Introducing our very own baseball team!
The Nat Bailey Stadium, home of the Vancouver Canadians. It’s the baseball area for the first pitch to be thrown throughout the hot summer season. Well, for the Canadians this season was seen as an improvement, where we might be in for another improvement next season too!
This past season, the Canadians carried the spirit with them as soon as the first pitch was thrown. They were the most impactful team, but they were a resilient bunch. A group of young prospects are fighting to get their shot at the big leagues. Especially the aspirations of getting onto the MLB stage. While giving Vancouver fans a summer long of hope and heartbreak. There is magic in between plays, running from base to base, home runs and knockouts. They battled through long road stretches and the unpredictable weather, it results that the team wasn’t perfect, but it was a beginning of professionals where anything can form them into who they wish they become.
By midseason, the Canadians found their identity. Pitchers have started stringing together quality outings, settled the ballpen into their roles, and the bats come alive on nights where the stadium is roaring with electricity. Walk off wins became part of key moments of the year, where the games have fans stayed standing between every pitch, players run across the field with their hands raised.
The fans remained the heart of this story, where kids are chasing foul balls and home run balls. The fans in red Canadian caps nodding through fan chants, sharing mini donuts and popcorn and looking forward to seeing who the next star from the team will be to rise up into the big leagues. As the final game wrapped up, Vancouver didn’t just look back at a season, it held onto the familiarity, where the summer heat, ray of the stadium lights will shine again at the ballpark. Regardless of the record, the team this season was about connection, the city and the team became one over the summer, reminding those that never been to a Canadians game to come together as a community. Bring the belief and hope that each new inning gives a chance for something magical for next season.
Ben Chan kchan467@my.bcit.ca