‘If we can play, the Jackfish will have games’: Harrison
There may be some joy in Mudville after all this season.
While the Intercounty Baseball League has conceded there is “no hope” to play a 36-game regular season followed by three rounds of playoffs, the majority of its eight teams are holding out they can squeeze in a semblance of a campaign.
Five teams, including the Welland Jackfish, agreed in a conference call Monday they would be interested in playing a 20-game season followed by a four-team playoff.
“Yes, if we can play, the Jackfish will have games,” said Welland
team president Ryan Harrison.
Also wanting to take the field this season, though only if it is safe to do so, are the Guelph Royals, Hamilton Cardinals, London Majors and Toronto Maple Leafs.
The six-time defending playoff champion Barrie Baycats, the Brantford Red Sox and the Kitchener Panthers decided against playing an abbreviated schedule.
“Nothing is more important to the Baycats than the health and safety of our players, volunteers, fans and officials. At this time, there exists too much risk and uncertainty to move forward in good conscience this season,” Barrie president David Mills said in a statement posted on the team’s website.
Red Sox owners Connie and Rick Pomerleau shared news of the decision with fans in a letter posted on the team’s website.
“This was not an easy decision to make, but we feel it is the right thing to do for this team and our community,” they wrote in the letter. “We all must do our part to stop the spread of COVID-19 and make our community healthy again, because together we will get through this.”
In an earlier interview, Harrison stressed the Jackfish will only play “if it’s safe and public health allows it.”
“It’s not a business decision, it’s not a monetary thing, it’s more just so we can feel some hope and some normalcy once this thing hopefully fades away,” said Harrison, the team’s majority owner.
COVID-19 crowd restrictions spurred the IBL to develop contingency plans after municipalities in Ontario closed all recreational facilities, including ballparks, until June 30. League play had been scheduled to get underway in early May.
The league said in a statement it remains hopeful once the spread of the virus is brought under control that “some sort of modified IBL season” can be played. “What that season might look like is pure conjecture at this point,” the statement continued. “We do know there is no hope for a full season and playoffs like the IBL and its fans have experienced for 101 straight summers.”