Classic Finish Launches Leafs Into Postseason

Maple Leafs Weekly Recap - August 12 to 18, 2025

A Christie Pits thriller wrapped up the Leafs' regular season in Week Fourteen. 

Ayami Sato returned to the mound at Christie Pits to start the final game of the regular season.

The Toronto Maple Leafs played a pair of games to wrap up the final week of the 2025 IBL regular season.

It was a home-and-home series against the Brantford Red Sox.

Already eliminated from the postseason, the Sox had nothing to play for but pride and a surprise hey-now-the-pressure's-off home win streak.  The Brantfords have done so well at home in August that they eclipsed the home record of the Leafs.  

The club's rogue scorekeeper-slash-historian may be able to correct my next assumption, but I can't remember a year when the Leafs won only six games at home.

They saved the best for last, however.  The regular season finale at Christie Pits was a thriller in the old style.  

Another huge Saturday night crowd watched Ayami Sato make her final regular season start.  The game featured almost nonstop scoring, a monster night at the plate for Jordan Castaldo, and the breaking of an IBL record by Ryan Dos Santos.  For at least one night, the Pits was a field of dreams again.

Here is the recap of Week Fourteen in Leafs baseball.

Friday, August 15, 2025 - Toronto Maple Leafs at Brantford Red Sox

The IBL's newest tradition, a Brantford sun delay.

Guessing that when the grounds of what became Arnold Anderson Stadium in Brantford were first laid down in 1919 or whenever, it was not imagined they would ever play night games there.

I did some research* and it looks like the home of the IBL's Red Sox is the only ballpark in North America where home plate faces due west.

Making the trip to Telephone City for the Toronto Maple Leafs' final road game of the year, I got to experience the IBL's newest tradition, a sun delay.

For decades, night games at Brantford only began once the sun had set.  This year, the club's new ownership received permission to move their start times up to 7:15 PM.  The switch has produced some peculiar scenarios.  Some games have gotten under way only to be halted when the setting sun threatened to blind batters, catchers and umpires.  Thus was born the Brantford sun delay.

On Friday night, the life-giving fireball of our solar system caused a 45-minute delay before a single pitch was thrown.  We waited it out and the game started at the traditional time of 8:00 PM.

Toronto took an early lead in the top of the second inning.  With the bases loaded, DH Connor Lewis stroked a single off starter Connor Irvine that drove in two runs.

Franklin Hernandez made the start on the mound for the Leafs.  After pitching a couple of scoreless innings, he was touched up for one run in the third and three more in the fourth.  Marek Deska bailed him out of further trouble but the Red Sox went ahead 4-2 after four innings.

In the top of the fifth, the Leafs got one run back thanks to a sac fly off the bat of centerfielder Dennis Dei Baning.  That made it 4-3 through five.

After that, the visitors would score no more.  Greg Carrington and Nathan Currah combined to pitch the final three innings for Toronto.  The Red Sox put three more runs on the board and extended their late-season home win streak to five games with a 7-3 FINAL score.  Brantford fans will be left to wonder where these wins were when it still counted, as the Red Sox failed to qualify for the IBL postseason for the second year in a row.

Irvine got the win, Hernandez got the loss, and the Leafs' travelling caravan turned for home and the next day's season finale at Christie Pits.

* I did no research.

Toronto 3 7 2

Brantford 7 9 1

W - Irvine (4-4, 4.06)

L - Hernandez (1-2, 4.90)

S - Arbach (1)

BOXSCORE

Saturday, August 16, 2025 - Brantford Red Sox vs Toronto Maple Leafs 

Jordan Castaldo had an average day at the office.  The future first-ballot Hall of Famer drove in 8 runs and hit a grand slam.

The regular season finale at Christie Pits was dubbed the Field of Dreams game.

The Toronto Maple Leafs warmed up in vintage shirts and wore hats with a retro club logo.  They emerged through a "cornfield" and took their places for the anthem accompanied by players from a local junior team.

A roily and momentous game followed.

As she did on opening day, Ayami Sato started on the mound.  While she never emerged as an ace for the Leafs, her impact on the club this year has been undeniable.  Despite disappointing stats, she remained a consummate professional and teammate, and one of the faces of this year's team.

