The Bisons won, again.

The starting pitcher went five innings, again.

The bullpen threw four shutout innings, again.

Two veterans, Gregory Polanco and Tyler White, had half the Bisons hits, again.

Durham won, again, thereby winning this end of season playoff.

Buffalo are on a roll, they won their seventh in a row on Friday. This game followed a familiar pattern, the starting pitcher goes five innings, the bullpen then delivers four shutout innings. Meanwhile the veterans on the Bisons roster drive in runs. On Friday Bowden Francis went five shutout innings, the bullpen did give up one run but three shutout innings were enough. And veterans Mallex Smith, Gregory Polanco, Tyler White, Christian Colon and Juan Graterol drove in nine of the 12 runs.

Mallex Smith just joined the Bisons a week ago and has played in four games since. He broke out today going 3-4 with a double and a home run out of the ninth spot in the order. It helped the Bisons to an 8-5 win. The Bisons jumped out to a 3-0 lead, lost it and trailed 4-3 before rallying for the win.

In another game that captured the hearts and minds of the Blue Jays faithful, the Buffalo Bisons began their final series of 2021 on a winning note Wednesday to cap off an organizational sweep.

For the third time this week the Bisons walked off Lehigh Valley. On Sunday it was Christian Colon who hit a ground rule double with the bases loaded in the tenth inning to win the game. Lehigh decided to intentionally walk Kevin Smith in the tenth to setup the double play. But Gregory Polanco also walked to set the stage for Colon.

Buffalo trailed 4-1 in the bottom of the seventh. In that inning Otto Lopez doubled in a pair of runs to make it a one run game. Then in the bottom of the eighth Rodrigo Vigil doubled in the tying run.

I had mentioned previously that Gregory Polanco was rounding into form after a slow start. Well, he rounded into two home runs on Friday including a walk off three run home run for the win. In total he drove in five runs. The other two runs came via a two run sacrifice fly. It came when Cavan Biggio hit a ball to deep centre field. Micky Moniak, playing centre for Lehigh Valley caught the ball going backwards and ran into the wall. Mallex Smith strolled home from third but Forrest Wall motored home from second and just beat the relay throw that was slightly off line.

The Bisons went to the bottom of the ninth trailing 4-2 in the second playoff game. They scored two in the ninth to tie the game and then loaded the bases in the bottom of the tenth with a walk, a hit batter and the designated runner. Cullen Large struck out but Gregory Polanco singled in the winning run.

Four wins out of four for the affiliates. For each team except Buffalo, the season ended today. It's always good to end on a winning note. Being the last day for three teams, and with two off days looming for Buffalo, managers used lots of pitchers. Fewer hitters were used as rosters are tight due to COVID issues in New Hampshire.

Just like Friday, New Hampshire were the only winners. Vancouver's game was rained out and will not be made up as tomorrow is the last day of the season. The FCL Jays finished their season with a loss. The minor league season will end with two of the system's best hitters, Jordan Groshans and Orelvis Martinez, on the IL.

Buffalo lost again. New Hampshire won for the first time since August 31st. Vancouver, Dunedin and the FCL Jays lost. The Jays have promoted players over the last few days, mainly in response to New Hampshire's COVID outbreak. Several of those players have played well at the higher levels.

It is the last week of the season for everyone but Buffalo. It is the last week of the regular season for Buffalo and, despite losing, they clinched the division title last night. While all teams below Buffalo finish their seasons at the end of this week, Buffalo will continue playing in a ten game mini series which takes the place of the normal playoffs. This mini series keeps the AAA team playing to provide reinforcements to the major leagues, if necessary. On the field, Buffalo, New Hampshire and Dunedin all outhit their opponents and they all lost. Vancouver lost in the regular way. The FCL Jays won with Damiano Palmegiani driving in six runs. On the bright side, the system did have some good pitching performances.

The Buffalo Bisons put up some offence that would make the Bills jealous. Dunedin split a doubleheader thanks to a no-hitter. Vancouver and the FCL Jays came up short. New Hampshire's game against Harrisburg was rained out.

Buffalo won and Vancouver did not. New Hampshire did not play due to COVIC complications and Dunedin's game was rained out.

Yesterday every team lost. On Sunday Vancouver and Dunedin reversed course and won. Buffalo were one hit. For Vancouver Rafael Lantigua hit two home runs.

I have not tried to compile an updated Blue Jays top 30 list and I do not keep a running list. But it struck me recently that by some measures this has not been a great year for the Blue Jays minor league system. By one measure it has been good, Alek Manoah, Alejandro Kirk, Reese McGuire and Santiago Espinal have contributed at the major league level. Outside of those players, when we look at the future, how many minor leaguers from last years top 30 have made significant strides forward? Obviously Gabriel Moreno is one. Orelvis is another. Kevin Smith, Samad Taylor, maybe Otto Lopez. But several have not had good years. Nate Pearson probably tops this list. But who pushes into the top ten? Miguel Hiraldo, Anthony Kay, CY Van Eyk, Adam Kloffenstein, Estevan Machado, Eric Pardinho, Rikelbin De Castro, Dasan Brown, Joey Murray, Manuel Beltre, Tanner Morris or Will Robertson? All of them were in a top 30 and none have really a great season. Time is still on most of their sides but when you combine this lack of advancement with the prospects lost in trades, I think the system takes a hit in the post season farm system rankings.

So who is in your top 10, if we exclude this years draft picks? Assume Pearson loses his eligibility. Moreno, Smith, Lopez, Orelvis, Groshans, Samad Taylor, possibly Leo Jimenez. and then the list gets thin.

Buffalo, Vancouver, Dunedin and the FCL Jays all lost. Buffalo's loss ends their 12 game winning streak. And Spencer Horwitz's hitting streak finally ended at 28 games as he went 0-4.