TORONTO -- Michael Saunders was born in Victoria, British Columbia -- about as close to Seattle as you can get without being in the United States.Yet when it came to his baseball allegiance growing up, nationality mattered at least as much as geography.Proximity-wise, I guess everyone felt like Seattle would be my hometown team, but it was really the Jays, Saunders said. My whole family was Jays fans growing up.Now an outfielder for those Toronto Blue Jays, Saunders is uniquely qualified to explain how Canadas lone major league team has cultivated a following among baseball fans all across the country. When the Blue Jays try to avoid elimination Tuesday in Game 4 of the AL Championship Series against Cleveland, theyll have support in provinces near and far.Just ask the Mariners how much Canadians love their Blue Jays. Seattle is three time zones from Toronto, but since its close to Canada, Blue Jays fans show up in droves when the Mariners host Toronto. They also make their presence felt in Detroit, which is just across the river from southern Ontario.It is a very unique situation when you have a whole country as opposed to 29 teams that are localized to a state, Blue Jays reliever Jason Grilli said. The United States is where baseball thrives, of course, but there is one team in Canada that everyone here supports. Its truly incredible. People dont know what its like until they experience a game here and see the support.A winning team always helps, of course, and Toronto is in the postseason for a second consecutive year after a dry spell that stretched back to the teams most recent World Series title in 1993. Sportsnet reported that Game 3 of this months AL Division Series between the Blue Jays and Texas Rangers drew an average audience of 4.73 million, making it Sportsnets most-watched program of the year to that point.Canadas obsession, of course, is with hockey, but thats largely divided among the countrys NHL teams. Toronto has been Canadas only big league team since the Montreal Expos left after the 2004 season, and the support the Blue Jays receive from far-flung Canadian areas wouldnt necessarily be there for, say, the more polarizing Toronto Maple Leafs.It would be the exact opposite, actually, said 31-year-old Stephen Safinuk, a Blue Jays fan from Saskatchewan. Theyd be wishing them a quick exit from the playoffs, if they ever make it.Safinuk was in Toronto for the ALCS, and he was visiting the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday -- while wearing a shirt with Blue Jays slugger Josh Donaldsons name on the back. He said hes seen the Blue Jays play on the road against the Los Angeles Angels, and hed like to be among the throngs of Toronto fans in Seattle sometime soon.Seattle next year is my goal, he said. Its a must-do trip, absolutely.Saunders spent his first six seasons with the Mariners before playing these past two for the Blue Jays.Were not just representing Toronto, were representing all of Canada, he said. Its a really neat experience to see that kind of fan support, and you really see it when you go to Seattle and play the Mariners. I spent my entire career with the Mariners, so I saw kind of the other end of the spectrum. It was a different experience for me to be wearing a Jays uniform this time around.A couple offseasons ago, the Blue Jays made stops in Alberta (Calgary and Banff) and Vancouver, British Columbia, on their winter tour itinerary, the equivalent of the Reds trying to reach out to fans in, say, San Diego. As long as the Blue Jays are Canadas only team, theyll continue to have substantial territory to claim as their own.Itll never overtake hockey here, but the passion is very similar, Safinuk said. You dont see this kind of singular team support for anything other than -- you see it for the Raptors, too, when they were doing good the last couple years, but thats because in Canada, we only have the Raptors and the Blue Jays in NBA and MLB. You dont get that anywhere else.---Follow Noah Trister at www.Twitter.com/noahtrister Cheap Nike Air Max 270 Ispa . 1 position. The Mustangs (6-0), who beat Queens 50-31 last weekend, earned 17 first-place votes and 287 points in voting by the Football Reporters of Canada. Western was last ranked first in the country in October 2011. Nike Air Max 270 Ispa White . Bradwell was scheduled to become a free agent Tuesday. 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LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Week-long breaks for final exams initially created different results between No. 11 Louisville and visiting Eastern Kentucky, which seemed much sharper from the layoff.The Cardinals shed their early rust to post the all-around effort they will need for a daunting quartet of ranked teams including an archrival.Donovan Mitchell scored 15 points, Quentin Snider added 13 and Louisville used a 20-0 run to close the first half and dominate Eastern Kentucky 87-56 on Saturday for its fifth straight victory.Seeking a good tuneup for next weeks rivalry game against No. 6 Kentucky, the Cardinals (10-1) shook off a sluggish start and 12-6 deficit to outscore EKU 30-4 the rest of the half and hold the Colonels scoreless for the final 7 minutes.Louisville never looked back en route to its 14th championship in 15 years in the Billy Minardi Classic, named for the brother-in-law of Cardinals coach Rick Pitino who died in the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center.We started out a little slow because we broke down on what we practiced, Pitino said. I think that gave the other team some momentum and confidence. But once we moved the basketball, once we stayed with our principles of what we wanted to do, we played much better.The Cardinals shot 48 percent from the field and owned the boards 47-31 in dominating the first game between the schools since 2004. They blocked a season-high 14 shots and had 19 assists, including a season-high six by Snider.We did a lot of good things, said Snider, who made 3 of 5 from behind the arc and 5 of 7 overall.Our bigs blocked shots. They really protected the rim real well and passed the ball real well. Thats how we got going.Mangok Mathiang matched a career best with 13 rebounds for Louisville, which follows Kentucky with matchups against No. 13 Virginia, No. 9 Indiana and No. 21 Notre Dame.Jaylen Johnson and Tony Hicks each had 10 points for the Cardinals.Nick Mayo had 15 points and Asante Gist 12 for the Colonels (6-6), who didnt reach 20 points until the 16:39 mark of the second half and shot 36 percent.ddddddddddddTHE BIG PICTUREEastern Kentucky: After their strong start the Colonels were soon overwhelmed by Louisville. They trailed by as many as 36 points with 8:34 remaining and needed a big second half just to finish at 36 percent. The high-scoring tandem of Mayo and Gist combined for 10-of-27 shooting and were held below their per-game scoring averages of 19.3 and 14.4 points, respectively.Were such a young team that Ive got to make sure it doesnt affect us, said coach Dan McHale, a former Louisville staffer and assistant. We probably wont watch a lot of the horrific stuff (from the video). ... Were just evolving right now.Louisville: Sniders eight straight points, including two 3s, helped snap the Cardinals out of their initial offensive funk. He has scored in double digits in consecutive games. Anas Mahmoud returned from a three-game absence (concussion) with six points, five blocks and four rebounds. Louisville has held four of its last five opponents to 36 percent shooting or lower.POLL IMPLICATIONSConsecutive blowouts could push Louisville into the Top 10 just in time to face in-state rival Kentucky.WELCOME BACKOne early block was all the 7-foot Mahmoud needed to feel normal again after sustaining the concussion against Purdue. In fact, he was comfortable enough to take five shots, hit three and try to establish a bigger presence inside.When you come back youre always thinking too much because youve been away, he said. After you get the first touch of the ball and the feeling running up and down the floor, you get comfortable. And the more comfortable I got, the better I played.UP NEXTEastern Kentucky: Continues its five-game road swing on Monday at Norfolk State.Louisville: Hosts No. 6 Kentucky on Wednesday night in the annual showdown for Bluegrass supremacy. The Cardinals have lost three straight in the series.---More AP College Basketball: www.collegebasketball.ap.org ' ' '