Hope for 2018 and past: How do the Toronto Blue Jays’ prime prospects examine to the very best in baseball?

Your noon sports activities snack.

Toast factors

• The Raptors’ vaunted depth can be examined in a measuring-stick sport towards Cleveland tonight. Kyle Lowry hasn’t been dominated out for the Eight p.m. ET tip but, however it’s anticipated he can be sidelined by the bruised tailbone he suffered in a fall towards Brooklyn on Monday. And the NBA has suspended Serge Ibaka for one sport, confirming the anticipated fallout from the punch Ibaka threw at Warmth ahead James Johnson on Tuesday. He can be eligible to return Saturday towards Golden State.

• Milos Raonic has been slotted into Roger Federer’s part of the Australian Open draw, organising a possible fourth-round showdown with the event’s defending champion. Raonic is the 22nd seed; his first match comes Monday morning native time towards unseeded Slovak Lukas Lacko. Denis Shapovalov will play Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas on Monday; his absolute best opponents are No. 15 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga within the second spherical, No. 17 Nick Kyrgios within the third and No. Three Grigor Dimitrov within the fourth.

Eugenie Bouchard, the one Canadian girl already in the primary draw, faces a brutal potential second-round match towards No. 1 seed Simona Halep, though Halep has misplaced within the first spherical of the final two Australian Opens. Bouchard would first need to get via Oceane Dodin of France on Monday.

Vasek Pospisil, Peter Polansky and Frank Dancevic nonetheless have an opportunity to make the boys’s draw, as Francoise Abanda does on the ladies’s aspect. All of them need to win two extra qualifying matches to get there.

• Canadian freestyle skier Mikael Kingsbury set a world moguls report in Utah final night time by profitable his 47th profession World Cup occasion, surpassing American legends Hannah Kearney and Donna Weinbrecht. The 25-year-old Quebecer additionally prolonged his consecutive win streak to 12; he hasn’t misplaced on the World Cup circuit since Jan. 28, 2017, a scintillating streak forward of subsequent month’s Pyeongchang Olympics. “I don’t know the place to begin anymore. It’s been a loopy journey,” Kingsbury, who received silver in moguls on the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, instructed The Canadian Press.

• Hockey commentator Pierre McGuire is recovering from prostate most cancers surgical procedure and expects to really feel properly sufficient to affix NBC’s broadcast staff on the Olympics, he instructed TSN 690 Montreal yesterday. The most cancers was detected via a routine checkup in September and docs efficiently eliminated McGuire’s prostate final week. “I had no indicators in any respect that I used to be ailing,” McGuire instructed radio host Mitch Melnyk. “I’m simply so grateful for having Dr. (Michael) Cohen choose that up.”

• Three NFL video games will he performed throughout the Atlantic Ocean in London subsequent season, the league introduced at present. The Raiders, who’re shifting to Las Vegas in 2020, will stage their Oct. 14 residence sport towards the Seahawks at White Hart Lane, Tottenham’s residence stadium within the English Premier League. The Jaguars, showing in London for the sixth straight season, play a house sport towards Philadelphia on both Oct. 21 or 28; the Los Angeles Chargers will face Tennessee on the opposite weekend. Each of these video games will happen at Wembley Stadium.

• Patriots coach Invoice Belichick will grow to be the NFL’s all-time chief in playoff video games for a head coach when he steps on the sector in Foxborough on Saturday night time. He’s at present tied with Tom Landry and Don Shula with 36. The subsequent-highest whole is simply 24 by Joe Gibbs, Mike Holmgren, Chuck Noll and Andy Reid.

• In the meantime, Jacksonville and Philadelphia try to affix a brief listing of groups which have gone from final place of their division to a convention championship sport the following season. The Saints went from worst in 2008 to Tremendous Bowl XLIV champion, whereas the Panthers misplaced Tremendous Bowl XXXVIII after ending final of their division in 2002. Granted, these groups have been merely mediocre of their last-place marketing campaign with information of 8-Eight and 7-9, respectively. The 2004 Falcons went to the NFC Championship after ending 5-11 the season earlier than, whereas the 2006 Saints appeared within the NFC title sport after a 3-13 season in 2005.

The Jaguars, who go to Pittsburgh on Sunday, have been 3-13 final season; the Eagles, who host Atlanta on Saturday, have been 7-9 final season. Telecast information for every of this weekend’s division-round playoff video games may be discovered within the TV listings beneath.

Dietary evaluation

Daren Willman, the baseball database hobbyist who turned his avocation right into a job because the director of baseball analysis and improvement for Main League Baseball, tweeted yesterday a listing of groups and the variety of prospects they at present have in MLB Pipeline’s prime 100.

