneider:
“11.2.25 — Dear John, I don’t know you but I felt compelled to reach out after watching your incredible leadership on display during the World Series. Your poise, your strength, your empathy and your confidence all shines through in all the toughest moments.
“I can see why your players love playing for you. I was just so impressed every time you were interviewed.
“Congrats on an incredible season and I’m so sorry for the heartbreak. We lost Game 7 of the ’16 Finals to Cleveland in similar fashion, and the pain was real. But what always survives through the tough losses is the character and connection of the group. The loss won’t define you, but the way you and your guys carried themselves afterwards will.
“Much respect, Steve Kerr.”
This cross-sport exchange is more than a polite gesture; it is a strategic transmission of championship DNA. Kerr’s Warriors, after their 2016 collapse, did not retreat. They added Kevin Durant and won two more titles, cementing a dynasty. His letter to Schneider is a distilled manual for post-failure reconstruction, emphasizing that character and connection are the true foundations of a champion, not the final score of a single game.
For the Blue Jays, this external validation from a peer with four NBA championships arrives at a pivotal moment. The core of the 2025 team—led by Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, and a dominant pitching staff—returns with the pain of Game 7 fresh. Kerr’s words provide a pre-framed narrative: this loss is not an endpoint but a catalyst. It directly counters any potential narrative of a “cursed” franchise and instead frames the 2025 run as the necessary forging ground for a true contender.
The fan community has already latched onto this. Online forums and talk radio are buzzing with the theory that Kerr’s letter is a secret playbook. The “what-if” scenarios are shifting from “What if they got that final out?” to “How will this pain make them stronger in 2026?” This reframing is powerful. It takes a passive, historical heartbreak and turns it into an active, motivational tool for the upcoming season.
Schneider’s decision to share this letter publicly is itself a masterstroke of leadership. It does three things instantly: it honors the emotional reality of the loss, it aligns his team with a proven winner like Kerr, and it publicly sets the expectation that the 2026 Blue Jays will be driven by purpose, not punishment. He is controlling the narrative before the first spring training pitch is thrown.
The historical parallel Kerr draws is precise. The 2016 Warriors, up 3-1, blew a 13-point lead in Game 7. The Blue Jays, up 2-1 in the World Series, lost two tight games at home. Both failures were defined by a failure to execute in the highest-leverage moments. Kerr’s message is that the response—the “how you carry yourselves”—becomes the legacy. For Toronto, that means entering 2026 not as a team that almost won, but as a team that learned how to win the final game.
This story, first published by Athlon Sports, transcends baseball. It is a case study in sports psychology and leadership. It shows that the most valuable advice can come from unexpected places. The bond between a baseball manager in Toronto and a basketball coach in San Francisco, forged in the shared fire of a Game 7 loss, is a unique story of inter-sport respect that elevates the entire conversation around what it means to rebuild after the brink of glory.
The Blue Jays’ 2026 campaign now has a hidden layer. Every time a player struggles in a late-inning situation, the unspoken subtext may be Kerr’s words. The team’s culture, already considered strong, now has an external seal of approval from one of the modern era’s greatest coaches. This isn’t just about X’s and O’s; it’s about the mental architecture of a champion, and John Schneider just received the blueprints from a master builder.
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