Neither starter went deep.  Sato pitched into the third inning and gave up four runs (three earned) on six hits.  Her opposite, the Brantford Red Sox's Noah Law, couldn't make it out of the second.

In the bottom of the first inning, Jordan Castaldo doubled in a pair of runs.

In the bottom of the second, Castaldo hit a grand slam.  Not only did it put the Leafs ahead 6-3, but Castaldo's thunderbolt was his twelfth of the season and he clinched the 2025 IBL home run title.

Some additional context to Castaldo's achievement.  This year, he missed 11 games.  Despite playing basically 3/4 of a season he still hit more home runs than anyone else in the IBL.  If that's not an MVP performance I don't know what is.  Future generations will envy us that we were able to watch Castaldo play baseball at Christie Pits, and we watched for free.

The game slogged on and both sides took turns tagging each other's pitchers.  Adam Jafine and Wilgenis Alvarado combined to pitch 3.2 innings in relief of Sato, but they gave up a total of nine runs (four earned).  The Leafs racked up 15 hits to Brantford's 11.  Runs were scored in almost every half-inning through the end of the sixth.

In the bottom of the fourth, centerfielder Dennis Dei Baning hit a two-run bomb to tie the game at 9-9.

In the bottom of the fifth, Castaldo rapped a single that scored two runs.  That put the Leafs ahead 11-9 and gave Castaldo 8 RBIs on the day.

Brantford surged ahead with four runs in the top of the sixth to take a 13-11 lead.

The bottom of the sixth was decisive.  Brothers Justin (first baseman) and Dan (second baseman) Marra got aboard with a single and a walk.  Left fielder Ben Sitarenios singled and Justin scored on a fielding error.  With two men on, DH Mike Cecchetto bopped the game-winning hit.  Both runners scored on Cecchetto's single, the Leafs went ahead 14-13 and the Pits erupted.

IBL record alert: this was the game where Ryan Dos Santos wrote his name into league history.  Dos Santos led off the first inning with a roaring double, but later in the game he drew a pair of walks to set a new IBL single season record with 46 bases on balls.  The previous record of 44 was set by the Leafs' Bill Byckowski in 1988.

Luis Florentino pitched the seventh and eighth innings for the Leafs.  He surrendered just one hit while striking out five.

As the game ticked over the three hours, forty minutes mark, Matt Brown ended the night.  A pair of swinging strikeouts helped him retire the side and secure a 14-13 FINAL for the Leafs.  Alvarado grabbed the win while the loss was hung on Tyler Soucie.

A momentous evening with a winning outcome.  This one might go down as my favourite game of the year.

Brantford 13 15 1

Toronto 14 11 5

W - Alvarado (4-2, 5.72)

L - Soucie (0-1,11.57)

S - Brown (1)

BOXSCORE

So endeth the 2025 regular season.

Despite springtime high hopes, the Leafs finished seventh in the IBL standings.  Their 18-24 record left them 13 games behind the Welland Jackfish.

On to the postseason, beginning with the best-of-five quarterfinals.  As if destined by fate, the Leafs will face their historic rivals the Barrie Baycats.  The series opens in Barrie this Thursday night.

GAME 1: Thursday, August 21 - Toronto Maple Leafs at Barrie Baycats, 7:35 pm at Athletic Kulture Stadium

GAME 2: Friday, August 22 - Barrie Baycats vs Toronto Maple Leafs, 7:30 pm at Christie Pits

GAME 3: Sunday, August 24 - Toronto Maple Leafs at Barrie Baycats, 4:05 pm at Athletic Kulture Stadium

GAME 4 (if necessary): Tuesday, August 26 - Barrie Baycats vs Toronto Maple Leafs, 7:30 pm at Christie Pits

GAME 5 (if necessary): Wednesday, August 27 - Toronto Maple Leafs at Barrie Baycats, 7:35 pm at Athletic Kulture Stadium

The Dog Days of Summer

Maple Leafs Weekly Recap - August 5 to 11, 2025

A win on Sunday kept the Leafs out of the doghouse in Week Thirteen.

Spenser Ross hit .455 in 11 plate appearances this week, with 4 RBIs and a pair of runs scored.

Woof!

This week was headed for the hounds until the Toronto Maple Leafs won yesterday afternoon in Chatham.

