The Western Canadian Baseball League finals between the Regina Red Sox and Sylvan Lake Gulls begins tonight. Photo: WCBL

*This article was originally published on Alberta Dugout Stories on August 13, 2025. You can read it here.

August 14, 2025

By Ian Wilson

Alberta Dugout Stories

The Western Canadian Baseball League will crown a new champion.

For the first time since 2021, when the Lethbridge Bulls hoisted the Harry Hallis Memorial Trophy, a team other than the Okotoks Dawgs will claim the WCBL championship.

The Sylvan Lake Gulls will represent the West Division after limiting the title reign of the Dawgs to a three-peat, while the Regina Red Sox battled their way through the East Division after toppling the league’s winningest team, the Saskatoon Berries.

Here’s a closer look at the two teams who are competing in the best-of-three final:

SYLVAN LAKE GULLS

The Gulls traded in their regular season success of 2024 – when they set a league record with 44 wins and then lost to the Dawgs in the postseason – for playoff euphoria in 2025.

During the regular season, Sylvan Lake hovered around the .500 mark through the first 20 games before breaking out with a 26-9 record to end the campaign. They went 7-3 in their final 10 games to finish the season with a 36-20 record that placed them third overall in the WCBL and in second spot in the West Division behind Okotoks.

The Gulls have been a perfect 4-0 through the first two rounds of the postseason and have swept both of their opponents. They defeated the Bulls by scores of 8-0 and 6-2 and then dispatched their rivals in Okotoks with 7-3 and 8-4 wins. The series triumph over the Dawgs marked the first time in franchise history that the Gulls had defeated Okotoks in the postseason. They lost to the Dawgs in the playoffs in three straight years prior to this summer.

In their four playoff contests, hitters on the Gulls have produced 29 runs, 45 hits, 24 RBIs, 65 total bases, 15 walks, eight doubles, two homers, five stolen bases, as well as a .317 batting average, .386 on-base percentage and .458 slugging percentage over 142 at bats.

Individual batting leaders include third baseman Antony Gilbert (7 hits, 5 RBIs, 2 triples, one run in 17 at bats); outfielder Brock Tijerina (7 hits, 4 RBIs, 3 runs, 3 walks in 16 at bats); shortstop Ty Yukumoto (7 hits, 6 runs, 2 stolen bases in 16 at bats); second baseman Jaden Flores (6 hits, 6 RBIs, 4 runs, 2 doubles, one stolen base, one homer in 18 at bats); outfielder Michael Quick (6 hits, 2 RBIs, 2 runs, one double in 18 at bats); and outfielder Simon Baker (5 hits, 4 RBIs, 3 runs, 2 doubles, one stolen base, one homer in 16 at bats).

Sylvan Lake pitchers have collectively registered a 1.75 earned run average (ERA), 1.19 WHIP (walks plus hits per inning), .243 opposing batting average, 30 strikeouts, 10 walks, three wild pitches and two hit batters through 36 innings and 148 batters faced.

Individual pitching leaders include Leeroy Taverez (8 innings, 9 strikeouts, 2 walks, 1.12 ERA, one win); Josh Tucker (7 innings, 8 strikeouts, one walk, no earned runs, one win); Josh Doelitsch (5 innings, 2 walks, no earned runs, one win); Matthew Mackenzie (4 2/3 innings, 2 Ks, 3.85 ERA); Garrett Lundmark (4 1/3 innings, 4 strikeouts, one walk, 2.07 ERA); and closer Mickey McClaskey (2 2/3 innings, 3 strikeouts, no walks, no earned runs, one save).

The Gulls have a .974 fielding percentage and have only committed four errors in the postseason.

The coaching staff of the Sylvan Lake Gulls is led by head coach and general manager Jason Chatwood. His assistant coaches are Wyatt McKnight and Matt Hape. Chatwood has been the skipper since the team entered the WCBL in 2021 and the Innisfail product was named the league’s Coach of the Year last summer. Chatwood will step down as head coach at the conclusion of the 2025 season, but he will stay on as the general manager of baseball operations to handle recruiting. He will also serve as an associate coach.

This is the first appearance in the WCBL Championship Final Series for the Gulls.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Listen to Alberta Dugout Stories preview the 2025 WCBL Championship Final Series here.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

REGINA RED SOX

The Red Sox have been a lock to make the postseason since joining the Western Major Baseball League (WMBL) – the predecessor to the WCBL – in 2005, only missing out on the playoffs in their inaugural season.

