Maple Leafs Weekly Recap - July 1 to 7, 2025
In Week Eight the Leafs lived up to their reputation as the funnest fun ride in the IBL.
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| Dennis Dei Baning's massive 3-run bomb won it for the Leafs in Kitchener. |
The IBL's most exciting team continued to amaze and delight this week.
The Toronto Maple Leafs took their followers for a wild ride with plenty of ups and downs, ultimately going 2-2 on the week.
It kicked off with honours bestowed upon outfielder Marcus Knecht. He was named the Rawlings IBL Batter of the Month for June.
The convenient infographic below shows the stats that earned Knecht the award.
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| (image: theibl.ca) |
On the field, the Leafs started and ended the week with victories, with a couple of dips in between.
On Canada Day, the Leafs shut down the runaway train that is the Welland Jackfish offence, winning their second game of the season at the Rose City.
A Friday night game against the Barrie Baycats saw the Leafs almost come all the way back from a seven-run deficit. They fell just short in another thrilling chapter in this rivalry.
Saturday afternoon provided a hallucinatory experience for fans at Christie Pits. Scorching sun, a blowout score, and strange scenes on the diamond made for a memorable day.
The Leafs returned to business as usual on Sunday in Kitchener, with a nice win that put smiles on everybody's faces.
There is so much to get to in this post. Many EXCELLENT WORDS and HOT ACTION PIX are below. LET'S GET RIGHT TO IT.
Here is the recap of Week Eight in Leafs baseball.
Tuesday, July 1, 2025 - Toronto Maple Leafs at Welland Jackfish
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| Josh Berenbaum (file photo) |
Canada Day saw Toronto Maple Leaf pitchers deliver inning after inning of shutout baseball.
For fans at Welland Stadium, it sucked. But it was just what the Leafs needed to break a four-game losing streak and beat the first-place Jackfish 4-2.
Josh Berenbaum was on his game again. Over six innings, the Leafs starter scattered five hits, struck out five, and erased a run off his earned run average.
Nathan Currah kept the pace, pitching scoreless seventh and eighth innings.
By then, the Mapes had a 4-0 lead and were cruising to victory.
For the first four innings, Jackfish starter James Bradwell went toe-to-toe with Berenbaum and the game remained scoreless until the top of the fifth. An RBI single by left fielder Jhon Javier scored the first run of the game.
In the top of the sixth, the Leafs scored two more. Bradwell was relieved by Danny Howat and the Jackfish went into a minor meltdown on the field. A single, two errors and a sac fly brought in two runs and made it a 3-0 ballgame.
In the top of the seventh, another single by Javier was followed by a fielding error that brought another Leaf run across the plate.
All told, the Jackfish committed four errors on the day. As a result, Javier and second baseman Dan Marra were the only Leafs credited with RBIs in this game, one each.
When the ninth inning rolled around, evening was setting in. Most fans remained in their seats, hoping to see a dramatic walkoff win by the home side, or at least the postgame fireworks show.
They got the latter.
Luis Florentino relieved Currah to close out the game. The 'Fish put up a fight, scoring two runs on two singles and an error. But Florentino recorded two swinging strikeouts and a flyball to center was caught by Spencer MacInnis to end the game.
Canada's Team winning on Canada Day always feels right. The 4-2 FINAL saw Berenbaum take the W and Bradwell take the L.
Friday, July 4, 2025 - Barrie Baycats vs Toronto Maple Leafs
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| Ryan Dos Santos' 3-run double lit up Friday night at the Pits. |
This summer, there has been a lot to see at Christie Pits.
It began on Opening Day, with Ayami Sato breaking the glass ceiling of Canadian men's baseball before a throng of thousands.
There's Jordan Castaldo hitting his 100th IBL home run. There's Ryan Dos Santos recording his hundredth walk of the week. There's Dustin Richardson absolutely refusing to be scored on.
There's Snow, Cito Gaston and Al Ross, all rocking on in defiance of time.
There's Michael Roudbari's team of game day all-stars, cranking out fun at the Pits and loads of killer content online.
There's the Bushmen, the Toronto Maple Leafs' iconic fan gang, going strong as ever.
Amid all this hoopla, the Christie Mystique has gone missing.
