WCBL releases 2021 schedule
The Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) released its 2021 schedule on Monday. Photo: WCBL
November 30, 2020
The Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) has released its 2021 schedule.
The campaign includes a 56-game regular season for each of the 11 Alberta and Saskatchewan-based teams. Those contests will be followed up by best-of-three playoff series that will lead into the 2021 WCBL Championship Series.
“We are very excited to announce our schedule for the upcoming year, and we cannot wait to open up our beautiful ballparks again and reconnect with the best baseball fans in Canada,” said WCBL President Kevin Kvame.
Fort McMurray and Regina will play host to season-opening games on Thursday, May 27, with the Giants hosting the Edmonton Prospects, and the Red Sox welcoming the Weyburn Beavers to Currie Field. That evening matchup kicks off a four-game weekend series between the Prospects and Giants at Shell Place.
The Okotoks Dawgs will begin defending their 2019 WCBL championship title when the Brooks Bombers come to Seaman Stadium for a two-game set on Friday, May 28 and Saturday, May 29. Dawgs fans will then get a look at the league’s newest franchise, the Sylvan Lake Gulls, when they take the diamond in Okotoks on Sunday, May 30.
FIRST GAMES FOR GULLS
The Gulls will make baseball history when they play their first games on the road at Spitz Stadium in Lethbridge. The Bulls home-opening weekend starts with games against Sylvan Lake on Friday, May 28 and Saturday, May 29. Lethbridge will link up again with the Gulls when they welcome fans for the first time to Gulls Stadium in Sylvan Lake’s Pogadl Park from Friday, June 11 through Sunday, June 13.
Meanwhile, the Regina Red Sox – who captured the Eastern Conference crown in 2018 and 2019 – will hit the road for games against the Medicine Hat Mavericks on Saturday, May 29 and Swift Current 57’s on Sunday, May 30 following their home-opening game against Weyburn. Staff at Currie Field will then open the doors to the Moose Jaw Miller Express, the 57’s and the Beavers between Monday, May 31 and Thursday, June 3.
Weyburn follows up their road opener in Regina with a home-and-home series against Swift Current (the Beavers home opener takes place on Friday, May 28 at Tom Laing Park). The Beavers will then board the team bus for stops in Moose Jaw and Regina.
The home and season-opening contest for Moose Jaw happens on Friday, May 28, when the Miller Express open their dugout to the Mavericks at Ross Wells Park. The Mavs return to Athletic Park for a five-game homestand against Regina, Moose Jaw, and Okotoks between May 29 and June 5.
Fans of the 57’s can write “2:05 pm, Mitchell Field” in their day planners under the date of Sunday, May 30. That’s when the Red Sox come to town to open up the 2021 WCBL season for Swift Current. The 57’s play host to Weyburn the following night.
Bomber Nation has their sights set on Sunday, May 30 for a home-opening afternoon tilt against the Bulls, which leads into an Elks Stadium series against Fort McMurray to start the month of June.
CHAMPIONSHIP REMATCH
The Dawgs and Red Sox will renew hostilities in a rematch of the 2019 WCBL Championship Series when they meet in Regina for a midweek matchup on Tuesday, June 15 and Wednesday, June 16 at Currie Field.
Father’s Day festivities get underway across the league on Sunday, June 20. Lethbridge hosts Brooks at Spitz Stadium, the Dawgs welcome the Miller Express to Seaman Stadium, Swift Current visits Athletic Park in Medicine Hat, the Gulls travel to Regina, and the Giants and Prospects are expected to square off in Sylvan Lake. All games that day have a 2:05 p.m. start time.
Post-game fireworks will light up WCBL diamonds after Canada Day contests in Lethbridge, Okotoks, Fort McMurray, Medicine Hat, and Moose Jaw on Thursday, July 1st.
The league will celebrate our best players and coaches at the WCBL All-Star Game & Extravaganza at Seaman Stadium in Okotoks on Saturday, July 24. Eastern Conference standouts will face off against the elite talents of the Western Conference in an All-Star Game and Home Run Derby.
PROSPECTS ON TOUR
One unique aspect of this upcoming campaign – in addition to providing baseball fans with their first look at the expansion Sylvan Lake Gulls – is the introduction of WCBL baseball to a number of communities that don’t typically have direct access to the league.
As the Prospects work on construction of a new stadium in Spruce Grove, which is set to open in 2022, the team will be on the road for the entire 2021 season. The Prospects will play additional games in WCBL markets, but they will also give people in Edmonton-area cities a chance to see what the league is all about. Further details about those games will be announced in the near future.
The homestretch of the 2021 season, meanwhile, will kick into gear with Heritage Day matchups that include the Gulls in Lethbridge, the Edmonton Prospects in Brooks, and the Beavers in Swift Current on Monday, August 2.
Regular-season action will come to a close in early August. Edmonton travels to Spitz Stadium for a three-game series versus the Lethbridge Bulls that runs from Wednesday, August 4 until Friday, August 6. The Dawgs will head north and participate in a four-game series against the Giants in Fort McMurray. That quartet of contests goes from Tuesday, August 3 through Friday, August 6.
The Gulls and Bombers will engage in a three-game, home-and-home finale that concludes in Brooks on Friday, August 6. Athletic Park will be the venue for a pair of games between the Beavers and Mavericks on Thursday, August 5 and Friday, August 6. The Red Sox will close out the regular season of the Miller Express in Moose Jaw on Thursday, August 5, before wrapping things up against the 57’s on Friday, August 6 at Currie Field.
THE POSTSEASON
Best-of-three conference semi-finals are scheduled to run between Sunday, August 8 and Tuesday, August 10.
Winners of those series will advance to the Eastern and Western Conference finals, which are set to take place between Wednesday, August 11 and Friday, August 13.
The WCBL Championship Series, another three-game affair, will decide the league’s top team and the winner of the Harry Hallis Memorial Trophy. The series opener will take place on Sunday, August 15, followed by the rematch on Monday, August 16, and the third game (if necessary) happens on Tuesday, August 17.
GAME NOTES
Please note that games may be rescheduled, due to adverse weather or other unforeseen logistical issues. As well, all WCBL teams are committed to complying with health and safety guidelines related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The safety of our players, coaches, staff, volunteers and fans is a top priority.
The Yorkton Cardinals and Melville Millionaires, who were granted one-year absences for the cancelled 2020 season, will not participate in the 2021 campaign.