It's the last week of the Vancouver Canadians' regular season — here are 5 things to know

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Jace Bohrofen, Jackson Hornung and Charlie Condon are among the names to know as the Vancouver Canadians wrap up the Northwest League regular season this week with a series at Nat Bailey Stadium.

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Vancouver had a three-game lead on the Hillsboro Hops for a playoff spot going into Tuesday action.

The C’s final six-game set of the second half was set to begin Tuesday night against the visiting Eugene Emeralds. The last day of the regular season is Sunday, when the C’s and Emeralds square off in a 1:05 p.m. game at the Nat.

Vancouver general manager Allan Bailey said Tuesday morning that tickets are available for all games, although Saturday and Sunday were closing in on sellouts.

Should Vancouver qualify for the playoffs, the best-of-five league championship series with the Spokane Indians would begin Sept. 10 at the Nat. Game 2 would be there Sept. 11 as well. Tickets are already on sale on the C’s website. The series would move to Spokane for Game 3 on Friday.

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Hillsboro winds up the regular season on the road with a six-game set against the Tri-City Dust Devils that also kicks off on Tuesday.

The C’s, who are the Toronto Blue Jays’ high-A farm team, are the reigning Northwest League champions, and lost in the finale in 2022.

Here are some storylines for this week:

Spokane Indians could win both halves

The second-place C’s (34-26) went into Tuesday trailing the front-running Spokane Indians (38-23) by three and a half games in the second-half standings, and holding that three-game cushion on third-place Hillsboro (31-29).

Spokane, who are a Colorado Rockies affiliate, has already qualified for the best-of-five league championship by winning the first half. If they take the second-half banner as well, the second-place team from this half would join them in the playoffs.

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The Northwest League is a six-team loop.

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While Vancouver meets up with Eugene (24-36), it’s Arizona Diamondbacks affiliate Hillsboro versus Tri-City (23-36) and Spokane against the Everett AquaSox (30-31) to close out league play.

Vancouver lost five of six games in Hillsboro last week, tightening up the playoff race and cutting into their margin for error. They did win four of six from Eugene at the Nat earlier this year. Vancouver is 19-11 at home in the second half this season, compared to 15-15 on the road.

Jays prospect Jace Bohrofen tied for fourth in homers

Bohrofen, 22, is a Vancouver outfielder who started out Tuesday tied for fourth in the league in home runs (13), while sitting eighth in RBI (55). He was batting .252 to start the day. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound left-handed hitter was a 2023 sixth-round pick by the Blue Jays out of the University of Arkansas.

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He’s the Blue Jays’ No. 26 prospect according to MLB Pipeline. His MLB Pipeline scouting report does tag him as one of the Blue Jays’ prospects’ “higher-upside power bats outside of the Orelvis Martinez and Arjun Nimmala tier.”

Great second half for Jackson Hornung

Bohrofen excelled in August, batting .368 with six homers and 24 RBI in 23 games. Hornung, 23, is another of the Vancouver players whose game has taken a jump up in the second half. He hit .326, with one homer and 17 RBI in 23 games in August.

Going into Tuesday, he’s hitting .253 with six homers and 43 RBI for Vancouver on the season. He was a 2023 16th round pick by the Blue Jays out of Skidmore College, and the 6-foot-1, 215-pound righty hitter has seen action at catcher, first base and left field with the C’s this season.

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One of MLB’s top prospects plays for Spokane

Should Vancouver advance to the final, it would give C’s fans a chance to watch Condon, 21, a third baseman/outfielder who comes in at No. 11 on MLB Pipeline’s Top-100 minor league prospects list. He’s also No. 4 on their top-10 outfielders, and their No. 1 Rockies prospect.

The 6-foot-6, 216-pound righty hitter was the No. 3 overall pick in this summer’s MLB amateur draft by the Rockies out of the University of Georgia. He’s had a modest start to his pro career, hitting .193, with one homer and nine runs batted in through 21 games with Spokane going into Tuesday.

Spokane also features third baseman Kyle Karros, 22, who was leading the Northwest League in hitting (.307) and RBI (75) and tied for sitting second in home runs (14) going into Tuesday. He’s the son of longtime Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Eric Karros.

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Emeralds feature Giants’ top prospect

Eugene is a San Francisco Giants farm team and the Emeralds feature the No. 1 Giants prospect according to MLB Pipeline in first baseman Bryce Eldridge, 19.

The 6-foot-7, 223-pound lefty hitter started Tuesday tied for eighth in the league in homers (12), despite the fact that he began the season with single-A San Jose Giants. Eldridge had 173 at-bats in the Northwest League going into Tuesday. Karros, for comparison, had 456.

Through 48 games with Eugene, Eldridge is batting .335, with 41 RBI. In his two stops this season, he was .296, with 22 homers and 86 RBI, in 99 games as of Tuesday morning.

He was the No. 16 overall pick in the 2023 draft by the Giants out of a Virginia high school.

SEwen@postmedia.com

@SteveEwen

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