Rolling through Week Eight of the IBL season, the Leafs have the league's second-worst home record. It's balanced out by having the league's second-best road record. But it leaves the Christie Crazies wanting.
Case in point, Friday night. The Barrie Baycats snuck out of Toronto with a win that the Leafs almost tore from their clutches. Almost.
The scoring began early. In the top of the first inning, Barrie grabbed two runs off starter Matt Brown. Catcher Jhon Javier responded in the bottom of the frame by driving in a run.
The Baycats added a run in the third and another in the fourth to take a 4-1 lead.
Taylor Lepard relieved Brown and pitched a scoreless top of the fifth.
In the top of the sixth, Barrie scored four more runs. They tagged Sato for four hits, including a three-run homer by former Chicago White Sox outfielder Willy Garcia. It was 8-1 Barrie through six.
In the bottom of the seventh, Leaf bats awoke from their midgame slumber. DH Connor Lewis hit a double, shortstop Zach Lampreia reached safely on an error, and left fielder Ben Sitarenios walked to load the bases. Third baseman Dos Santos lit up the Pits by ripping a three-run double. Fans whooped it up and waved their glow sticks. The hillsides vibrated with noise. The rally continued. Second baseman Dan Marra singled in a run, and right fielder Dennis Dei Baning singled in another. The inning ended with Barrie clinging to an 8-6 lead.
But the rally was a fleeting spark. The Christie Mystique fizzled out. In the eighth and ninth innings, the Leafs went three-up and three-down. The Baycats escaped being consumed by an inferno. Starter Juan Benitez earned the Dub and Brown took the El.
Saturday, July 5, 2025 - Kitchener Panthers vs Toronto Maple Leafs
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| A Leafs infield of Connor Lewis and Damon Topolie was just one of the peculiar sights at the Pits on Saturday. |
Imagine if the Toronto Maple Leafs played Saturday afternoon home games.
Imagine if there were no Bushmen.
Imagine if there were no Marra brothers.
Imagine if Leaf batters couldn't hit above their weight.
All of these disturbing possibilities were presented at Christie Pits, in a baseball game from an alternate universe.
The Leafs hosted a rescheduled game against the Kitchener Panthers, one which had been rained out a few weeks back.
It was a sweltering afternoon and the Christie hillsides were sparsely populated, brown grass evidence of desperately needed rain. The Bushmen's regular spot on the hill was empty and lifeless.
The Leafs' bench was so short it was a stool. The Marras and other regulars were either absent or resting injuries.
Out of necessity, a couple of familiar faces returned to fill some of the holes. Club legend Damon Topolie and pitcher Franklin Hernandez both took the field in Leaf uniforms for the first time since 2022.
The game itself was a wash. At the plate, the Leafs recorded just three hits. On the field, they committed five errors.
They took an early lead when catcher Jhon Javier singled in the first inning, advanced on a walk and hit batsman, then scored on a Panthers' error. Starter Adam Jafine pitched a couple of stellar innings. For a while, we existed in our own universe.
Nothing was normal after that. The Panthers erupted for five runs in the third inning, three more in the fourth and three more in the fifth. Jafine departed the game with 11 runs to his name. Only four of them were earned thanks to the five Leaf errors.
Former Leaf Evan Elliott pitched six strong innings for Kitchener, giving up one run while striking out seven.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Leafs scored a run thanks to an unusual sequence of HBP-BB-BB-HBP. Left fielder Ben Sitarenios scored the run.
More strangeness: the Freeze race was won by a dominant Mr. Freeze who did not resemble his usual self.
What else can be said. The Leafs Lagers were cold and refreshing.
Hernandez pitched three-plus innings in relief and struck out seven. Greg Carrington pitched a scoreless ninth. Topolie went hitless at the plate but flashed some glove and smiled like someone back in his happy place.
This oppressive façade finally cracked and light returned in the bottom of the ninth when third baseman Ryan Dos Santos hit a solo home run. That made it an 11-3 ballgame, but that was how it ended.
The entire day was like one of those old Spider-Man cartoon episodes, where Spidey gets trapped in a dark psychedelic underworld with monster insects. Weird and fascinating, but not fulfilling.
