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.

Two stellar pitching performances distinguished the five games on the farm tonight, as two teams prepare for the playoffs and one still strives to qualify.

There was discussion in the Bronx Therapy thread about the correlation between the Yankees reliably high total of walks and their reliably high total of runs scored.

Vancouver took a beating while Eugene won, putting the Canadians a half game behind in their playoff race.   Las Vegas stayed mathematically alive thanks to Anthony Gose and Yan Gomes.  Their elimination number is one.  Bluefield lost their final game of the season.  New Hampshire lost in extra innings, Lansing also lost while Dunedin swept both ends of a doubleheader from the Yankees Tampa team.  Casey Lawrence pitched a complete game to win game one.  In game two Dunedin won 1-0 with new Jay Amadeo Zuzueta driving in the only run.

Playoff Situation

In: Dunedin and Lansing

Still competing:  Vancouver and Las Vegas (barely)

Out: New Hampshire, Bluefield and the GCL Jays

Jose Bautista's season is over. He's having surgery on his wrist.

The affiliates were 3-1 on Monday with one rainout.  The club with the scheduled day off received some good news from the out of town scoreboard.