Going Deep is a feature that will run periodically throughout the 2020 baseball season on Sportsnet.ca, sharing thoughts from people around the game about a specific experience, issue or moment they’ve been a part of. In the first edition of Going Deep, we heard from players about their first big-league spring training.

This week, Arden Zwelling asks Toronto Blue Jays starter Ryan Borucki, and Buffalo Bisons Andy Burns and Patrick Cantwell about their worst minor-league road trips.

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RHP Ryan Borucki (five minor-league seasons) — “I had a brutal one when I was in Vancouver — just brutal. We were in the playoffs playing Spokane, and we were going there after starting the series at home. Riding there is like nine hours probably. And it’s one of the hottest days of the year — it was like 90 degrees out.

“Two hours into the trip, the AC goes out. And it’s not coming back on. We’ve got like six hours left. And I can’t even tell you how hot it was on that bus. It was just so brutal. We had to stop a couple of times just so everyone could get outside and get some air. We put all the emergency windows up so we could get some airflow in there, but it didn’t make a difference.

“We’re all sitting in there sweating with barely any clothes on for six hours. We were just wearing our underwear — that was it. Expect for Justin Shafer. He was the one guy. He had a sweatshirt on. And everyone got so mad at him. We were like, ‘Yo, why are you trying to prove a point? I know you’re hot. We all know you’re hot. Like, stop trying to be the tough one here. We know that you’re burning up.’ And he was so stubborn, he was like, ‘No, man, I’m cold.’ I was like, ‘There is no way you can be cold on this bus.’

“I’ll never forget that. It was miserable. Just miserable. But then we ended up winning that series in Spokane. So, maybe that was the key — maybe we needed to build some toughness.”

At the Letters Ben Nicholson-Smith is Sportsnet’s baseball editor. Arden Zwelling is a senior writer. Together, they bring you the most in-depth Blue Jays podcast in the league, covering off all the latest news with opinion and analysis, as well as interviews with other insiders and team members.

C Patrick Cantwell (eight minor-league seasons) — “The hardest part was PCL travel. The league is so dispersed. You could play in Nashville, Tennessee one night and Tacoma, Washington the next day. So, you’re getting up super early for trips. You’ve got to be on the first flight out of there. And then you’re playing later that night.

“In double-A, we’d go from Corpus Christi to Frisco overnight. That was like 10-plus hours. When I was with the Rangers we would do like a 12-hour bus ride from Frederick, Maryland to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. That’s tough because you get on the bus, and you can sleep for eight hours straight, but when you wake up there’s still four hours left.

“Last year in Buffalo we had two buses: the loud bus and the quiet bus. And, dude, the loud bus — it’s loud. Guys are screaming at each other while they’re playing cards. The music’s on a dull roar. And then somebody loses a hand and everybody goes crazy. Last year they had like a thousand dollar hand in some card game and it was just mayhem for like 15 minutes.

“Everybody wants to experience the loud bus. But usually only for one trip. And then they rotate off. Last year, Andy Burns was kind of the captain of the loud bus. So, if a guy came on, it was like, ‘Either you’re staying or you’re never allowed back on.’ So, that was pretty funny to watch him try to enforce. It didn’t usually happen. But he tried to police it as best he could.

“But, honestly, I don’t think I have that horror, nightmare story that you would expect. Everything’s been pretty OK. Wow, I guess my minor-league career is boring. You should talk to Burns.”

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INF Andy Burns (seven minor-league seasons) — “Cantwell said he didn’t have one? Oh, that’s a lie. You play this game long enough, you’ll get one.

“So, it was 2016. It’s the end of the season. Guys are kind of on their last legs. And that year we weren’t very good. So, everyone was kind of ready to go home. We played a night game and right after that we head out on our last trip of the year. We’re going to Pawtucket, which is our longest trip. Six-and-a-half hours. Sometimes seven.

“We’re about five hours in and the bus just stops. Engine’s shot. We’re in the middle of nowhere. Our driver pulls off to the side of the road and somehow he actually manages to get the bus going. We start rolling again but something’s clearly not right. The engine’s sputtering. So, he pulls into this gas station. Bus is completely broken down. At this point it’s like 3:30 in the morning. There’s two busses but by that point the other bus has already taken off — just left us for dead.

“We’re like an hour and a half outside Pawtucket — just stranded. The gas station has a McDonald’s and that’s it. So, the other bus drives all the way to the hotel, drops everyone off, and then has to come back and get us. So, that’s three hours to get to the hotel and come back. So we’re just sitting around at this dingy gas station for hours.

“I’m a cards guy. I enjoy playing cards on the back of the bus. But once you start getting to five, six in the morning, you can’t really hang on anymore at that point. Everyone’s just delirious and tired. It was rough. The other bus didn’t get to the gas station until, like, six in the morning. We’ve just been sitting around for hours. And then we had to unpack our bus, all our baseball stuff, all our luggage, and move everything into the other bus. It was like the icing on the cake.

“We finally get to Pawtucket, the sun’s all the way up, it’s like 8:00 in the morning — and I’ve never been so happy to see a bed in my life. Got a quick nap, went to the ballpark, and got ready for a 6:30 pm EST start.

“But, honestly, some of my best memories in baseball are just hanging out with the guys on the bus. So, I guess those few extra hours didn’t kill us. I’m lucky that it’s only been one time in my career. Just with the amount of bus rides I’ve taken. And at least I have a good story in the ol’ back pocket. So, I guess I’ll take that.”