{"id":1853264,"date":"2026-03-28T19:45:59","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T16:45:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1853264"},"modified":"2026-03-28T19:45:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T16:45:59","slug":"months-after-losing-game-7-john-schneider-found-a-letter-from-an-admirer-steve-kerr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1853264","title":{"rendered":"Months after losing Game 7, John Schneider found a letter from an admirer: Steve Kerr"},"content":{"rendered":"
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TORONTO \u2014 When Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider returned to his Rogers Centre office last week, a single envelope sat on his desk. It looked, Schneider said, like it had been there all winter.<\/p>\n

Schneider settled into his seat, the same office chair he rested in ahead of each home game during Toronto\u2019s run to the 2025 World Series. As he pried the envelope open, Schneider saw a Golden State Warriors logo on the card and began to read.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I read it,\u201d Schneider told The Athletic<\/em>, \u201cI was like \u2018holy s\u2014.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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The handwritten letter came from Warriors head coach and nine-time NBA champion Steve Kerr. The two coaches have never met. The letter was dated Nov. 2, 2025 \u2014 the day after Toronto\u2019s Game 7 loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know you,\u201d Kerr wrote, \u201cbut I felt compelled to reach out after watching your incredible leadership on display during the World Series.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Schneider kept reading, it brought him back to those last few innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Kerr\u2019s words captured the agony of that final loss, a defeat the Warriors coach likened to his team\u2019s 2016 Game 7 loss to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pain was real,\u201d Kerr wrote. \u201cBut what always survives through the tough losses is the character and connection of the group. The loss won\u2019t define you, but the way you and your guys carried themselves afterwards will.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n This is the letter from Warriors coach Steve Kerr, written a day after the Blue Jays lost Game 7 of the World Series. (Courtesy: John Schneider.)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Those words validated Schneider\u2019s feelings that grew throughout the offseason. It affirmed the message he\u2019s hoping to instill in the 2026 Blue Jays, too.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was the message we\u2019ve been preaching all offseason and in spring,\u2019\u2019 Schneider said. \u201cThe run was great, and the heartbreak was real, but it\u2019s not going to define who we are. We all went through it together. What we\u2019re going to be defined by is how we persevere through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Schneider was first promoted to Blue Jays manager in 2022, replacing Charlie Montoyo in July, he consumed countless podcasts and books on leadership and managing a major sports team. Kerr, Schneider said, was one of the coaches he looked up to.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have him watch me,\u201d Schneider said, \u201cand how I handled the pressure and decisions and media. To have him kind of give me the stamp of approval was pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schneider finished second in American League manager of the year voting last year and was recently extended through the 2028 season<\/a>. He\u2019s now managed 561 big-league games, with a .522 winning percentage, and 22 postseason contests. When he was first promoted, Schneider held ideas of how he wanted to lead. Implementing those concepts, Schneider said, required a resum\u00e9. It required buy-in.<\/p>\n

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Schneider said that\u2019s what he gleaned from big-league managers like Kevin Cash and Terry Francona, and coaches like Kerr. The respect they earned, Schneider said, is obvious. It\u2019s part of what makes them great, and to have one of those greats reach out to Schneider was special.<\/p>\n

At some point in the coming days, Schneider said, Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro will help connect the manager with Kerr, so Schneider can thank the NBA coach for his message. It hardly matters that Kerr happens to be a Dodgers fan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\n John Schneider said of Steve Kerr: \u201cTo have him kind of give me the stamp of approval was pretty cool.\u201d (Thearon W. Henderson \/ Getty Images)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The letter sat in Schneider\u2019s office all winter. But, in a way, he read it at the perfect time. It provided a moment of reflection and a reminder of what lies ahead for the Blue Jays.<\/p>\n

After Kerr\u2019s Game 7 defeat in 2016, the Warriors went on to win the next two NBA titles. Schneider hopes to lead the Jays down a similar path, helping define his team not by that World Series loss, but by what follows.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he can see the good in what we did,\u201d Schneider said. \u201cIt kind of gives you a little bit of reassurance that you\u2019re preaching the right things.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 When Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider returned to his Rogers Centre office last week, a single envelope sat on his desk. It looked, Schneider said, like it had been there all winter. Schneider settled into his seat, the same office chair he rested in ahead of each home game during Toronto\u2019s run […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1853264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1853264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1853264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1853264\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1853264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1853264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1853264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}