Sunday, July 6, 2025 - Toronto Maple Leafs at Kitchener Panthers
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| Following another shut 'em down performance, Dustin Richardson's consecutive scoreless inning streak reached 18. |
Bruised but not beaten.
Less than 24 hours after being blown out at Christie Pits by the Kitchener Panthers, a rematch took place at Jack Couch Park.
The Toronto Maple Leafs suffered a blown lead, five hit batsmen and gametime temperatures above 30 degrees, but emerged with a 9-5 win.
Starters Owen MacNeil and Luis Florentino squared off on the bump. After a scoreless first inning, it was the Panthers who got to Florentino with the first run of the game. An RBI single by Yosuke Fujie broke the ice in the bottom of the second.
For the second game in a row, the Leafs were playing with a creative, gap-filling lineup. This time it produced. Top of the fourth, third baseman Spencer MacInnis walked and DH Connor Lewis was hit by a pitch. Both runners advanced on a sacrifice by first baseman Damon Topolie. Centerfielder Ben Sitarenios laced a single to right field, both runners scored and the Leafs took a 2-1 lead.
In the bottom of the fourth, three singles loaded the bases and a wild pitch by Florentino allowed a run to score. 2-2 through four.
Florentino handed the ball to Drew Howard to open the bottom of the sixth. Howard walked the first two batters he faced, then gave up an RBI single and the Panthers went ahead 3-2.
In the top of the seventh, the Leafs responded and then some. Kade Kozak relieved MacNeil and promptly got into trouble. He walked two men aboard, then worked the count full to right fielder Dennis Dei Baning. His next pitch was demolished by Dei Baning. It was a no-doubter off the bat. Kitchener's outfielders shuffled their feet as the ball soared over them and left the park. The next man up was MacInnis, who drew a walk and stole second. A single by Lewis moved him to third, and a ground out by Topolie brought him home. The Leafs surged back into the lead, 6-3.
The Black Cats had some lives left. They scored two more runs off two singles and two walks by Howard. Through seven innings of play, the Leafs held onto a 6-5 lead.
The Mapes pulled away for good in the late innings.
An RBI single by Dei Baning scored left fielder Jhon Javier to make it 7-5 through eight. It was Dei Baning's fourth RBI of the day.
In the top of the ninth, shortstop Ryan Dos Santos doubled in a run, and a sacrifice by Javier stretched the Leafs' lead to 9-5.
As the sun began to set over Jack Couch Park, so too did the hopes of Kitchener fans fade to darkness. Out of the bullpen emerged Dustin Richardson to put the Panthers out of their misery. It took all of three pitches for the Undertaker to retire two batters, both on groundouts. He then gave up a walk and a shot up the middle that put two men safely aboard. That only made him mad. On his next pitch, he induced another ground out to end the game with a 9-5 FINAL.
For Richardson, who last surrendered an earned run in a postseason game in September 2023, it was his eighteenth consecutive scoreless inning pitched -- equivalent to pitching two complete game shutouts in a row.
After the final out was recorded and the Leafs gathered on the infield for high fives, I reflected on a couple of things:
1. There were a lot of smiles out there on the field. Despite a beat-up roster and guys playing in unfamiliar positions, the team remains tight and positive.
2. This time last summer, the Leafs were desperately clawing themselves out of the IBL cellar. This year, they are well clear of that predicament. As players get healthy and return to the lineup, things will continue to improve.
3. Three things! I couldn't visit Sausagetown without partaking of a grilled Polish and man it was good. Thick as a torpedo bat and cooked to perfection. Kitchener's sausage game remains elite.
Toronto 9 10 0
Kitchener 5 11 3
W - Howard (2-2, 6.42)
L - Kozak (0-1, 22.30)
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| Photo by Tandis Aslanbick |
At 12-13, the Leafs are in fifth place in the IBL standings, 6 games behind the Welland Jackfish.
Following Sunday's game in Kitchener, the Leafs won't hit the road again until July 24. A twist in the schedule sees them play their next five games at home, starting this Friday.
The week ahead:
Friday, July 11 - Welland Jackfish vs Toronto Maple Leafs, 7:30 pm at Christie Pits
Sunday, July 13 - London Majors vs Toronto Maple Leafs, 2:00 pm at Christie Pits
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