The Toronto Blue Jays are going to the World Series for the first time in 32 years. After a Game 7 win against Seattle that clinched the American League Championship, the Jays will face the defending champions Los Angeles Dodgers, who are going to repeat the World Series for the first time in the last 25 years. This is a monster baseball story. But it’s also a cultural battlefield to renew Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s beef.

The DailyRapFacts account tweeted a screenshot showing Drake immediately sending a direct message to Toronto rapper Top5 after the Jays won. The message read: “La vs Toronto.” Drake, a five-time Grammy Award winner, is a Toronto native and a vocal supporter of Toronto’s sports teams. He is even the global ambassador Toronto Raptors.  So, on the surface, the DM looks like a sports talk. But music fans knew the real meaning.

Drake’s arch-rival in the music industry, Los Angeles rapper Kendrick Lamar, who won  22 Grammys and a Pulitzer Prize, is a visible fan of the city’s hometown teams, like the Dodgers, Lakers, and Rams.

So, the message was not just about baseball, as their intense 2024 rap battle was still fresh and no smaller than any sports rivalry. The 2024 feud that started with Lamar’s “Like That” verse and led to a rapid exchange of heated diss tracks like “Family Matters” and “Not Like Us” became so big that The People reported one point, “It has been nearly a year since two of hip-hop’s icons entered a feud to end all feuds — and Drake and Kendrick Lamar aren’t done yet.”

And since then, the beef has only intensified with every track release. And as per this site, when Kendrick Lamar took the Super Bowl halftime stage and performed his diss tracks “Euphoria” and “Not Like Us,” the feud hit its peak. Now, with one short DM—“LA vs. Toronto”—Drake has poured fuel back onto the fire. Toronto rapper Top5’s quick reply, “We gon beat them boys like Drake beat Kendrick,” only amplified the moment, blurring the lines between sports and music.

The 2025 World Series between the Blue Jays and Dodgers is no longer just a battle for baseball glory—it’s a clash of eras, cities, and cultures. Toronto relives the spirit of 1993’s Joe Carter walk-off while facing LA’s sun-soaked swagger and Hollywood edge.

Beneath the rivalry lies a deeper current: Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar, a modern echo of hip-hop’s iconic East Coast vs. West Coast feud. What started as a moment of hometown pride has evolved into a full-blown cultural showdown between two cities, two sounds, and two titans.

We don’t know what Drake was thinking, but what we do know is that

His hometown team’s victory overjoyed him

After the Blue Jays won, Drake posted a video of the final out, writing, “BIG SHOW ITS UP 6’ERRRRRRRS.” MLB’s official account posted a video of his celebration, writing, “Drake was losing his mind after the Blue Jays punched their ticket to the World Series 🔥👀.” And it’s not the first time, either.

During the 2023 season, when there was a rumor that Shohei Ohtani was going to sign with the Dodgers upon his free agency, Drake joined the countless Blue Jays fans with their sky-high expectation and was spotted wearing a Shohei Ohtani All-Star jersey. But Ohtani later signed with the Dodgers for a record $700M contract, which only fuels the rivalry.

And Drake didn’t stop by to support the team. In October 2023, he promised to give a customized chain designed by jeweler Alex Moss, featuring the CN Tower and Toronto’s skyline at its center, with the city’s three sports franchises —the Raptors, Blue Jays, and Maple Leafs —on it. But that year, the Jays fell short in the playoffs against the Twins. And after the Maple Leafs’ playoff exits this season, as the Blue Jays are heading to the World Series, there is a chance that Drake will wear it to the games and pull it out for the occasion.