Even the Maple Leafs are catching Blue Jays fever.

Leafs prospect Mitch Marner has gone to a few Jays games and has watched on TV, amazed at how the baseball team so quickly turned a so-so season into a spectacular one. And he’s impressed with how the city embraced the team and has fallen in love again with the Blue Jays.

“It’s kind of crazy to think about, how Toronto as a city turns for a great team,” said Marner. “That’s what we want to do with the Leafs. We want to make it a great team and the fans will be behind us.”

In terms of wins and losses, the Maple Leafs are well behind the Blue Jays (for that matter, they are also behind the Raptors, Argos and TFC). The Leaf fan base yearns for a winner but is happy — for now — with a team approach that preaches patience and building through the draft.

Marner, one day, could be a key cog to any Leaf turnaround. On Tuesday, he was working out with Kasperi Kapanen and Connor Brown, wearing their Maple Leaf sweaters on the ice at the Mattamy Centre under the domed ceiling of the historic Maple Leaf Gardens.

Briefly, the future seemed so close.

“It was crazy,” said Marner. “Our chemistry on the ice. The three of us know each other very well. The next couple of years, hopefully we’ll be on the team and hopefully be on the rebuild.”

The three Leaf prospects were getting their rookie card pictures taken and doing promotional work for Upper Deck, Getty Images and EA Sports along with the likes of Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel.

Marner, of course, is the Leafs first round pick from the June draft. At fourth overall, he’s the franchise’s highest pick in two decades, a sleek-skating forward with soft hands and the ability to score.

Kapanen is the son of former NHLer Sami Kapanen and a former first-round pick of the Penguins and the high-end asset the Leafs acquired in the Phil Kessel trade with Pittsburgh.

Brown is the long-shot who made good, the late-round undersized scoring forward who grew — he’s about six feet now. He’s the reigning AHL rookie of the year ready to make the next step.

If the Leafs are true to the blueprint mapped out by president Brendan Shanahan, all will be invited to the Leafs training camp, which opens on Sept. 17. But none of the three — and throw in William Nylander who went through this Upper Deck rookie day last year — will be with the rebuilding Leafs in October.

Better, goes the logic, to let them develop with the Marlies, or with the London Knights in Marner’s case, than be around a team that is likely to lose a lot more than it will win.

All three have heard that as the team’s plan. All three still say anything can happen once camp begins.

“The goal is to surprise people,” said Marner. “I just want to go to training camp with my mind open. Just try the best I can. I think I have a good chance to make an impact.

“I just want to leave an impression if I get sent back to London.”

Kapanen, 19, played most of last year in Finland’s top league before coming over to the AHL with Scranton Wilkes-Barre. He was one of the final cuts by the Penguins at training camp last year.

“I was so close last year, and now I feel a lot better,” said Kapanen. “I know what training camp is all about now.

“I’m going to do everything I can to try to earn a spot,” added Kapanen. “I know I’ll have a lot of good years with this team. I’m excited for the future.”

Brown scored 21 goals and added 40 assists to lead the Marlies and all AHL rookies in scoring. Drafted 156th overall in 2012 when he was 5-foot-10, he said it was hard work and dedication that moved him up the depth chart and had him invited to an event usually reserved mainly for first-rounders.

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“It’s definitely a confidence boost going into camp,” said Brown. “Going into training camp, I want to play in the best league possible. If I have a chance to crack the roster with the Leafs, that’s where I want to be. But if it takes more time, I’m just going to work hard.”

If he is returned to the Marlies, Brown believes the farm team could be a power house, thanks to players such as Kapanen and Nylander.

“There’s a lot of talented young prospects in the organization right now,” said Brown. “Seems like we’re loading up for sure. If we’re down with the Marlies and we need another year, we’re going to respect the process and work hard.”

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