On the prime of the chart, the Braves, Brewers, Padres and Rays all have seven gamers on the listing, whereas the Cubs, Giants, Marlins, Mets and Royals aren’t listed as a result of they don’t have any ranked prospects.

The chart beneath visualizes the rating of every staff’s prospects to provide a snapshot of amount and distribution. The names of the highest six prospects and the Blue Jays’ prospects are also proven.

MLB Pipeline guarantees a brand new rating for the beginning of the 2018 season on Jan. 27. There’s some speak the Jays’ Bo Bichette might rise from No. 26 and it appears potential Anthony Alford might graduate from the listing into the majors this season after he continued to tear up pitching with Jalisco within the Mexican Pacific Winter League (.343 common, .373 on-base, .816 OPS) earlier than being shut down.

Photograph of the day

Hockey in its purest type.

At nationalpost.com

• The above picture comes from this Nick Faris story on the oldest hockey rivalry on the earth: Queen’s College vs. Royal Army School, courting again to a wintry afternoon on Kingston, Ont.’s frozen harbour in 1886. The animosity has endured for 132 years, via area fires, Stanley Cup problem video games, off-ice mischief and an entire lot of shedding seasons on the a part of RMC — which frequently rises to the event when Queen’s is the opponent, making it one of many extra fascinating rivalries in Canadian sports activities.

• In case you thought Brock Boeser could be the Calder Trophy favorite midway via the NHL season, take a bow (or cease fibbing). The spectacular Canucks rookie options prominently in Michael Traikos’ appraisal of the most important surprises and disappointments on the halfway mark — as do Carey Worth, Erik Karlsson and Todd McLellan, whose award hopes have tanked as their groups nosedived down the standings. Who joins Boeser on the constructive aspect of the coin? Quite a lot of Tampa Bay gamers.

TV this weekend

All occasions Japanese

Thursday

2:30 p.m. Curling: Continental Cup, blended doubles TSN1,3-5
Three p.m. NBA: Boston at Philadelphia NBATV
7 p.m. NHL: Columbus at Buffalo SN 360, Sportsnet
7 p.m. Curling: Continental Cup, staff competitors TSN1,3-5
7 p.m. Golf: PGA Tour Sony Open Golf Channel
7:30 p.m. NHL: Calgary at Tampa Bay SN West, TVAS
Eight p.m. NBA: Cleveland at Toronto SN One, SN Ontario
9 p.m. NCAA Basketball: Clemson at NC State TSN2
9 p.m. Freestyle snowboarding: World Cup moguls CBC.ca streaming
10:30 p.m. NBA: San Antonio at LA Lakers SN One

Friday

3:34 a.m. Skeleton: World Cup girls’s, warmth 1 CBC.ca streaming
— Warmth 2, 5:04 a.m.
4:30 a.m. Alpine snowboarding: World Cup males’s mixed, slalom CBC.ca streaming
— Downhill portion, Eight a.m.
7 a.m. Golf: European Tour BMW SA Open Golf Channel
7:04 a.m. Skeleton: World Cup males’s, warmth 1 CBC.ca streaming
— Warmth 2, 8:49 a.m.
9:30 a.m. Curling: Continental Cup, staff competitors TSN1,3-5
11:30 a.m. Snowboarding: World Cup slopestyle CBC.ca streaming
2:30 p.m. Curling: Continental Cup, blended doubles TSN1,3
Three p.m. Determine skating: Canadian championships, girls’s and ice dance quick packages TSN4,5
Three p.m. Freestyle snowboarding: World Cup halfpipe CBC.ca streaming
7 p.m. NHL: Vancouver at Columbus Sportsnet
7 p.m. Curling: Continental Cup, staff competitors TSN1
7 p.m. NCAA Basketball: VCU at Dayton TSN2
7 p.m. Golf: PGA Tour Sony Open Golf Channel
7:30 p.m. NHL: Calgary at Florida SN Flames
Eight p.m. NBA
— Golden State at Milwaukee SN One
— Portland at New Orleans NBATV
8:30 p.m. Determine skating: Canadian championships, males’s and pairs quick packages TSN4,5
8:30 p.m. NHL: Winnipeg at Chicago TSN3
9 p.m. NHL: Edmonton at Arizona SN West
10:30 p.m. NBA: Houston at Phoenix SN One

