There are two teams in a race for the worst record in baseball and the number one draft position in 2019. Seven of the Jays next ten games are against these two teams. In case you didn't know, the teams are the KC Royals and the Baltimore Orioles. In between the Jays go to Yankee Stadium for three games.

With the Jays starting their Buffalo battery in tonight's game, an early start to the series thread seems to be in order. If you are giving a major league debut to a pitcher, having him start against the Royals is not a bad way to do it. The lineup he faces will be better than those he has seen in Buffalo, but not by that much. SRF then gets to face the Yankees in Yankee Stadium on Saturday, before facing the Phillies back home, assuming all goes to plan.

Sportsnet seems to be showing more Vladimir Guerrero Jr. highlights than Jays' highlights. I'm sure many here at Da Box will marvel how far we've come. I didn't know what hand Dustin McGowan threw with until he debuted. Nonetheless, our hope had a homerun streak that was snapped Sunday. He seems to be hitting homeruns for fun. I'm pumped. I do worry though about his weight as he looks like he's on that Pablo Sandoval spectrum, but I guess so are many of us and I was able to touch my toes yesterday.

It is the middle of August and this qualifies as a "playing out the string" game. Both the Rays and Jays were active in trading away some of their prized assets in July so the remainders will take the field tonight.

From the pre-game chatter, Marcus Stroman will test his finger today to see if he can pitch on Sunday. Giiby has gone on the record, again, as saying if there is going to be a full rebuild he needs to get out of here so he is making it easy for the front office to get rid of him, if they want to. Gibby might have been saving his major league manager money over the last few years and will be happy to go home and sit on the porch.

It was a 50/50 night on the farm with a mix of wins and losses. Harold Ramirez had four hits to lead the Fisher Cats to a win. Samad Taylor drove in three to anchor a Lansing win. Both the GCL and DSL Jays won on walk-offs. Troy Squires for the GCL Jays reached base six times. In the losses, Vlad Jr. homered again, Yennsy Diaz pitched well and Eric Pardinho gave up a couple of home runs.

Vlad Jr. hit his first AAA home run. Reese McGuire, Cavan Biggio, Harold Ramirez, Luis De Los Santos and the DJ's, Neal and Daniels, were among the Jays who joined him in the homer club. Buffalo, Lansing, Bluefield and the DSL team were winners.

Another winning night for the #BlueJays affiliates as they took four out of six. Lansing and Vancouver had the night off.

The #BlueJays affiliates posted a winning Monday by taking three out of five. Buffalo, New Hampshire and Vancouver had the night off.

We hope everyone is enjoying their respective provincial holidays! A generally productive weekend from our affiliates as a number of new faces begin familiarizing themselves to us.

A new Blue Jay eclipsed Vlad Jr. in the news coming out of Buffalo with 12 strikeouts in his first start. Jacob Waguespack made a good first impression. New Hampshire continued to score runs but their pitching and defense were terrible. Dunedin stole a win, Lansing won too. Vancouver lost, Bluefield won both ends of a doubleheader. The GCL Jays lost, the DSL team split a doubleheader.

The Jays are in a Seattle for a road and home series. All the talk in the media will be about the Canadians invading from the north.

The Jays have a new player, one Mike Hauschild who was in the Astros system until recently. Per Gibby Hauschild is a starter but the Jays didn't want to put him right in there so Clippard will start and then Hauschild will come in.

New Hampshire lost some offense when Vlad Guerrero was promoted, or have they? In the last four games the Fisher Cats have scored 45 runs with 14 coming on Wednesday. Cavan Biggio and Bo Bichette had big games. Buffalo split a doubleheader, Sean Reid-Foley pitched well, Danny Jansen homered. Dunedin won, Kevin Smith homered. Lansing won, Ryan Noda went deep twice. The GCL Jays split a doubleheader. Bluefield and the DSL team were rained out. Vancouver were walked off.

The non-waiver trade deadline has concluded. The Jays dealt two more relievers today, but Tyler Clippard and Curtis Granderson, as well as Yangervis Solarte and Josh Donaldson, stayed put (for now).

#BlueJays affiliates won two and lost two on Monday. New Hampshire, Dunedin, Bluefield and the GCL Jays had the night off.