Ontario Spring Training: Tales of buses and baseball

By Cam Black-Araujo

Canadian Baseball Network

Travis Scott, Cardi B and Migos bumping from a portable speaker along with a small TV hooked up to a PlayStation at the back of the bus with NHL 19 being the game of choice.

Empty Wendy’s paper bags fill up the seats along with some empty coffee cups, a few missing their rims showing proof of a few winners.

Sounds a lot like a few teenage boys getting together on a Friday night. Actually, on this occasion it’s 19 teenage boys getting together on a Friday afternoon as they begin a 24-plus hour bus ride to Sanford, Fla. for Prep Baseball Report’s spring training.

While this was the scene on the Toronto Mets bus, teams across Ontario used the March break as a chance to burst out of their indoor facilities and be reminded of what a ball field looks like without snow covering it … Even if that means a full-day on wheels down the Eastern coast of the U.S.

“The bus ride is super important because you get to bond with guys you don’t get to spend a lot of time with,” explained Owen Caissie, a 16-year-old Kentucky commit from the Fieldhouse Pirates who was at the same event.

“Like I bonded with pitchers that I don’t practice with and I sat beside a pitcher I didn’t know him before and now him and I are good buddies,” Caissie said. “We all know each other better now from the bus ride because it’s long and you have to be together.”

When the wheels finally came to one last halt in the Sunshine State, the air was about 35 degrees Celsius warmer than when they boarded.

On Sunday morning as spring training officially got underway, teams began their practices under the lights as the clocks went forewords, making an early morning practice feel even earlier for high school students during a week most of their friends are catching up on sleep.

No one was complaining and it was all smiles around the facility, where four Ontario squads took up all four turf fields at the Boombah Sports Complex. Games began later that Sunday and ran throughout the entire week where each team saw six games, some getting games in against Florida teams or one of the two Montreal-based Academy Baseball Canada teams from Quebec.

Ontario clubs represented in Sanford, were the Ontario Nationals, Tri City Giants, Ontario Yankees, the Mississauga North Tigers, the Pirates, and the Mets during the six-day event.

“It was good because you could prove yourself over those days. So if you had one bad day you had multiple chances to do better the next couple days,” said Caissie, also mentioning why the week was so special to him and his teammates.

“Going from indoors, we don’t have the luxury here in Canada of playing all the time so it was good to have a week to get out and play.”

LHP-OF Jonah Feldstein, of the Mets reiterates that fact, something that continued to come with the players.

“Playing on these beautiful diamonds after being in the cold winter for so long and playing indoors. It’s a breath of fresh air and it’s been an unbelievable experience.”

In a country like Canada that sees cold and snow for at least 4-to-5 months a year, it’s no surprise getting into the warm weather was a breath of fresh air to the players, but also being able to utilize all the offseason work they have put in since games tapered off in September.

As things settle down and the students return to classes, the players are left with memories of the palm trees, the sun and baseball. Some have photos on Instagram to confirm the trip, others a tan and maybe even for others not too far down the road, a scholarship.

While the sole purpose of the trip is to play ball outdoors, when many look back on the week, it will turn out to be so much more than the game.

A conversation between a player and coach as the Pirates boarded the bus at Boombah Sports Complex one last time en route to the Sarnia border, summed it up best.

Coach: “Your parents were here today, I thought you might just go home with them?”

Player: “I couldn’t, I had to take the bus.”

Coach: “Why, it’s a full-day trip on an uncomfortable bus. You’d be home faster with your parents,” asked the coach, chuckling a little bit.

Player: “It’s all part of the experience,” said the player with a big smirk on his face.