Saturday

3:34 a.m. Bobsleigh: World Cup girls’s, warmth 1 CBC.ca streaming
— Warmth 2, 5:04 a.m.
4:10 a.m. Luge: World Cup doubles, first run CBC.ca streaming
— Second run, 5:30 a.m.
5 a.m. Golf: European Tour BMW SA Open Golf Channel
5 a.m. Freestyle snowboarding: World Cup ski-cross CBC.ca streaming
5:30 a.m. Alpine snowboarding: World Cup males’s downhill CBC.ca streaming
7 a.m. Luge: World Cup girls’s, first run CBC.ca streaming
— Second run, 8:20 a.m.
7:04 a.m. Bobsleigh: World Cup two-man, warmth 1 CBC.ca streaming
— Warmth 2, 8:34 a.m.
9:30 a.m. Curling: Continental Cup, blended doubles TSN1,3-5
10 a.m. Soccer: Premier League
— Chelsea vs. Leicester Sportsnet
— Watford vs. Southampton TSN2
— Crystal Palace vs. Burnley TSN5
— Huddersfield vs. West Ham SN One
— Newcastle vs. Swansea SN World
— West Brom vs. Brighton TSN streaming
Midday NCAA Basketball
— Michigan at Michigan State FOX
— Purdue at Minnesota TSN3
11 a.m. Freestyle snowboarding: World Cup slopestyle CBC.ca streaming
12:30 p.m. Soccer: Premier League, Tottenham vs. Everton TSN2
1 p.m. NHL: Detroit at Pittsburgh Sportsnet
1 p.m. NCAA Basketball: Florida at Mississippi CBS
2 p.m. Determine skating: Canadian championships, girls’s and ice dance free packages TSN4,5
2 p.m. NCAA Basketball: Creighton at Xavier FOX
2:30 p.m. Curling: Continental Cup, staff competitors TSN1,3
Three p.m. Snowboarding: World Cup halfpipe CBC.ca streaming
3:30 p.m. CHL: Oshawa at Kingston Sportsnet, SN One
4:30 p.m. NFL: Division spherical, Atlanta at Philadelphia CTV, NBC, RDS
5 p.m. Curling: Continental Cup, blended doubles TSN2
5 p.m. NBA: Oklahoma Metropolis at Charlotte NBATV
7 p.m. NHL
— Boston at Montreal CBC, Sportsnet, TVAS
— Winnipeg at Minnesota Metropolis, SN One
7 p.m. Curling: Continental Cup, staff competitors TSN1,3
7 p.m. Golf: PGA Tour Sony Open Golf Channel
7:30 p.m. NBA: Golden State at Toronto TSN4,5
7:30 p.m. Determine skating: Canadian championships, males’s and pairs free packages TSN2
Eight p.m. NFL: Division spherical, Tennessee at New England CTV, CBS, RDS
10 p.m. NHL: Edmonton at Vegas CBC, Sportsnet

Sunday

3:30 a.m. Luge: World Cup males’s, first run CBC.ca streaming
— Second run, 5:05 a.m.
4:30 a.m. Alpine snowboarding: World Cup males’s slalom, first run CBC.ca streaming
— Second run, 7:15 a.m.
5 a.m. Golf: European Tour BMW SA Open Golf Channel
5:49 a.m. Bobsleigh: World Cup four-man, warmth 1 CBC.ca streaming
— Warmth 2, 7:19 a.m.
6 a.m. Freestyle snowboarding: World Cup ski-cross CBC.ca streaming
7:10 a.m. Luge: World Cup staff relay CBC.ca streaming
8:30 a.m. Soccer: Premier League, Bournemouth vs. Arsenal TSN4,5
9:30 a.m. Curling: Manitoba girls’s championship, semifinal Sportsnet
11 a.m. Soccer: Premier League, Liverpool vs. Manchester Metropolis SN World
12:30 p.m. NHL: NY Rangers at Pittsburgh NBC, TVAS
12:30 p.m. Curling: Alberta girls’s championship, semifinal Sportsnet SN One
1 p.m. NFL: Division spherical, Jacksonville at Pittsburgh CTV, CBS, RDS
1 p.m. NBA: Milwaukee at Miami NBATV
2:30 p.m. Curling: Continental Cup, skins TSN1,3-5
Three p.m. NHL: Calgary at Carolina SN West
3:30 p.m. Curling: Manitoba girls’s championship, closing Sportsnet, SN One
4:30 p.m. NFL: Division spherical, New Orleans at Minnesota CTV, FOX, RDS
4:30 p.m. NCAA Basketball: Northwestern at Indiana CBS
6 p.m. Golf: PGA Tour Sony Open Golf Channel
6:30 p.m. Curling: Alberta girls’s championship, closing SN One
7 p.m. NHL: Vancouver at Minnesota Sportsnet
7 p.m. Curling: Continental Cup, skins TSN1,3-5
7 p.m. Tennis: Australian Open, first spherical TSN2
Eight p.m. NBA: Indiana at Phoenix NBATV
10 p.m. Tennis: Australian Open, first spherical TSN1

Early Monday

Three a.m. Tennis: Australian Open, first spherical TSN1

Sizzling Buttered Put up is served Monday via Thursday.