‘Baseball is here to stay’
First-year club had plenty of success on and off the field, president says
As David Gourlay made his rounds about the city, the most often asked question of the Ottawa Champions president and minority owner was: Will the baseball team be back in 2016?
“I get it every day and it’s time to turn the channel on that one,” Gourley said Monday afternoon, while basking in the sun with a Fan Appreciation Day crowd of 3,561 at Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton Stadium. He and the others watched as Chris Winder of the Champions pulled a “Will Ferrell” and played all nine positions in a season-ending 6-1 loss to the playoff-bound TroisRivières Aigles.
“The Ottawa fans have shown a tremendous demonstration of support for this team and we have shown the city baseball is here to stay,” said Gourlay, adding a major announcement is coming in about two weeks.
As for Year 1 in the Can Am Baseball League for the Champions, many didn’t know how to react after the “Boys of Summer” had gone.
On one hand, the dream of a playoff berth for the expansion club died Sunday afternoon with 9-3 loss to the Aigles, who clinched the fourth and final playoff spot, just four games ahead of the Champions.
On the other, the fact the firstyear team went 46-50, was in contention for the post-season until the second-last day of the season and drew a remarkable 115,880 fans over 52 dates is cause to celebrate. The Champions ranked third in the league in attendance, with their average of 2,228 eclipsing the league average by 177.
Ottawa’s numbers include the crowd of 6,129 Saturday night, the second-largest in the league all season. The weekend total was 12,884, an average of 4,295 per game. Even better is that attendance, which had been averaging below 2,000, jumped significantly the final six weeks of the season.
And it’s full steam ahead for 2016, with prices for tickets, which are already on sale, remaining the same.
“The good thing about our attendance is how we built it as the season went along,” said majority owner Miles Wolff. “With the skepticism we had here from previous franchises, we had to build a trust with the fans.”
Wolff also said his club lost six dates to rain, Canada Day and a special promotion against a touring team from Japan. The Champions also had 16 of their dates “rain-affected”, meaning fans were in doubt about whether the games would even be played.
“We showed that there is a good baseball market here,” Wolff said. “But we had to prove ourselves, too. Nothing was automatic.”
On the field, the Champions were competitive from the start, sweeping their season-opening series. Trouble was, as good as the pitching was (staff ranked fifth), the offence, on many nights, just wasn’t there to support it. All in all, though, a record of just four games below .500 is outstanding for an expansion franchise. It might have been even better if the team had improved on rankings in runs scored, hits, home runs and RBI. The Champions ranked fifth in all four of those key offensive categories, not even close to the four playoff-bound teams.
The pitching, meanwhile, led by ace Andrew Werner, who pitched down the stretch with a sore back, was incredible for a first-year team. Werner led the league in wins (12), starts (21) and innings pitched (144 2/3).
“It’s disappointing on one hand that we were very close,” said manager Hal Lanier, who is expected to sign a new contract in the next couple of weeks. “At the same time, I think injuries finally caught up with us. We had a lot of guys playing hurt and others playing out of position. I’m very proud of our ball club, the way they competed all season long.
“The one thing I know we need is we have to score more runs. Every team above us had more hits, scored more runs and hit more home runs. Some of the home-run thing is because of the size of our ballpark, but ...”
General manager Ben Hodge said he is taking Tuesday off before bringing in the front office to begin planning for Opening Day 2106, which is 36 weeks away.
“This time last year, people still doubted we would take the field,” said Hodge. “Now we have changed the perception on whether pro baseball is viable in this city.”