Ryan Beil: On the C's current swagger and guilt free scoreboard watching

Scoreboard watching is much more fun when the team you root for is already in the playoffs. So it is right now with the strong and favoured Vancouver Canadians Baseball Club. 

They have already punched their ticket to the Northwest League postseason (by winning the first half) and every win they rack up in the second half is gravy. And I freakin’ love gravy.

And so do the C’s, apparently, because they just keep winning. They’re playing with confidence and swagger right now and it shows. I mean, just last week they pulled off the rare and elusive six-game sweep against the Tri-City Dust Devils. They also currently have one of the best home records in all of professional baseball. 

Watching the C’s play ball right now, a quote from the late and great Chris Farley from his (basically perfect) movie Tommy Boy comes to mind. 

In the movie, the titular Tommy (played by Farley) is trying to convince a server at a restaurant to open the kitchen early so he can order chicken wings. The server is reluctant to do so, but Tommy convinces her with an impromptu (and hilarious) sales pitch.

When probed by his friend about the confidence he showed to secure the wings, Tommy says: “If we didn’t get the wings, so what? We still got that meat lover’s pizza in the trunk.”

Admittedly, that was a lot of ink spilled just to be able to work a Chris Farley quote into this article. You should know, however, that I regret nothing. 

For our beloved Canadians in this second half of the season, the championship series in September is the meat lover’s pizza in the trunk. But they keep convincing the baseball gods to serve them wings. 

It’s a good time to be a Vancouver baseball fan and avid scoreboard watcher. 

And so, like the proverbial popcorn-eating-meme poster in the comments of internet drama that has nothing to do with them: I am scoreboard-watching the other five teams in the NWL with absolute wild abandon right now. 

Which of the other villainous baseball squadrons will win enough games to join the C’s in the postseason? Tracking the answer to this question is my new favourite hobby. It only recently replaced “making fun of pickleball.” Maybe I need more hobbies?

Now, I think I’ve explained the postseason procedure for the NWL just over 75 times in my articles this season -- which is impressive once you consider I’ve only filed 19. However, if you do need a refresher, MiLB has it all laid out for you.

Currently, it’s a bit of a dogfight in the standings. Everett and Eugene are jockeying for the top position separated by only two wins. Hillsboro and Spokane are nipping at their heels. And you really can’t even count out last place Tri-City. It’s a 6 team league with 22 games left on the schedule. As my beleaguered instructor at Kumon once told me in the nineties: There are a lot of mathematical situations that can still happen.

Perhaps you’re wondering who I’m favouring in the race for second place. For me, it really does come down to those two (current) top teams: Evil Eugene and Erroneous Everett. 

On one hand, I would love some revenge against Eugene (my self-proclaimed most hated rival of the C’s) who swept us in the Championship series last year.

But, on the other hand: I’m also kinda rooting for Everett. Not because I like them. But because the travel would be so much more reasonable. For the C’s, obviously, but also…for us! 

With Everett only two-and-half hours away by car, it would be amazing to be able to fill that stadium with C’s fans in the first two games of the series. 

In fact, if Everett wins, I promise to lead a delegation down to Washington State to take over Funko Field. You have my word. I hope you all join me. And I’ve played various lawyers on TV: that’s a verbal contract I can’t back out of. 

Who do you hope we play in the postseason? Will you come to Everett with me? Let me know. As always, you can find me at The Nat.