Blue Jays Minor League Recap: Vancouver Canadians Are Heading to the Playoffs, and Johnny King Had a Dominant Start

Blue Jays Affiliate Overview (September 1-2)

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons
Series vs Worcester Red Sox (Boston Red Sox): 0-1
Season Record: 64-68

Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats 
Series vs Birmingham Rumble Ponies (New York Mets): 0-2
Season Record: 56-70

High-A Vancouver Canadians
Series vs Tri-City Dust Devils (Los Angeles Angels): 2-0
Season Record: 63-65

Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays
Series vs Tampa Tarpons (New York Yankees): 0-1
Season Record: 60-63

FCL Blue Jays: Season Complete

DSL Blue Jays Blue: Season Complete

DSL Blue Jays Red: Season Complete

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons

• Season Record: 64-68
• Series vs Worcester Red Sox (Boston Red Sox)

September 1: While the calendar turned over to September, Buffalo opened the final month of baseball with renewed hope they could get back to a .500 record by the end of the season. They began the day just three games under .500 and have a real chance to finish the year over the mark they have hovered just below for most of the season. Both Worcester and Buffalo plated runs in the first inning, with the Red Sox loading the bases and getting a run on a groundball double play. Meanwhile, Buffalo got a double from Rhylan Thomas, then an RBI single by Yohendrick Piñango. The Bisons starting pitcher Josh Stephan induced a second groundball double play in the second inning, but after Worcester scored two on a double by Mikey Romero. The game went back and forth from that point with not a lot of action, that is, until Romy Gonzalez ripped a three-run home run off of Pat Gallagher in the seventh. A two-RBI double and a sacrifice fly off of Buffalo's Sam Gardner and Chase Lee in the ninth gave Worcester a massive 9-1 lead. Buffalo's offense was just stagnant all game, getting just five hits, with Davis Schneider accounting for two of them (a double and a single). The Bisons limped across the finish line in this one, losing 9-1. 

Double-A New Hampshire

• Season Record: 56-70
• Series vs Birmingham Rumble Ponies (New York Mets)

September 1: New Hampshire kicked off their Tuesday night with the series opener against the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. Mason Olson was on the mound and worked a pretty solid appearance over 4.1 innings. He only gave up two hits and one run, but did strike out three. Carter Cunningham drove in the first run with an RBI groundout, and Mathieu Vallee had an RBI single in the fourth inning to put the Fisher Cats up two. Binghamton took the lead with an RBI double from John Bay and a two-run double by Corey Collins in the fifth and seventh innings. A sacrifice bunt would put Binghamton up two, and Vallee would bring that down to one in the ninth inning when he put a ball in play that resulted in an error. New Hampshire lost this one 4-3. Alexis Hernandez went 3-for-5, with a double and two singles. He upped his Double-A batting average to .361. 

September 2: Johnny King was on the mound for New Hampshire when they took on Binghamton on Wednesday night. King was exceptional, as he put forth his best Double-A start so far. Over five innings and just 71 pitches, he had hitters confused with his pitch mix, and he peppered the zone with fastballs. He allowed just three hits, gave up only one walk, didn't allow a run, and struck out eight hitters. He induced 14 whiffs and caught two of the batters looking for strikeouts. Unfortunately, after King left the game, Angel Obando surrendered a home run to John Bay, which would be the lone run scored in the game. Gage Stanifer came in after Obando and pitched a scoreless inning. Stanifer walked one batter and struck out one as well in his inning. New Hampshire was shut out and only managed six hits on their way to losing this game 1-0. 

High-A Vancouver 

• Season Record: 63-65
• Series vs Tri-City Dust Devils (Los Angeles Angels)

September 1: A pair of Canadians (nationality) were vital to this victory. Connor O’Halloran, hailing from Mississauga, Ontario, went four innings of one-run ball, with the one run coming off a solo homer given up to Kendrey Maduro in the first inning. David Calabrese from Richmond Hill, Ontario got on base with a single in the second, and Gable Mitchell took the lead with a two-run homer. The bullpen was also great, as Reece Fields, Dax Dathe and Jack Eshleman combined for five scoreless innings, combining for five strikeouts, only giving up a couple of walks and four hits. Calabrese’s revenge game continued as the former Dust Devil hit a homer for an insurance run to make the final score 3-1. This put the Canadians one win from clinching the final playoff spot. 

September 2: The Canadians ran away with this one early. Dasan Hill took the bump again, and despite only pitching three innings, he was effective, striking out four batters and allowing one earned run. The offense really had it going, thanks to David Calabrese, who started the game off with one of his four hits with a two-RBI double. Jean Joseph added one of his own, before Dameury Pena capped off the inning with an RBI single for a five-run second inning. Dariel Ramon added an RBI double in the third, then in the fourth inning the Canadians added five more runs to put the game out of reach. Holden Wilkerson gave up four runs in four innings pitched in relief, but with such a large lead it didn’t matter, as the Canadians clinched the best record in the second half in the Northwest League, as well as a playoff berth. 

Single-A Dunedin

• Season Record: 60-63
• Series vs Tampa Tarpons (New York Yankees)

September 1: Postponed

September 2, Game 1: Sann Omosako took the loss as the Tarpons shut out the D-Jays in a game that was called due to rain. Omosako pitched five innings of one-run ball as the 20-year-old Brazilian has been pounding the zone as he’s been known for. The Jays could only get three hits on the offensive end, and Karson Ligon’s performance has suffered after his early-season injury, with three earned runs in the sixth given up on four hits and two homers. The Jays lost this one 4-0. 

September 2, Game 2: Postponed

FCL Blue Jays

• Season Record: 38-20

Season Completed

DSL Blue Jays Blue

• Season Record: 20-35

Season Completed

DSL Blue Jays Red

• Season Record: 33-18 Playoffs (2-1)

Season Completed

Transactions

09/02/26    Buffalo Bisons sent SS Josh Rivera on a rehab assignment to Dunedin Blue Jays.
09/01/26     RHP José Rodríguez assigned to Buffalo Bisons.
09/01/26     RHP Simeon Woods Richardson elected free agency.
09/01/26     Toronto Blue Jays recalled LHP Ricky Tiedemann from Buffalo Bisons.
09/01/26     Toronto Blue Jays recalled DH Sean Keys from Buffalo Bisons.
09/01/26     LF Rhylan Thomas assigned to Buffalo Bisons from Dunedin Blue Jays.

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