It’s a familiar position but one that the Barrie Baycats haven’t experienced in a while.
The Intercounty Baseball League (IBL) club will be attempting to win its first league crown since 2019 when the Guelph Royals visit on Sunday for Game 1 of the best-of-seven final series.
First pitch is at 6:05 p.m. at Vintage Throne Stadium just outside of town in Midhurst and right across from the old Springwater Provincial Park.
“I think we are the team to beat,” said Baycats manager Josh Matlow, while crediting the Royals for their resurgent playoff performance. “It’s unfortunate we couldn’t (seek revenge) against Welland after last year.”
The Baycats boss has maintained a positive outlook about it, but Matlow’s team is still smarting from how last year’s loss in the final against the Welland Jackfish came to be. Up by two runs late in Game 4, the club was about to go up 3-1 to put a stranglehold on the series when things suddenly went pear-shaped. A weather delay gave the Jackfish a reprieve and although they were down to its last strike in that game, they found a way to win it.
The upstart club then reeled off two more victories to take the series in six games and left the Baycats wondering what might have been. Matlow didn’t explicitly mention it, but there was little doubt the Baycats’ momentum was stunted by Mother Nature’s ill-timed intervention.
“It hurt, for sure,” said Matlow, “but as I said to you (earlier this season), it’s the best thing that could have happened to us for this season because we are hungry.”
The win by the Jackfish was the first by another IBL club other than Barrie or the London Majors since 2013, when the Brantford Red Sox beat the Baycats in seven games.
On paper, this year’s championship match-up pits the second-place team from the regular season against the fourth best. But despite their fourth-place finish, it would be difficult to paint the Royals in anything other than a bright-coloured hue; Guelph won three road games against the defending champion Jackfish in one semifinal series to earn its spot.
The Baycats have yet to lose a post-season game, downing both the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Majors in three straight contests.
In five regular-season games between the two clubs this season, Guelph won three, something Matlow acknowledged will give the opposition confidence.
“I think it’s (interesting) to see the No. 1 pitching team against the No. 2 batting team,” he said, pointing out earlier during a phone conversation on Friday afternoon that his club’s bats have come alive even more in the post-season.
The series will likely hinge on how well the Baycats can leverage throwing out its No. 1 starter, Frank Garces, in games 1, 4 and 7. The Baycats’ other two starting hurlers, Juan Benitez and Cesar Rosado, are none too shabby, either, and give Barrie three of the top four remaining starters in the league.
“They have to find a way to beat our starting pitchers four times with us (holding home-field advantage),” said Matlow.
There remains everything to play for ahead of Sunday’s opener and before a potential Game 7 takes place on Sept. 19 at the Baycats’ home park. But what is not in doubt is what the local club has done over almost two decades since winning its first IBL crown in 2005: seven league titles and now a 13th appearance in the final that will determine if the Baycats can win their eighth.
During that time, which included an ownership change, a cancelled season and another with a dramatically abridged schedule and roster limitations, the Baycats have taken from the Red Sox the unofficial title of pre-eminent IBL club.
Impressive, to be sure, but it also makes the Baycats a target.
“Everyone hates us,” said one player during an informal chat earlier this season, “but don’t tell anyone I said that.”
We promise.
Game 2 goes Tuesday at Vintage Throne at 7:30 p.m., with the series returning for Game 5 (if necessary) next Sunday.
