It was a highly eventful year for the baseball scene in Alberta and Saskatchewan over these last 12 months.
Personal highs were reached, teams came out of nowhere to achieve fantastic results, and the game itself developed in new, exciting ways.
We were blessed to witness it all and capture many of the happenings with news articles and podcast interviews.
Here’s a look back at our Top 10 Newsmakers of 2024:
1. Pitcher Erik Sabrowski provided must-watch innings to baseball fans in Alberta, Canada and Cleveland this season. His arrival to Major League Baseball (MLB) was the stuff of Hollywood movies. The Edmonton-area product overcame consecutive Tommy John surgeries and persevered in cracking the Cleveland Guardians lineup in late August. From there the southpaw entrenched himself into an already top-notch Cleveland bullpen and stared down the likes of Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Aaron Judge and Juan Soto on the Guardians run deep into the postseason. To cap off a wonderful year of baseball, The Big Sabrowski married his long-time fiancé, Renee, in November. The Absolute Human Performance alum/current coach and former member of the Edmonton Prospects was an easy choice for our Top Newsmaker of 2024.
2. Calgarian Michael Soroka also handled his share of injuries and adversity ahead of this year, but by season’s end he resembled the dominant pitcher he was in 2019. Following a trade from the Atlanta Braves to the south side of Chicago, the former Tip O’Neill Award winner struggled to start the 2024 campaign as a member of the White Sox rotation. But a move to the bullpen got the Calgary Redbirds grad back on track and sending opposing batters to their dugouts in frustration. Soroka landed a new deal in Washington, where he’s hoping to begin anew as a starting pitcher, armed with fresh intel from his role as a reliever.
3. The Okotoks Dawgs delivered a three-peat title in the most dramatic of fashions when hometown slugger Connor Crowson sent an extra-inning, walkoff homer deep into the August sky at Seaman Stadium. The long fly put a bow on a hard-fought championship for the Dawgs, as well as an exquisite postseason for the Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL). The path to victory for the Dawgs was its own adventure, one that nearly saw Okotoks tap out in the opening round when the Lethbridge Bulls pushed their best-of-three series to 13 innings in Game 3. A bunt RBI from Ricardo Sanchez and five-plus innings of stellar relief pitching from Ashton Luera allowed the Dawgs to escape defeat and set up a highly-anticipated matchup against the Sylvan Lake Gulls, who set a regular-season record for wins in 2024. That series also went the distance, as did the final matchup versus the Moose Jaw Miller Express. It wasn’t just the Dawgs march to hoist the Harry Hallis Memorial Trophy that was captivating, however. The Brooks Bombers were a stingy opponent for the Gulls, who only scored eight runs over two games, before they advanced to face the Dawgs. Powered by the hot bat of outfielder Carter Beck, the expansion Saskatoon Berries stunned the Medicine Hat Mavericks in the opening round, and took on the Miller Express in the East Division final. The Millers upset the top-seeded Regina Red Sox in their first round and lost their opener against the Berries by a 14-1 score. Moose Jaw recovered with consecutive victories over Saskatoon to set up a championship series for the ages against Okotoks, which was a rematch of the 2022 WCBL final. Playoff sparks were flying all over Alberta and Saskatchewan and baseball fans in both provinces were fortunate to bear witness to the dramatic ballpark scenes.
4. The arrival of the Saskatoon Berries in the WCBL was another huge development that provided storylines all year long. The Berries were a marketing and social media success well before they played their first game. Despite stumbling out of the gate when it came to picking up wins, Saskatoon rallied to make the playoffs. They provided the WCBL with a huge star player in the form or Carter Beck – who was the All-Star Game MVP, the runner up in the WCBL Home Run Derby, the Rookie of the Year and the league’s Most Outstanding Canadian. The Berries won their opening round playoff series against the Mavs and almost advanced to the league final, but the Millers had other plans. All in all, it was a fantastic year for the Berries and their fans, the Jam Fam.
5. The Western Canadian Baseball League experienced its best Major League Baseball (MLB) Draft in mid-July. More than a dozen WCBL alumni were selected in the 20 rounds of the draft, including former players with the Okotoks Dawgs, Sylvan Lake Gulls, Regina Red Sox, Swift Current 57’s and Brooks Bombers. Nathan Flewelling – a Gulls catcher from Innisfail – was the first player off the board. Flewelling was a third-round selection of the Tampa Bay Rays who went 94th overall.
