Christie Pits Eyed as Destination for Baseball and More

The Toronto Maple Leafs charge through smoke and fireworks during pregame player introductions at Christie Pits on August 24, when they hosted their one and only postseason game of 2024.

It is the evening of Saturday, August 24, and smoke and flames engulf the outfield of Dominico Field at Christie Pits.

The scene is not the work of a brazen pyromaniac, but part of a pregame ceremony for the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball club.

The Leafs are hosting their first postseason game of the year, a quarterfinal matchup against the Barrie Baycats. Introduced as a group, the players charge through clouds of blue smoke to take their places on the diamond, with fireworks going off in their wake.

Keith Stein observes it through the outfield fence with a smile.

Stein is CEO of the group that took ownership of the Intercounty Baseball League franchise late last year. The purchase was announced with a pledge to keep the team in place at Christie Pits, the Leafs’ home since 1969.

“One of the reasons we bought the team is because of our commitment to the neighbourhood, the Annex and surrounding area, it’s very important,” he says.

A corporate lawyer by trade, Stein’s footprint on the Toronto sports scene includes being one of the founders of the Toronto Phantoms indoor football team in 1997.

As CEO, he is one of the “guiding minds” of an ownership structure that resembles a corporate board.

“For this team to do as well as we want it to do, it’s got to be run like a successful business too,” he says.

Everyone likes to interact with the boss. During our conversation, Stein circulates the park, pausing to offer numerous hellos and introductions as acquaintances enter his orbit. There’s an energy throughout, not just because of the playoff atmosphere.

This year, one of the owners’ first objectives was to make Christie Pits a welcome place to play and to professionalize the whole operation. The ballpark was spruced up, a new sound system installed, and an eye-catching suite of new uniforms was unveiled.

The other priority was to create a new type of experience for fans. Stein gives a rapid-fire overview of the scene around the ballpark.

“If you look around tonight, there’s a DJ booth up next to the press box, there’s a merch tent, there’s a raffle tent, there’s a members’ tent.  We have a full-time host who tries to animate things,” he says. “We’re also proud of what we’ve done on the food and beverage side.  You never saw this…” (he gestures towards the customers at the concession stand, a lineup that snakes along the clubhouse).

A lineup at the Maple Leafs' concession stand, a new and welcome sight in 2024.

Stein wants every Leafs game to be a party.

“We want this to be the type of experience that you can come and hang out even if you don’t like baseball,” he says. “We think this is a tremendous platform, every Sunday afternoon and Wednesday night, to provide an entertainment destination for people in Toronto.”

Another pledge the new owners made was to keep all games free of charge.

This promising new era has been hampered by one thing. The Leafs struggled mightily all season, finishing seventh in the standings. Every owner and fan knows that a winning team draws bigger crowds.

Improving the product on the diamond will be crucial.

“We’ve got a pretty good foundation here, but we’re always interested in building on that foundation,” Stein says.

Has there been any thought to reaching out to newly-retired Major Leaguer Joey Votto’s agent?

“We have,” he says. “He lives around here. I’m sure everybody’s thinking about him, every baseball team in the country. We already have (former Toronto Blue Jay and current Leafs manager) Rob Butler. He’s done things no other Canadian has, so we’d like to have Joey Votto and Rob Butler.”

Whether that’s a hot scoop or a buzz-generating rumour, time will tell.

What can fans expect next year?

“Way more, continuous improvement of the fan experience. This is just the beginning. I think you’re going to see something that is even night and day from what you’re seeing today.”

Fans will have to wait until May of 2025 to find out what the club has in the works.

The Leafs were defeated that Saturday night, and they were quickly eliminated from the postseason. One sour note in the first movement of this promising new composition.

(This story was first published in the September 2024 edition of The Annex Gleaner.)

Leafs Fall Early, Season Ends

IBL Quarterfinals - Game 3 - August 25, 2024

Toronto Maple Leafs at Barrie Baycats

Toronto 9

Barrie 18

Barrie wins the series 3-0

Game 3 captured in one image: Jesse Hodges completes one of the Toronto Maple Leafs' five home run trots yesterday, but the gaudy scoreboard tells the rest of the story.

The 2024 IBL postseason has lost a degree of excitement, following the elimination of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Yesterday at Vintage Throne Stadium in Barrie, the Leafs -- sensational! irresistible! -- were swept out of their quarterfinal series.  They lost to the Baycats 18-9, and lost the series three games to none.

In a must-win situation, Sam Greene was given the ball, while Juan Benitez toed the rubber for Barrie.

Under a hot and sunny sky, the early innings were a tight affair.  The Baycats scored a run in the first, then the Leafs scored in the second -- a solo home run by Johnathan Solazzo.  

The Leafs' third baseman made the defensive play of the game to end the second inning.  Kyle Maves popped one up on the third base side.  The ball looked to be drifting out of play, but Solazzo stormed to the fence, made the catch, cartwheeled right over and landed safely.  He bounced up and hopped back onto the field as if he does this kind of daredevil stuff all the time, no big deal.  I needed an Advil simply from standing nearby and observing.

The Baycats scored again and through three innings, they led 2-1.

In the bottom of the fourth, the hosts surged ahead with five more runs.  Greene's afternoon was done.  His line after four innings was seven hits, seven runs (all earned), six walks and two strikeouts.  The Leafs would cycle four relievers through the next four innings.

In the top of the fifth, first baseman Mike Cecchetto hit a solo home run to make it a 7-2 ballgame, but the Leafs would never get any closer.  Seeing their chance to wrap up the series, Barrie poured it on.

