Sports by Hartley Miller as of 12:05 a.m. Thursday, September 23rd
MLB:
Tampa Bay Rays 7 Toronto Blue Jays 1
No team torments the Blue Jays quite like the Rays and, in their final regular season meeting, Tampa Bay did it again — forcing Toronto to watch as they celebrated clinching a playoff berth.@ShiDavidi | @TD_Canadahttps://t.co/LFqMklsWx9
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) September 23, 2021
The loss leaves the Blue Jays half-a-game behind the New York Yankees for the second and final wild-card A.L. playoff spot. The Yanks beat Texas 7-3.
Toronto (85-67) and the Yankees (86-67) are tied in the loss column.
The Jays make up their game in hand on the Yanks when they visit Minnesota tonight to begin a 4-game series against the Twins.
Toronto has 10 games left, 4 on the road, and 6 at home.
The Jays host the Yankees Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week before closing at home against lowly Baltimore Oct 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
The Yanks visit the Boston Red Sox this weekend starting Friday.
The Red Sox hold down the first wild-card berth by 2 games over New York.
The Blue Jays schedule is right here.
The MLB standings are right here.
Triple-A Baseball:
Jared Young of Prince George is batting .255 since getting called up to AAA with the Iowa Cubs. The 26-year-old first baseman has four homers and 15 RBI’s in 32 games.
CFL:
Hamilton 24 Ottawa 7
Hamilton’s third-string quarterback, David Watford, picked up his second straight win on a rain-filled night as the Tiger-Cats defeated the Ottawa Redblacks 24-7. https://t.co/fNqSVwzJDD
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) September 23, 2021
Week 8 of the CFL season continues with a pair of Friday games: Montreal at Toronto (4:30) and Saskatchewan at B.C. (7:30).
West: Winnipeg 6-1, B.C. and Saskatchewan 4-2, Edmonton 2-4, and Calgary 2-5
East: Hamilton 4-3, Toronto 3-3, Montreal 2-3, and Ottawa 1-5.
The CFL schedule is right here.
NFL:
Week 3 of the NFL season starts tonight with the Carolina Panthers at the Houston Texans. Carolina is one of seven teams to start the season 2-0. The others are San Francisco, LA Rams, Arizona, and Tampa Bay in the NFC plus Denver and Las Vegas in the AFC.
There are seven teams sitting 0-2. They include Detroit, Minnesota, Atlanta, and New York Giants in the NFC plus New York Jets, Jacksonville, and Indianapolis in the AFC.
Column:
NHL exec: COVID defines everything we do . . . Doctors want Flames, Oilers to change direction . . . 2022 Memorial Cup has a home https://t.co/6a3oME29Li
— Gregg Drinnan (@gdrinnan) September 23, 2021
PG Cougars:
The Prince George Cougars play their final two preseason games this week, Friday in Maple Ridge against the Vancouver Giants and Saturday in Victoria against the Royals.
The regular season for the Cougars will begin on October 2nd when they host the Kamloops Blazers. The Cougars are carrying 27 players, three goalies, nine defencemen, and 15 forwards. Eight of the players are rookies and four are 20-year-olds (one over the limit); goalie Taylor Gauthier, defenceman Majid Kaddoura plus forwards Jonny Hooker, and Connor Bowie. There are 3 PG boys on the team: defenceman Aiden Reeves and forwards Caden Brown and Fischer O’Brien.
The PG Cougars regular season schedule is right here.
PG Spruce Kings:
The PG Spruce Kings open their four-game preseason schedule on Friday against the Centennials in Merritt. The Spruce Kings also visit West Kelowna on September 28th and Penticton on the 29th before concluding the exhibition play on Sunday, October 3rd when they host Merritt at 3 pm.
The Spruce Kings regular season schedule is right here.
The Prince George Spruce Kings have named Kolton Cousins the 21st captain in franchise history.
The 20-year-old is entering his 4th BCHL season and his third with the Spruce Kings.
Selfless. Resilient. Humble.
The Prince George Spruce Kings are proud to announce Kolton Cousins as the 21st captain (BCHL era) in franchise history!
? https://t.co/vayhQKY52D#TrueBlue • #Spruce50 pic.twitter.com/UnniMihP2g
— Prince George Spruce Kings (@SpruceKings) September 21, 2021
Canada West Soccer:
The UNBC Timberwolves visit the UBC Thunderbirds on Friday and Saturday night in Canada West Soccer before hosting UBC Okanagan on October 1st and 2nd.
The UNBC men have two losses and two ties after four games while the UNBC women have four losses. The Thunderbirds have two ties in men’s action and two wins in women’s play after a couple of games.