Time to consider the bench.

Moving right along... the outfielders and the DH.

The Canadians spit the bit on Saturday but Roberto Osuna sparkled.

I'm enjoying this, even as I feel the collective wisdom of the readership leaning on me to revise some planned grades upward.

We'll see whether you can move me!

You know it's coming.

And it's not going to be pretty.

Six run lead? Safe? don't count on it. that's good news out west, not so good closer to home.

The Dunedin Blue Jays were eliminated from the playoffs with their second consecutive loss to Lakeland. Meanwhile, Lansing suffered a loss in their playoff opener and now must win two in a row to stay alive. The Canadians had an off day before beginning their next playoff series.

The Vancouver Canadians have made it to the final of the Northwest League playoffs thanks to an all hands win over Everett.   Meanwhile the Blue Jays offense is so bad that even JP Arencibia and David Cooper couldn't prevent the Dunedin Jays from being shut out. Marcus Walden made one mistake and that was enough to take the loss. The D-Jays had several chances but couldn't deliver a key hit.

It has been a roller-coaster ride for Blue Jay fans this season.  There were the highs of the early season when the Jays were at the top of the division and able to take on all challengers.  Now the Jays wins are few and expectations are low.  The Jays record in August was 9-19, a 52 win season pace.  But the Jays won four of their last five games in the month, two in New York and two against Tampa.  From August 1 through August 25 the Jays record was 5-18, a 35 win season pace.  Now the Jays have started September 0-3 and there is little expectation of a win on any night.

The playoffs have begun on one front while the regular season wrapped up on three others.



The Vancouver Canadians celebrate their playoff opening victory against Everett at Nat Bailey Stadium Monday afternoon.

Only one affiliate found the win column in four tries on Sunday.

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Last month, I received an invitation to a meeting of the Northwest Chapter of SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) at Nat Bailey Stadium and one of the guest speakers was Vancouver Canadians pitcher Matt Johnson.  He shared some interesting stories about his baseball career.

Vancouver Canadians righthander Matt Johnson taking a breather after speaking at the August 11 SABR meeting at Nat Bailey Stadium.

The affiliates went 2-3 on the last Saturday of the regular season.

A 3-2 Friday night on the farm saw one of the affiliates clinch a playoff berth.


The Vancouver Canadians will get a chance to defend its Northwest League championship as they host Everett in Game 1 of the NWL West Division playoffs Monday afternoon at Nat Bailey Stadium.