Prior to that, the boys in blue had been blown out three games in a row, starting the previous week at Fergie Jenkins Field.  Yesterday's win was a great relief.

It's been a memorable season at Christie Pits.  Plenty of ups and downs.  

Some good news: Dennis Dei Baning was named the Rawlings IBL Batter of the Month for July.  His monster month was well deserving of this honour.

The convenient infographic below shows the stats that earned Dei Baning the award.

(image: theibl.ca)

More good news: Spenser Ross earned himself an unofficial Leafs player of the week nod.  In three games he went 5-for-11 at the plate for a .455 average with 4 RBIs and 2 runs scored.  Twice this week, he was the only Leaf to record an extra-base hit.

(The Unofficial Leafs Player of the Week Nod.  Maybe something to bring forward next season?)

Some bad news: the 2025 regular season is rapidly trickling away.  One week remains!  One home game is left!

The season finale at Christie Pits promises to be something unique.  

It's happening this Saturday night at 7:30 pm, and it's being dubbed the "Field of Dreams" game.  Inspired by the iconic movie, they are putting a Leafs' twist on the magic of baseball.  A pregame show, live band, and retro uniforms are planned.

Sounds interesting!  For now, here is a recap of Week Thirteen in Leafs baseball.

Thursday, August 7, 2025 - Toronto Maple Leafs at Barrie Baycats 

Spenser Ross doubles in a pair of runs on a night where the Leafs scored little else. (image: Barrie Baycats TV / YouTube)

This game was a demolition job, not in a good way.

The Toronto Maple Leafs made their final regular season trek to the great Canadian north to face the Barrie Baycats.  They got demolished 20-4.

Starter Franklin Hernandez pitched a tidy first inning that showed no indication of what was to come.  In the second, he was knocked around for five runs off four hits and four walks.  He struck out two, but got an early hook after throwing 59 pitches.

Two innings in, the Leafs were in a hole from which they would not climb out.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Baycats extended their lead, tacking on four more runs on four hits off reliever Nathan Currah.

Barrie starter Frank Garces pitched six shutout innings, giving up just three hits and striking out eight.

Ben Sitarenios pitched the fifth and sixth innings for Toronto, giving up a run to make it a 10-0 score after six.

In the top of the seventh, the Leafs showed a flicker of life thanks to a two-run double by shortstop Spenser Ross.  It was the only extra-base hit along eight singles by the Leafs.

After that, Adam Marra took one for the team.  He pitched the seventh and eighth innings for Toronto and the Baycats went on an extended rally.  They added ten more runs to make it a 20-2 game.

Credit to the Leafs for not going down without a fight.  In the ninth inning they loaded the bases and added a couple more runs to the score.  Third baseman Ryan Dos Santos and pinch hitter Connor Lewis each hit RBI singles.

Garces won his fifth of the year while Hernandez took the loss.

Toronto 4 9 2

Barrie 20 21 1

W - Garces (5-3, 2.27)

L - Hernandez (1-1, 3.85)

BOXSCORE

Saturday, August 9, 2025 - Hamilton Cardinals vs Toronto Maple Leafs 

Despite the Leafs' losing record, crowds continue to fill the hillsides at Christie Pits.

During the offseason, the Toronto Maple Leafs switched their home schedule from the traditionally Sunday-heavy approach to one dominated by night games.

As the season has progressed it is evident that Saturday nights at Christie Pits have been added to a lot of people's calendars.

A noticeably large crowd was on hand to watch the seventh place Leafs host the Hamilton Cardinals.

All evening, the Leafs found themselves playing catch up.  Ultimately the Redbirds flew off with an 11-3 victory.

Adam Jafine made the start on the mound for Toronto, and was victimized for a couple of runs right away.

In the bottom of the first, third baseman Ryan Dos Santos led off with a walk, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI single by shortstop Spenser Ross.  It was 2-1 Hamilton after one inning.

Top of the third, Jafine gave up a single, double and single to put two more runs on the board for the Cardinals, now ahead 4-1.

Bottom four, Ross led off with a double and scored on a ground out by first baseman Mike Cecchetto.  Second baseman Dan Marra, who walked and advanced to third as the inning went on, ended up scoring when a routine grounder was played for an error.  That made it 4-3 Hamilton after four innings.

