Canada's best baseball team deserves some recognition as Blue Jays' disappointing season nears end

It's been a rough season for the Blue Jays and the fanbase, but there is a bright spot in the organization in 2024. It's the other professional baseball team that calls Canada home.

The Vancouver Canadians, Toronto's High-A minor league affiliate, are looking to defend their title as the Northwest League championship series starts this week. The Canadians, who won the 2023 NWL championship by beating the Everett AquaSox in four games, will face the Spokane Indians in the best-of-five series. Vancouver will host the first two games Tuesday and Wednesday at Nat Bailey Stadium, before the series shifts to Spokane on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

It took a walk-off win for Vancouver to clinch a playoff spot. The Canadians edged the Eugene Emeralds 4-3 on Sept. 5 to earn a trip to the finals.

Spokane finished with the best record in the Northwest League, with a combined record of 79-51 (38-26 first-half record, 41-25 second-half record). Vancouver clinched the second-half spot with a 38-28 record, after a 30-33 first half.

Major League Baseball revamped the postseason in the minors a few years ago. Because the Northwest League only has six teams, the league's postseason only consists of two teams. The teams with the best record in each half of the season meet for the championship series. If the same team has the best mark in each half, the second-half runner up wins the playoff spot.

The Blue Jays' struggles this season has been well documented. The organization as a whole has struggled this year, with losing seasons from the top two affiliates, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats and the Buffalo Bisons. The Bisons did go 37-37 in the first half of the season, but stumbled when the second half started, and now stand at 10 games under .500 entering play Tuesday. Single-A Dunedin had a winning season at 69-61, but missed the Florida State League playoffs. The same thing happened to the Blue Jays' Dominican Summer League Rookie-level team.

But September success is not new to the Vancouver Canadians. Since the team's inception in 2000, taking their name from the former Pacific Coast League team, the Canadians have won five Northwest League titles, including three in a row from 2011 through 2013. The team also has seven division titles, before the league switched to its current playoff format.

Vancouver is making its 10th NWL championship series appearance in 2024, and its third in a row. Vancouver lost the NL championship series in 2022 in three games to the Eugene Emeralds before winning the title in 2023.

This year's edition of the Vancouver Canadians has been a show to watch. There are a few Blue Jays prospects to watch who are playing with the Canadians, such as outfielder Jace Bohrofen, who is the Jays Journal number 14-ranked prospect. Bohrofen was the Northwest League Player of the Week at the end of August.

Other Jays Journal ranked prospects include outfielder Dasan Brown (23), who was called up to Double-A New Hampshire in August, and RHP Lazaro Estrada (17) who spent May and June with Vancouver, before being called up in July to New Hampshire. There is also Victor Arias (16,) who started the year with Single-A Dunedin, before he was called up to Vancouver at
the end of July. Pitcher Kendry Rojas, the number 8-ranked Jays Journal prospect, made 10 starts for the Canadians, while Juaron Watts-Brown (7), made nine starts for the Canadians.

Seeing Vancouver win another title probably won't ease the frustration of 2024 for the organization or Blue Jays fans. But maybe that winning feeling will start trending up to the MLB level.

Spokane is likely the favorite to win this week, given how strong of a season the Indians have had. The team also tops Vancouver in a number of stats. But starting Tuesday, that doesn't matter as both teams will start 0-0.