The last time the Blue Jays won a game in Tampa Bay was... almost eighteen months ago? Mitch White was the winning pitcher?

Yikes.

Two hitters hit their first home runs at a new level. Dasan Brown his his first AAA home run and JR Freethy his first at AA. NH scored seven runs on their way to a win to finish out a disappointing 56-81 campaign. Buffalo fell a run short. I also took a look at the origins of the Jays major league bullpen.

Both Buffalo and New Hampshire scored ninth inning runs to win. Buffalo scored a run in the top of the ninth to break a tie. New Hampshire scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth to turn around a 1-0 loss.

Alek Manoah was optioned off the major league 25 man roster this week. To show the front office why they shouldn't have he pitched well and struck out eight in 5.1 innings tonight. But what caught my attention was how he did it, he mixed four pitches evenly with the fastball averaging 93 mph. Buffalo won. New Hampshire also got good pitching from Alex Amalfi. New Hampshire also won. Buffalo and New Hampshire combined to scored nine runs with nine hits. They owe a thank you to their opponents for the walks and errors.

I've been on the road.

One win and one loss on Thursday. New Hampshire won for their third win in a row. Those wins followed a 13 game losing streak. Gage Stanifer made his second AA start with mixed results. Buffalo had a two run ninth inning lead but lost.

New Hampshire 3 Chesapeake 2 in 10.

Buffalo 9 Rochester 2

Buffalo won. New Hampshire won in 10 innings. Dunedin is finished. Vancouver plays again on April 3, 2026.

Buffalo was walked off but New Hampshire held on for a win.

I'm beginning to believe that the 2025 Blue Jays will probably be an active participant in the post-season festivities.

There, I said it.

Vancouver and Dunedin ended their seasons on Sunday. Vancouver, who have been playing well, had a limp end to their season and lost. Dunedin's finale was washed out for an even limper finish. New Hampshire lost again, its now 13 losses in a row. Buffalo were the sole winners but they might have an issue with Trey Vesavage who left the game after throwing 18 pitches.

There have been some excellent pitchers in Vancouver this season, Trey Yesavage, Khal Stephen and Gage Stanifer for example. Austin Cates is another who is blossoming in the northeast. He struck out nine in six innings on Saturday. Carter Cunningham had a big game and Vancouver won. Unfortunately it was the only win on Saturday.

Johnny King made his final start of the season for Dunedin and struck out seven in 4.2 shutout innings. Gage Stanifer made his first AA start and had a problem with walks. Dunedin won while New Hampshire lost. Hits were in short supply above Dunedin. In four games the affiliates had 17 hits. Dunedin had 13 in their game. Buffalo split a doubleheader. Sean Keys set a home run record for Vancouver in their loss. To sum it up, Buffalo and Dunedin won, Buffalo, New Hampshire and Vancouver lost.

Everybody ready?

It was a rainy day on the east coast. Buffalo were rained out. New Hampshire had their start delayed due to rain and then the game was shortened to five innings with a NH loss. Dunedin's start was also delayed and they too lost. Vancouver were the only winners.

Given we are now into September, the potential playoff roster options are set - if you weren't in the system on the night of August 31st to September 1st you can't play with the Jays in the post-season. So IKF qualifies (barely), but Buddy Kennedy (re-acquired September 1st) doesn't.