Jafine's night was done after 96 pitches, and Ayami Sato took the mound to start the fifth.  She gave up a solo home run to Jommer Hernandez, then with two outs she gave up an RBI double and a two-run home run by Brandon Nicoll.  Josh Berenbaum came in from the bullpen to put out the fire, but Hamilton had surged ahead 8-3.

(After the game, Sato took to social media as she has done throughout the season.  She posted a critical analysis of her performance, saying: "As the season nears its end, I'm determined to pitch in a way that truly helps the team in the playoffs.  Still it's been hard when the results don't match the effort, and I'm filled with frustration and disappointment."  This public flaying of one's self is not something we are accustomed to seeing, either in the IBL, or baseball in general.)

Toronto bats were equally frustrating and disappointing, as the Leafs had just four hits on the night.

There was an anxious moment in the top of the seventh.  Hamilton's Tanner Rempel hit one high towards the centerfield fence.  Dennis Dei Baning went up to attempt a grab but the ball escaped his reach.  Dei Baning hit the fence hard and went to the ground.  He came up favouring his right arm and left the game as a precaution.  Afterwards, Dei Baning confirmed he was fine and would be good to go the next day in Chatham.

Berenbaum pitched 3 1/3 innings, and the Cardinals got to him for three more runs.  

Greg Carrington pitched a scoreless ninth.  The game ended with an 11-3 FINAL score.  Jafine got the L while reliever Caleb Seroski grabbed the W.

Hamilton 11 15 1

Toronto 3 4 2

W - Seroski (2-0, 3.75)

L - Jafine (0-5, 6.46)

BOXSCORE

Sunday, August 10, 2025 - Toronto Maple Leafs at Chatham-Kent Barnstormers 

Leafs' manager Rob Butler congratulates Jordan Castaldo after he homered in the first inning. (image: Chatham-Kent Barnstormers YouTube)

Sunday at Fergie Jenkins Field, the Toronto Maple Leafs returned to their winning formula.

They grabbed an early lead, held off their opponents, and the bullpen - THIS BULLPEN - delivered 3-plus scoreless innings to lock down an 8-1 victory over the Chatham-Kent Barnstormers

In the top of the first inning, first baseman Jordan Castaldo continued his pursuit of the IBL home run title.  He swatted a pitch from Aden Ryan and it sailed over the fence in right.  That put two runs on the board for Toronto and put Castaldo into a 4-way tie for the league lead with 11 homers.

In the top of the third inning, with two men on and two out, second baseman Dan Marra singled in a run to make it 3-0 Leafs.

Wilgenis Alvarado started on the mound for Toronto and gave a vintage performance.  He pitched into the sixth inning, giving up just one run on five hits and three walks.  He struck out seven Barnstormers.

The Leafs added three runs in the eighth and two more in the ninth.  Ample.

A massive shout out has to go to the trio of arms that came out of the pen to silence the gents from Kent.  

Matt Brown pitched 1 2/3 hitless innings and struck out two.

Luis Florentino pitched a scoreless inning and gave up one hit.

Jeremy Newton retired the side in order in the ninth to seal the 8-1 win and a Dub for Alvarado.  Ryan took the loss.

Leaf bats produced hits up and down the order.  Castaldo, shortstop Spenser Ross, catcher Jhon Javier and right fielder Ben Sitarenios each notched a pair of hits.  Castaldo and Dan Marra led the way with two RBIs apiece.

Third baseman Ryan Dos Santos continued to amble towards history.  He recorded one walk, giving him 43 on the season.  One more walk will tie, and two will break the IBL single-season record set by the Leafs' Bill Byckowski in 1988.

Toronto 8 10 0

Chatham-Kent 1 6 6 

W - Alvarado (3-2, 5.78)

L - Ryan (3-5, 4.95)

BOXSCORE

With one week remaining in the regular season, the Leafs are 17-23 and sit in seventh place in the IBL standings, 12 1/2 games behind the pennant-winning Welland Jackfish.

The week ahead:

Friday, August 15 - Toronto Maple Leafs at Brantford Red Sox, 7:15 pm at Arnold Anderson's Stadium

Saturday, August 16 - Brantford Red Sox vs Toronto Maple Leafs, 7:30 pm at Christie Pits

**END OF REGULAR SEASON**

**LEAFS' POSTSEASON PREVIEW COMING NEXT WEEK**