Two more runs in the fifth, attributed to Landon Leach.

Three more runs in the sixth, off of Julian Valdez.

Four more runs in the seventh, off of Adam Marra.

Two more runs in the eighth, off of Chris Nagorksi.

The Baycats spent most of the day churning runners around the bases.  Amid all that, the Leafs hit five home runs, which would have been huge under different circumstances.  Right fielder Jesse Hodges hit a pair of solo shots, and catcher Justin Marra hit his third of the series, a three-run blast in the eighth.

By then, it was too late for any kind of uproarious comeback.  The Baycats racked up 18 runs on the day.  The Leafs managed to score nine, but it was not nearly enough.  

On paper these clubs appeared more evenly matched, but Barrie's two home blowouts seized the narrative.  The Leafs never led at any point in the series.  

As the final outs were recorded on the scoreboard, many of the Leafs sat in the dugout, silent and downcast.  The grind of a baseball season becomes all-consuming at playoff time.  When the noise halts and the schedule runs out, it is abrupt and brutal.

After recording the twenty-seventh out, the Barrie Baycats gathered on the infield to celebrate.  Eliminated early, the Leafs' disappointing season on the diamond came to an end.

Toronto's players and coaches formed an orderly queue for the postgame handshakes and farewells.  After that, they gathered their gear and trudged to the clubhouse, the stars that light our summer disappearing from view.

Toronto 9 9 1

Barrie 18 18 3

W - Benitez (1-0, 3.85)

L - Greene (0-1, 15.75)

BOXSCORE

Congratulations to the Barrie Baycats on a dominant series win.  They head to the semifinals looking to reclaim the IBL championship that they last won in 2019.

Missed Opportunities

IBL Quarterfinals - Game 2 - August 24, 2024

Barrie Baycats at Toronto Maple Leafs

Barrie 4

Toronto 3

Barrie leads series 2-0

Leafs starting pitcher Wilgenis Alvarado heads to the clubhouse as the Barrie Baycats gather for postgame hi fives.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man.

It's an old saying that suggests a hero will emerge in times of great peril.

For the Toronto Maple Leafs, the hero never showed.  Saturday night at Christie Pits, they went down to a 4-3 defeat in Game Two of their quarterfinal series against the Barrie Baycats.  Their 2024 season now hangs in the greatest of peril.

Unlike the previous blowout in Barrie, last night's game was a close affair.  The mound matchup was Wilgenis Alvarado for the home nine against Cesar Rosado (a name that inspired a night of food-based heckling from the Bushmen.)

In the top of the first inning, the Baycats picked up where they left off.  A double and a single immediately put a run on the board.

In the bottom of the first, the Leafs missed an opportunity to alter the course of the game.  With two men on and two out, third baseman Johnathan Solazzo hit a screamer to centerfield.  It was clearly going out but Canice Ejoh made a timely jump and catch to take three runs away.  It would be a frustrating night for Leafs hitters.  They got plenty of men on base but 10 of them remained stranded there.

Frustration on the diamond did not reflect the overall atmosphere at the Pits.  The organization pulled out all the stops for this playoff game.  During the player introductions, the entire Leafs team entered the field through clouds of blue smoke followed by fireworks.  A live DJ pumped out tunes all evening.  Hundreds of glow sticks were given away to fans, who created a moving light show on the hillsides as evening became night.  The show was capped off by Mr. Freeze, who finally won his first race of the season, outsprinting Leaside Baseball Hall of Famer Bobby Armstrong to thunderous acclaim.  My eyeball estimate would say there were approximately 31,000 people in attendance.*

The score remained 1-0 until the top of the fifth.  A walk, a couple of wild pitches and a single scored another run for Barrie.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Mapes got one back.  Right fielder Marcus Knecht led off with a double.  Solazzo walked and both runners advanced on a sac bunt by left fielder Ryan Dos Santos.  The next man up was DH Mike Cecchetto, who hit a grounder that was bobbled by an infielder.  The throw home was not in time to keep Knecht from scoring.  That made it 2-1 Barrie through six.

Alvarado left nothing in the tank.  He battled into the eighth inning, threw 113 pitches and gave up four runs on seven hits.  He struck out 12 and walked two.  Dustin Richardson completed the eighth inning for Alvarado, but was unable to prevent two inherited baserunners from scoring.  A two-RBI double off the bat of Hayden Jaco pushed the Baycats' lead to 4-1.

The urgency of the situation made it feel like the game flew by.  Julian Valdez pitched a scoreless top of the ninth and all of a sudden the Leafs were down to their final three outs.  Second baseman Dan Marra led off and was hit by a pitch from reliever Carlos Sano.  The next two batters were retired, bringing catcher Justin Marra to the plate.  Justin worked the count full, then lit up the Pits by hitting a two-run homer to right.  The ball bounced all the way to the little league infield, pursued by a mob of kids.  Sensational!  A momentum shift was in the offing, but a night of frustration ended that way.  Knecht came to bat next, but Sano struck him out swinging to end the game.

The FINAL score was 4-3.  Missed opportunities were the story for the Leafs and this series is all elimination games from here on in.  They will need to win three in a row to advance to the semifinals.

* I am atrocious with numbers, so it may be a bit off.

Barrie 4 9 2

Toronto 3 5 2

W - Rosado (1-0, 1.28)

L - Alvarado (0-1, 4.90)

S - Sano (1)

BOXSCORE

Game 3 of this series goes today in Barrie with a 3:05 pm start.  Sam Greene will be on the mound for Toronto looking to launch an epic comeback for the Leafs.