 |
| At a Christie Pits practice on May 3, there were plenty of new faces in the Leafs uniform. You will learn to identify them as soon as I do. |
Grab your blankets and beverages, hillsiders.
Toronto Maple Leafs baseball is back in a big way.
In case you missed the offseason news, a sea change swept over the Intercounty Baseball League.
A quick recap:
After 106 years as Ontario’s premier semi-pro baseball league, the IBL rebranded as the Canadian Baseball League and elevated to professional status.
Pro status comes with a formal pay structure for players. Clubs will be able to sign up to eight import players, up from the previous limit of five.
An expanded regular season schedule goes from 42 to 48 games. That means 24 home games at Christie Pits, beginning on Sunday, May 10. Admission to all Leaf home games remains free.
The league is reported to have acquired pitch clock technology that will be deployed to all nine CBL ballparks and go into effect at some point in the season.
A fast start will be a must, as fewer teams will qualify for the CBL postseason. Starting this year, the regular season's top three finishers will make the playoffs. The fourth- and fifth-place teams will play a wild card elimination game to join them. Everybody else goes home. The semi-finals and championship series will both be best-of-seven affairs.
The Dominico Cup, named for former Leafs owners Jack and Lynne Dominico, will carry over and become the CBL’s championship trophy.
Fans arriving at Christie Pits will also want to grab one of the free program sheets that they hand out.
There has been a huge turnover in the roster, starting at the top with new general manager Denis Bailey, a veteran of the Burlington/Welland and Kitchener organizations. Mike Boehmer also comes over from Kitchener as special assistant to the GM.
With one week to go before the season opens, the Leafs have filled 24 out of 28 spots on the roster. Ten are returning players and 14 are new - that's over half the team.
Among the players who have departed: Marek Deska, Ryan Dos Santos, Dustin Richardson and Luca Boscarino. All four have signed with or been traded to the Guelph Royals. The Marra era of Maple Leaf baseball has come to an end. Brothers Dan and Adam have been released and the Welland Jackfish acquired the rights to Justin. Also released were longtime Leafs Greg Carrington and Connor Lewis. Notables hitting the inactive list are Jordan Castaldo, Josh Berenbaum and Taylor Lepard.
At a glance, the Leafs go from being one of the league's oldest teams to one of the youngest. The newcomers have been saying all the right things on the club's social media:
"Toronto is a city that loves its sports, and being able to represent this team and connect with that energy is something I'm looking forward to."
"It's been a while since I played baseball in my home city so I'm very excited to be able to do that again!"
"Can't wait for a packed Christie Pits on a Sunday afternoon!!!"
 |
| Some new guys. |
 |
| Some more new guys. |
New pitchers: Ryan Capuano, Reinaldo De Paula, Frankie Gulko, Yadian Martinez, Kyle Poapst, Nick Veselinovic.
New infielders: Matt Fabian, Kirk Gibson, Vasili Kaloudis, Yordan Manduley.
New outfielders/utility guy: Jacob Bonzon, Ben Sterritt, Cooper Tomkinson... and Yasiel Puig.
Yes, that Yasiel Puig. In late April, social media erupted over a Toronto Star report that the Leafs had signed the ex-MLB All Star to the CBL's largest contract ever. The Leafs have yet to make an official announcement. However, his name appears on both the club and league websites as a Toronto signing.
All this newness promises a memorable season ahead.
Despite all of the changes, it won't be a total culture shock at the Pits. The park itself looks the same as always, and some familiar players will be suiting up in the blue and white.
Returning pitchers: Wilgenis Alvarado, Luis Florentino, Drew Howard, Alex Lanigan, Ben Sitarenios.
Returning infielders: Mike Checchetto, Jhon Javier, Spenser Ross.
Returning outfielders: Dennis Dei Baning, Marcus Knecht.
 |
| The Skipper |
Returning for his fourth season at the helm is field manager Rob Butler, joined by assistant coach Brian Sewell.
What of the opposition? As mentioned, the other eight clubs in the CBL will be wanting to burst out of the starting gate or risk falling out of the postseason picture early. Defending champions and finalists from last year, the Welland Jackfish and Barrie Baycats should provide stiff competition. The Hamilton Cardinals and London Majors have made a lot of offseason moves. The Toronto-to-Guelph pipeline should see the Royals contending as well. Could we see surprise success from one of the remaining clubs, the Brantford Red Sox, Chatham-Kent Barnstormers, or Kitchener Panthers? As the saying goes, that's why you play the games.
If you've made it this far you are a certifiable Leafs fanatic. The season opens on Mother's Day, May 10. The Leafs host the Kitchener Panthers and gametime is 2:00 pm.
I'm really disappointed that the team took the money they made by promoting Sato and women in sports and used it to sign a person who only wants to be in this league because he lost all his MLB money paying out three separate sexual assault claims and paying lawyers to try to get free of obstruction of justice charges (didn't work, he'll be sentenced later this month).
ReplyDeleteI've been going to games for over a decade. Opening day is tomorrow and I've never been less interested in the Leafs. Ownership being so desperate for attention is a really bad look, especially when they sold Justin to Welland, unceremoniously dumped the rest of the Marras, and used the money to pay Puig. Justin took a lot of punishment, there were years when he caught almost all their games. He gave this team everything, didn't always get much back, and now they both wasted his final season and gave him a terrible sendoff. It's very sad.
I take no pleasure in this but they're not getting any of my money until Puig's gone, and even then I'll probably wait until more responsible ownership is running the team.
Some good points. I hear you but I so enjoy the games and the pits, I will be going regularly and hope some new pitcher or 2 or 3 will be lights out and keep games competitive. Justin Marra was a consistently good catcher with power at the plate. I will sit on my hands when Puig comes to bat, but he should be booed in other parks. Sato was a great ambassador and role model.....Puig?
ReplyDeleteJames and Dan thanks for the comments. I'm always interested to hear what fans are thinking.
ReplyDeleteGood game, good crowd, good for POapst the closer........but the game had too many walks.....throw strikes pitchers and call strikes umpires as these are not nmajor league pitchers who can hit the major league strike zone
ReplyDelete