Border Cats ready for start of 2025 Northwoods League season

CBC News

· Posted: May 03, 2025 9:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

Canada volition beryllium well-represented erstwhile the Thunder Bay Border Cats instrumentality the tract for the 2025 Northwoods League baseball season.

The Cats are the lone Canadian squad successful the Northwoods League, which is simply a summertime collegiate league made up of NCAA players.

The squad is acceptable to play its location opener connected May 28 astatine Port Arthur Stadium, hosting the Rochester Honkers for a four-game homestand. The Cats really commencement the 2025 play connected the roadworthy connected May 26 successful Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

In immoderate case, the bulk of the Cats's 35-player roster volition beryllium Canadian, tract manager Joe Ellison said Friday.

"We're returning a bully basal of players that were determination past year," Ellison said. "Adding immoderate bully American talent, but besides a batch of Canadian."

"We added different Canadian this morning, truthful we volition beryllium astir apt 23 oregon 24 players from a Canadian household astatine immoderate constituent passim the summer."

Overall, Ellison — this play volition beryllium his archetypal arsenic Cats tract manager — said this year's squad volition beryllium a accelerated one.

"We're going to beryllium capable to play fast," helium said. "We have a batch of endowment that comes from four-year schools oregon they're transferring to 4 twelvemonth schools this coming year, truthful we're going to beryllium a small spot older, which I deliberation is good, but I deliberation we're going to beryllium capable to play accelerated offensively."

"We've got immoderate guys with immoderate thump successful the lineup arsenic well."

Team wide manager and vice-president Bryan Graham echoed that.

"I deliberation we're going to person immoderate beauteous bully velocity successful the lineup," helium said. "In this league, with the woody bats and the players coming from assemblage shot wherever they plaything aluminum you can't truly trust connected on the agelong shot and power."

"You ever privation to physique your squad connected on bully pitching and bully defence, and beryllium capable to tally the bases and instrumentality that other basal if you can. So I think, you know, astir of the teams successful the Northwoods have always tried to enactment their roster unneurotic similar that."

Graham said the squad is not seeing overmuch successful the mode of effects yet from the Canada-United States commercialized war.

"We're precise fortunate that way," Graham said. "There are immoderate tariffs coming successful connected immoderate of the stuff, but we managed to benignant of get up of that and and get those items anterior to immoderate of these tariffs being instituted."

Those items, Graham said, see baseballs and bats, which are ordered from the United States.

"Obviously the Canadian dollar sometimes is a large origin successful immoderate of our costs," helium said. "But overall, we're successful beauteous bully signifier and astatine the moment."

Graham said the stadium itself is being readied for the commencement of the season.

"We request to get immoderate prima and immoderate warmer temperatures," helium said. "Obviously there's a batch of enactment to beryllium done successful presumption of conscionable getting the tract acceptable for the season, but it looked similar it weathered beauteous good during the winter."

And immoderate improvements are coming, arsenic well.

"We're going to beryllium unveiling a caller enactment deck," Graham said. "We person the existing enactment platform connected the archetypal basal side, but we're enhancing that deck, which I deliberation the fans are truly going to enjoy."

Graham said the Cats summons office, which is located astatine the stadium, volition unfastened connected Monday.