The Toronto Blue Jays may not have brought home hardware, but one of their affiliates did. Of their seven minor league teams, only the High-A Vancouver Canadians won their league’s championship, sweeping the Eugene Emeralds in the Northwest League Championship Series. It was their second title in four years, and their fourth trip to the NWLCS in five seasons.
Well, the organization brought home another award recently, as they were named as MLB’s Organization of the Year Classification Winners for the High-A level.
They were joined by the Toledo Mud Hens, the Detroit Tigers’ Triple-A team, the Richmond Flying Squirrels, the San Francisco Giants’ Double-A team, and the Ontario Tower Buzzers, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Single-A affiliate.
Surprisingly, things didn’t start off great for the Canadians in 2026. In the first half, the C’s posted a 27-39 record, sitting last in the six-team league. For context, the Emeralds finished with a 42-24 record, cementing their ticket to the NWLCS before July rolled around.
It was a much better second half for the Blue Jays’ High-A team, finished with a 37-29 record. While that sat second in the Northwest League, only the Emeralds had a better record (37-28). Due to the Emeralds winning the first half, the C’s earned a berth to their fourth NWLCS in the last five years.
Back in 2022, the C’s were swept by the Emeralds, losing all three games in competitive fashion. It was the inverse this time around. Game 1 saw the C’s score an eighth inning run to take an 8-7 lead, a lead they held on to. In Game 2, the Canadians won in walk-off fashion, as 2026 draftee Gable Mitchell hit a sacrifice fly to score Dariel Ramon. With the series shifting to Eugene for the Game 3, the C’s won late to clinch the championship in dramatic fashion. In the 12th inning, Ryan Sprock hit a single to cash in Blue Jays’ top prospect JoJo Parker. Jack Eshleman was able to strand the ghost runner, and the C’s won their fourth championship in four seasons. The Canadians have consistently been the Blue Jays’ best minor league team in the 2020s, and it’s nice to see them get the recognition they deserve.
