Vancouver Canadians- Northwest League Champions

[paul]

Woo-hoo! Last night my hometown Canadians (The Blue Jays' Class-A affiliate) won the Northwest League Championship. I managed to make it out to 3 games this season and they had a really solid team. God only knows when the Canucks will be Stanley Cup contenders again so I'm going to enjoy this one!🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳


www.milb.com/vancouver/news/canadians-crowned-northwest-league-champs

[Vegas]

I remember one time Vancouver used to be in the PCL but so did teams such as Hawaii, Tucson, Calgary, Edmonton, Fresno, Phoenix, and Denver (the last two obviously ended being minor leage cities when the Diamondbacks and Rockies entered MLB respectively.)

I saw it was the Everett AquaSox who Vancouver defeated to win the title. When I was in Seattle in the late 1990s, my uncle in Monroe took me to a number of Everett AquaSox home games in Everett.

Congrats on winning the NWL Championship!

[TTX]

Well congrats to them.

[paul]

Sept 17, 2023 23:49:04 GMT -5 Vegas said:

I remember one time Vancouver used to be in the PCL but so did teams such as Hawaii, Tucson, Calgary, Edmonton, Fresno, Phoenix, and Denver (the last two obviously ended being minor leage cities when the Diamondbacks and Rockies entered MLB respectively.)

I saw it was the Everett AquaSox who Vancouver defeated to win the title. When I was in Seattle in the late 1990s, my uncle in Monroe took me to a number of Everett AquaSox home games in Everett.

Congrats on winning the NWL Championship!

Thanks for the congratulations.

I remember those PCL days too. When I was a kid my parents took my sisters and I to many games primarily because it was such a cheap family outing. Tickets around that time were only $1 or $2 and it was Triple-A baseball to boot.

I believe it was around 1999 or 2000 that we lost the Triple-A team. As you mentioned though when it comes to minor league ball the cities that have teams are constantly changing. With the exception of Boise and Salem-Keizer losing their teams during the minor league contraction from 2-3 years ago the Northwest League hasn't had a team re-locate since 2013 (knock on wood)

Next season I may go watch the Canadians on the road and Everett would be a likely destination since I believe it's the next closest city. Washington is such a beautiful State to visit.

Best of luck to the Las Vegas Aviators the remainder of the season; I just saw that they're in first place in the PCL West. Looks like that's going to be an exciting pennant race the last few weeks with so many teams close together record-wise.

[paul]

Went to my first Canadians game of the season on Wednesday night. Unfortunately the Everett AquaSox came out on top 6-2.

I like to sit in the box seats along the third base line not just because of the view but because it allows me to make a quick exit out to my car at the end before the rush of people hits the parking lot. The third base entrance/exit is MUCH less crowded than the main gate and when the game was over I was able to get to my car and drive out immediately without having to wait for any other vehicles by the exit.

One thing I noticed the moment I took my seat was that the stadium had extended the protective netting further along the third base line (Not sure if this was a stadium decision or if it was mandated by the league.) As a result it's now virtually impossible for me to catch a foul ball in this section; I've come close over the years including one ball that was a little too hot to handle for my bare hand.

There must have also been an issue with the bathroom in the Canadians clubhouse as I saw about 7 or 8 players come up through the stands presumably to use the restroom by the third base concession. They're also doing renovations at Nat Bailey Stadium to comply with the new regulations laid out by MLB which may have been the cause for this.

Ever since the Northwest League got promoted from Class-A Short Season to High Class-A during the recent minor league restructuring I've definitely noticed the higher level of play on the field; on Wednesday night there were three home runs in the game. In the past it was quite common for me to go to 4-5 games in a season and see a total of 1 or 2 home runs combined.

Despite the loss it was still a fun night out. I'll likely take in 2 or 3 more games before the season is over.

[paul]

Tonight I went to my second Canadians game of the season. As luck would have it I was able to score a front row seat along the third base line which is rare especially considering I just bought my ticket this morning.

As I was sitting there during warm-ups I jokingly thought to myself: "Paul, make sure you don't pull a Steve Bartman." Lo and behold in the bottom of the first inning a pop-up foul ball came right in my direction. It took me a few seconds to locate it but when I did I determined that it was definitely a catchable ball not just for me but also the players. I wisely didn't make a move for it. I was so busy tracking the ball that I didn't even notice the three Eugene players standing there waiting to catch it which one of them ended up doing.

I breathed a sigh of relief on that one as I could visualize the local evening sportscast giving me my fifteen minutes of infamy: "Jackass fan interferes with catch at baseball game and gets soundly booed by crowd." Not to mention I was wearing my COTG t-shirt so I would have also besmirched the good name of our beloved card game. LOL!

Unfortunately the Canadians came up short tonight losing 9-3 to the Eugene Emeralds. I'll probably head out to another game in two or three weeks before the season ends.

[TTX]

It's always nicer when your team wins but it's always fun to catch a ball game. Hope they perform better at the next one.