Maple Leafs Weekly Recap - June 1 to 7, 2026
Week 4 in Maple Leafs baseball brought the highest of highs and lowest of lows.
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| The boss is back: On Sunday at Christie Pits, Wilgenis Alvarado made his first start of the season and earned his first win. |
After winning on Opening Day, the Toronto Maple Leafs fell into a terrible funk.
Entering Week 4 of the 2026 CBL season with a 1-5 record, they continued to lose in soul-puncturing ways.
A roster that showed promise suddenly failed to click. If the Leafs scored runs, the pitching let them down. If the pitching held steady, they couldn't score. Costly errors had fans and coaches alike looking on in dismay.
This past week, as I was watching one of these depressing games at Christie Pits, the club's rogue scorekeeper approached.
"This is an expansion team," he said.
I was puzzled.
"Are you talking about the Leafs? What do you mean? Sure, this is a bunch of young guys, most of them teaming up for the first time and without much experience in the league, and the club signed a big name from the past to draw eyeballs, and... oh..."
"This is an expansion team," he concluded.
And he had a point. During the last offseason, the Leafs underwent a huge roster turnover not seen for many years. A true generational shift. Some veterans returned but for the most part the Opening Day roster was new, new, new. On top of that, it took a long time for all of the club's import players to arrive. This was all in sharp contrast to other clubs with established rosters that hit the ground running.
If there is reason for optimism, the imports are now all here and the roster is complete. As if to mark the occasion, the Leafs won again. Their opening month losing streak is over. Is it a turning point, or a blip? We will find out soon enough.
For now, here's the recap of Week 4 in Maple Leafs baseball.
Wednesday, June 3, 2026 - Guelph Royals vs Toronto Maple Leafs
(rescheduled rainout)
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| Rob and Rich Butler watch the Leafs squander an early lead to the Royals. |
Rob Butler whipped his helmet off in frustration. Several times.
From his spot at the third base line, the Toronto Maple Leafs skipper watched his charges build a 7-1 lead over the Guelph Royals, then squander it in the late innings for a 14-7 loss.
During the golden hour at Christie Pits, the Leafs had pounced on starter Edgar Garcia. They bullied him for eight hits in the first two innings including big flies by DH Yasiel Puig and third baseman Matt Fabian. Seven runs went on the board and it looked to be a short evening for Garcia.
Then the sun set and everything changed.
From the third inning onward, the Leafs' offence closed up shop. They recorded four hits and zero runs and Garcia received a stay of execution. He remained on the mound and battled through seven innings, long enough to be rescued by his teammates for an improbable win.
For the Mapes it was death by a thousand cuts. After starting off well, they were undone by the cooling of the bats, misplays in the field and on the basepaths, and a bullpen implosion.
Nick Veselinovic had a good start. He pitched the first four innings and gave up three runs on seven hits and four walks while striking out seven. He, and the rest of us, enjoyed watching his teammates go to town on Garcia.
Puig's solo home run in the first inning was his third of the season and tied the game 1-1.
In the second, the game looked to be breaking wide open. The Leafs sent ten men to the plate and opened the frame with five singles in a row. Left fielder J.J. Dutton and catcher Matt Brandt started the rally, and shortstop Yordan Manduley drove them both in. Second baseman Spenser Ross singled next, and first baseman Cooper Tomkinson followed with an RBI single. Fabian then delivered the biggest blow, a three-run homer that made it a 7-1 ballgame after two innings.
Veselinovic gave up two more runs in the third, and departed after four innings.
Kyle Poapst was the first Toronto reliever of the night. He pitched a scoreless fifth, but gave up a two-run homer two Victor Mascai in the sixth. He was replaced by Rolando Hermida, who gave up a walk and two doubles to score two more runs. After six innings, the game was tied 7-7.
The shift in momentum continued into the top of the seventh. Reinaldo De Paula made his Leafs debut on the mound. He gave up a double and hit two batters to load the bases. Deivis Nadal then hit a fly ball that was misplayed by centerfielder Dennis Dei Baning and all three baserunners romped home. Nadal scored on a wild pitch and the Royals jumped ahead 11-7.
Alex Lanigan took to the mound in the eighth. He gave up a single and two walks to load the bases, and another single to let in a run. Frankie Gulko came in to try and put out the fire, but a two-run double by Garrett Takamatsu made it a 14-7 game.
By then, Butler was whipping his helmet off repeatedly. Everyone looking on shared his frustration. What began as a laugher for the Leafs saw the visitors have the last laugh. Garcia got the win in a 14-7 FINAL and De Paula opened his Toronto career with a loss.
Guelph 14 15 1
Toronto 7 12 1
W - Garcia (1-1, 7.20)
L - De Paula (0-1, 0.00)
Friday, June 5, 2026 - Toronto Maple Leafs at Hamilton Cardinals
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| My god. |
This was the worst game in the history of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Certainly the worst one I've witnessed since launching this website in 2013.
