20 Months After Last Game, C's Start Play May 4

HILLSBORO, OR – Tanner Morris turned and headed back to the visiting dugout at Funko Field in Everett, Washington, the victim of an 0-2 pitch that he couldn’t get a piece of. A glance at the scoreboard showed the result of the final game of the season: AquaSox 3, Canadians 1.

The C’s gathered their gear from the dugout while the Everett players met on the infield and formed the age-old victory line of high fives and handshakes. Players on both teams were preoccupied with the thought of packing up their belongings, saying goodbye to their teammates and heading home for a much-needed break after their first professional season. Many were hopeful for their baseball future. Others worried about it. But no one on the field that day could have predicted what was to come.

Monday, September 2, 2019 was the last time the Canadians took the field. Since then, life as we knew it was brought to a screeching halt by a global event unlike anything in the last 100 years of human history.

But from the ashes of despair, hope always finds a way. Rays of light began poking through the darkness of our days. Major league sports brought solace throughout the summer and fall, even as the Minor League Baseball season was canceled.

A new year brought a cautious optimism that warmer weather and an unprecedented public health effort would allow for relaxed restrictions and a return to the activities that we once took for granted. Baseball at all levels – albeit with a new look – is going to be played.

And so, two weeks from tonight, the Vancouver Canadians are back in action as a newly-minted Advanced-A team for the first time since that 74-degree day 20 months ago. That’s 596 days. Or 14,304 hours. Or 858,240 minutes.

Things won’t be the same – the pandemic has kept international borders closed, forcing the team to play its entire season away from Nat Bailey Stadium and, more devastatingly, the legion of C’s fans whose unwavering support has made the organization one of MiLB’s best – but there will be Canadians baseball this summer.

That’s certainly something worth celebrating.

The 2021 season begins on May 4 in Pasco, Washington when the C’s travel to Gesa Stadium for a six-game series with the Tri-City Dust Devils (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) before returning to Hillsboro, OR to start their home slate against the Spokane Indians (Colorado Rockies). Season tickets, 12-game plans and individual tickets for May games are available now at CanadiansBaseball.com.