TORONTO — 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’s 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.

“As I read it,” Schneider told The Athletic, “I was like ‘holy s—.’”

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 — the day after Toronto’s Game 7 loss.

“I don’t know you,” Kerr wrote, “but I felt compelled to reach out after watching your incredible leadership on display during the World Series.”

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

“The pain was real,” Kerr wrote. “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.”

Those words validated Schneider’s feelings that grew throughout the offseason. It affirmed the message he’s hoping to instill in the 2026 Blue Jays, too.

“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. We all went through it together. What we’re going to be defined by is how we persevere through it.”

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.

“To have him watch me,” Schneider said, “and how I handled the pressure and decisions and media. To have him kind of give me the stamp of approval was pretty cool.”

Schneider finished second in American League manager of the year voting last year and was recently extended through the 2028 season. He’s 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 resumé. It required buy-in.

Schneider said that’s 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’s part of what makes them great, and to have one of those greats reach out to Schneider was special.

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.

The letter sat in Schneider’s 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.

After Kerr’s 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.

“If he can see the good in what we did,” Schneider said. “It kind of gives you a little bit of reassurance that you’re preaching the right things.”

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7154224/2026/03/28/blue-jays-warriors-john-schneider-steve-kerr/