If you are a Canadian like myself, and you also happen to enjoy the game of baseball, then you’ve probably been pretty underwhelmed with the Toronto Blue Jays season. But what if I told you, there’s another Canadian baseball team, who’s actually in the playoffs and 2nd in their division. Let me introduce the Vancouver Canadians, or as I say, Canada’s real baseball team.
The Vancouver Canadians are the farm team of the Toronto Blue Jays, and are currently en route to winning their 6th title since 2011 as they are currently in the first round of the MiLB playoffs, taking on the Spokane Indians. If you have had the chance to catch a game this year against Spokane, then you would know that the Indians have dominated the season series, but that very well could be different in this year’s playoffs.
Last night on September 10th, the Canadians and Indians played game one of their best of five series, and it was closer than you may have expected. Vancouver looked to punch their ticket to the Triple A National championship in Las Vegas, as the game took place in a neighbourhood near you, in Vancouver. The first half of the game started slow, as it was scoreless heading into the 4th inning, due to Jack Mahoney of Spokane showcasing his elite talent on the mound, striking out many batters in his way.
Three scoreless innings has the @vancanadians & Spokane Indians starting the 4th 0-0!@tyler_zickel has the call!
LISTEN: https://t.co/cPu43xHCxV pic.twitter.com/kiuyXYSOK8
— Sportsnet 650 (@Sportsnet650) September 11, 2024
With runners on base in the bottom of the 4th, Vancouver’s Jacob Sharp knew he needed to either put the ball in play, or hit a deep enough shot that the third base runner could find his path to home plate, and that’s exactly what Sharp did, ringing in a run. It didn’t take much longer for the Canadians to grab another run, as Adrian Pinto found a narrow space to send the ball past the infield, to up the score 2-0 Vancouver.
You would think that would create a momentum shift for Vancouver, right? Well sadly you and I both are wrong, after all, this team is still related to the Blue Jays, so it’s only right to honour them by losing the lead! The very next inning, Spokane batter GJ Hill went up to bat and took a meatball down the middle and sent it out of Nat Bailey Stadium, evening the score at 2 a piece. Spokane and Vancouver would go on to both hit solo home run shots, and it was anybody’s game, as it was 3-3 heading into the 9th.
Vancouver had all the pieces of the puzzle aligned and ready, or at least so I thought. All it took was a grounded ball up center field for Spokane to up the lead, and end up winning the game 4-3. Hey I know you know that is wayyy better than the Blue Jays would ever do. Now this is action you don’t want to miss, as today there is another home game in Vancouver that you could go see! Don’t worry if you miss this one as they will be back in Van-city for game 5 if necessary, but I have hope the Canadians will get it done in 4.