The Leafs went to Hamilton and got destroyed 23-1.
I attended the game and bore witness to the horror. As the old saying goes, only one team showed up.
It was "Murder Mystery Night" at Bernie Arbour Stadium and the Cardinals were all complicit in the killing.
At the plate they racked up 21 hits including four home runs, bludgeoning three Toronto pitchers for 17 earned runs.
On the mound they strangled the visitors with eight innings of shutout baseball. A solo home run in the ninth by left fielder Dennis Dei Baning was the only time in the game a Toronto runner made it beyond second base.
In the field, the Leafs succumbed to a form of psychosis. They attempted some catches as if hallucinating that the baseball was coated with lethal acid. Routine catches were dropped and five errors were recorded.
The boxscore reads like a mass casualty report.
The Cardinals scored in every inning but the fourth.
Starter Yadian Martinez was battered for nine runs (seven earned) off nine hits and a walk.
Alex Lanigan could not get through the fifth inning, giving up six runs (five earned) off two hits and two walks without recording an out.
Ben Sitarenios took one for the team and pitched the final 3 2/3 innings. He was mauled for eight runs (five earned) off ten hits and three walks.
Third baseman Spenser Ross hit a fifth inning double, which was the Leafs' only highlight at the plate until Dei Baning's ninth inning homer.
It was awful to watch. I left before the seventh inning stretch, trudging back to the parking lot with my soul dragging behind like the remnant of a punctured balloon.
The murder ended with a 23-1 FINAL score. It now stands as the worst loss in Mapes history, surpassing a 20-1 pasting inflicted on them in Ottawa, by the expansion Fat Cats, on Victoria Day 2010.*
Hamilton starter Freisis Adames won his third game of the season and Martinez took his third loss as the Leafs' losing streak reached seven games.
* Historic data provided by the club's rogue scorekeeper.
Toronto 1 6 5
Hamilton 23 21 0
W - Adames (3-1, 2.12)
L - Martinez (1-3, 8.84)
Sunday, June 7, 2026 - London Majors vs Toronto Maple Leafs
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| Brando Leroux gets the smoke machine treatment after hitting his first home run as a Toronto Maple Leaf. |
Fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs love to see their team CLICK and THROW and HIT and RUN and SCORE.
Sunday at Christie Pits, they were treated to all of those things.
The Leafs snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 7-2 victory over the London Majors.
Venezuela's Wilgenis Alvarado made his first start of the season and pitched six dominant innings. He gave up just one run on four hits and a walk while striking out three.
In the top of the second inning, the Majors got on the board first thanks to a solo home run by Christian Inoa.
Alvarado's opposite, Dominican Cesilio Pimentel held the Leafs scoreless until the bottom of the fourth. Left fielder Marcus Knecht led off with a single and DH J.J. Dutton walked. Second baseman Yordan Manduley followed with a double to score one. Catcher Matt Brandt hit a sacrifice fly to score the other and the Leafs moved ahead 2-1 through four.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Leafs broke the game open. Right fielder Yasiel Puig and centerfielder Dennis Dei Baning both singled off Pimentel. With two out, Dutton and Manduley both stroked RBI singles. Shortstop Brando Leroux was up next, and he put an exclamation point on the rally by knocking a three-run jack over the fence in left. It was Leroux's first home run as a Leaf and made the already festive atmosphere at the Pits even more so. The home side went up 7-1 through five.
Toronto relievers Graham Sim, Reinaldo De Paula and Luis Florentino combined to pitch the final three innings. London scraped out one more run but nothing else. The FINAL score was 7-2.
At the plate, Leroux led with three RBIs. Manduley went 3-for-4 with a pair of ribbies, and Dutton and Brandt each drove in one. Dutton also leads the team in batting with a .450 average.
Alvarado took his first win of the season, Pimentel his first loss. Alvarado's performance dropped his ERA to 3.14, best among Toronto starters.
London 2 8 3
Toronto 7 11 1
W - Alvarado (1-0, 3.14)
L - Pimentel (2-1, 4.58)
It's great to end the week with a win, but the Leafs' 2-7 record has them sitting in the CBL basement, 5.0 games behind the Barrie Baycats.
The week ahead:
Wednesday, June 10 - Guelph Royals vs Toronto Maple Leafs, 7:30 pm at Christie Pits
Friday, June 12 - Toronto Maple Leafs at Kitchener Panthers, 7:05 pm at Jack Couch Park
Sunday, June 14 - Brantford Red Sox vs Toronto Maple Leafs, 2:00 pm at Christie Pits
**POST-CREDITS SCENE**
Roumel occupies an important place in the Dominico Cinematic Universe. He was manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs the last time they won the IBL championship in 2007.
He is also the only man to win the championship as manager of three different clubs: Toronto, Guelph and Brantford.
Congratulations Dino!