6. All aboard! What didn’t Matt “Tugboat” Wilkinson accomplish in 2024? The Dawgs Academy product and former Okotoks Dawgs pitcher advanced from Single-A to High-A in the Cleveland Guardians system and helped the Lake County Captains claim a Midwest League title. Along the way, he collected 174 strikeouts over 118-plus innings while walking just 37 batters. The southpaw was named to the Minor League (MiLB) High-A All-Star Team, the Midwest League All-Star Team and to Baseball America’s MiLB 2nd All-Star Team. In addition, the Canadian Baseball Network (CBN) selected Wilkinson as the top Canadian minor-league pitcher in affiliated baseball. By this point, none of it is surprising. Tugboat has been wowing baseball watchers since he struck out 16 batters over five innings during a game at the Little League World Series in 2015.
7. The announcement of a new professional women’s baseball league in the United States is an evolution of the sport that will undoubtedly have a big impact in Canada. The Women’s Pro Baseball League – which is set to begin play in 2026 – will give fresh hope to aspiring players who want to take their game to a whole new level. Previously, female baseball players sought softball scholarships in the U.S. or took to diamonds at international baseball events. Similar to pro women’s leagues in basketball and hockey, this could provide opportunities that were previously unavailable to top female athletes. Will we see Kaitlyn Ross – Baseball Alberta’s 2024 Women’s Open Player of the Year – or 2024 Baseball Sask Female Player of the Year Amy Johnson go pro in the near future?
8. The Sylvan Lake Gulls didn’t capture a championship, as they had hoped, but it was a record-setting year for the franchise, nonetheless. The Gulls set a regular-season wins record in the WCBL by going 44-12 and they finished the campaign with 10-straight victories. Jason Chatwood was named the WCBL Coach of the Year for his efforts, while outfielder Cooper Ciesielski earned Most Valuable Player honours.
9. Those marvelous Mavs almost did it. The Medicine Hat Major ‘AAA’ Mavs came within one win of representing Canada at the Little League World Series. It was quite the run for the youngsters, who won seven straight games at nationals to get to the final, where they lost a heartbreaker to the team from Whalley, B.C.
10. Baseball Sask made the rest of the country take notice again this year. The organization was named the Province of the Year by Baseball Canada for a record 10th time since 1986. Baseball Sask was recognized for its governance, program delivery, membership, as well as the development of its coaches and umpires. The female baseball program continues to turn heads with top performances while the Regina Trappers came within one game of capturing the Baseball Canada Men’s National Championship.
Honourable Mentions:
The launch of Saskatchewan Dugout Stories
Edmonton Riverhawks register first WCL playoff win
Red Deer Braves win 18U gold medal
Those are our picks for top newsmakers of 2024. Here’s a look at our most viewed articles this year, as well as our most downloaded podcast episodes:
TOP 5 MOST VIEWED STORIES ON ALBERTA DUGOUT STORIES AND SASKATCHEWAN DUGOUT STORIES:
- Uphill Battle … a look at the movie The Hill, which focuses on a baseball player who suited up for the Lethbridge Expos
- There’s Something About UMary … feature story about Carter Beck
- Standing on Guard … examining the MLB debut of Erik Sabrowski
- Fernandomania North … 2020 story about Fernando Valenzuela gained attention after the pitcher passed away in October
- 2024 SDS All-College Team … picks for the best college players of the year
TOP 5 MOST DOWNLOADED EPISODES OF ADS: THE PODCAST
- Episode #271 – The CCBC Season Preview Extravaganza
- Episode #269 – Max Hartman, Jaxon Zanolli & Carter Beck
- Episode #281 – Jordan Blundell, Nathan Flewelling, Benito Bonilla & Eric Machej
- Episode #305 – Hudson Kozicki, Braxton Bussing & Jack Lines
- Episode #298 – Landon Kauffman, Langdyn Cummins, Trentin Kooy & Miguel Tetreault
Tales of Baseball 