The results have varied since then. Regina won back-to-back WMBL championships in 2011 and 2012 – a feat the Red Sox accomplished in 1976 and 1977 as repeat champs in the Saskatchewan Major Baseball League – and they appeared in consecutive finals in 2018 and 2019, losing to the Medicine Hat Mavericks and Okotoks Dawgs during those playoff runs. Since then, the Red Sox were unable to register a postseason victory and were swept out of the playoffs in three straight summers.

The lack of playoff success, despite years of consistently strong regular seasons, ended this August. The Red Sox swept the Mavericks, avenging a 2023 postseason loss to the club, with a 6-2 win at Athletic Park and a 13-7 home victory at Currie Field.

The No. 3 seed in the East Division with a 29-26 record then faced a massive challenge in the form of the Saskatoon Berries, who broke the Gulls’ 2024 record for victories in a single regular season by racking up 46 wins. The hard-fought series saw the Red Sox take the opening game by an 8-7 score, before Saskatoon punched back with an 8-4 win in Game 2. The third and final game at NexGen Patch at Cairns Field resulted in a 6-2 victory for the underdog Red Sox over the Berries in front of a record crowd of more than 2,300 fans.

In going 4-1 to attain the East Division crown, Regina outscored their opponents 37-26. They did all of this after seeing major roster upheaval at the end of the season. Top innings eaters Blake Johnson, Colton Anderson, Kai Langford, Calvin Shepherd, David Hankins and Holden Hungerford all departed before the playoffs, as did sluggers Jackson Syring and Jalen Seward.

The Red Sox batters have manufactured 37 runs, 57 hits, 32 RBIs, 86 total bases, 14 walks, 10 doubles, five homers and eight stolen bases, to go along with a collective .297 batting average, .354 on-base percentage and .448 slugging percentage in 192 postseason at bats.

Individual hitting leaders include catcher Brady Bye (9 hits, 8 RBIs, 3 runs in 23 at bats); outfielder Rafael Jackson (8 hits, 8 runs, 3 stolen bases, 2 RBIs, 2 doubles, one homer in 27 at bats); first baseman James Wright (8 hits, 6 RBIs, 3 runs, two homers in 22 at bats); infielder Zayd Brannigan (7 hits, 4 RBIs, 4 runs, one stolen base, one double in 22 at bats); shortstop Matthew Fox (7 hits, 6 runs, 4 walks, 3 stolen bases, 2 RBIs in 21 at bats); and infielder Jalen Meyers (6 hits, 4 RBIs, 2 runs, 2 walks in 16 at bats).

On the bump, the pitching staff has recorded a 4.21 ERA, a 1.70 WHIP, a .297 opposition batting average, 37 strikeouts, 22 walks, nine hit batters and six wild pitches through 47 innings and 226 batters faced.

Postseason pitching standouts include Chris Spry (11 1/3 innings, 2-0 record, 3.97 ERA, 10 strikeouts, 5 walks); Landon Riley (11 1/3 innings, 1-1 record, 3.97 ERA, 9 strikeouts, 5 walks); Ayden Page (10 1/3 innings, 1-0 record, 2 saves, 11 Ks, 2 walks, no earned runs); and Colton Bank (4 innings, 4.50 ERA).

Regina has a .959 fielding percentage and their defenders have committed eight errors in five games.

General Manager Mitch MacDonald – the only Triple Crown winning hitter in WCBL history – oversees a coaching staff led by manager Rye Pothakos, who is in his 10th season with the Red Sox. Pothakos has a scouting background that includes work for the Kansas City Royals and the Greek national team, and he was recently named a member of the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame. He is joined by first base coach Braydon Cobb, pitching coach Steven Butts and assistant coach Brody Boyenko.

The biggest news involving the Red Sox in 2025 involved the sale of the team to Regina-based Queen City Sports & Entertainment Group (QCSEG), an organization that owns the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League (WHL). The move is expected to help the Red Sox in their pursuit of a new baseball stadium. The transaction was approved by the WCBL Board of Governors in June and is expected to close on Oct. 1.

The Red Sox and Gulls only faced each other during the regular season on one day, a doubleheader at Currie Field on June 22nd that saw Regina win both seven-inning contests by scores of 8-0 and 4-3.

The WCBL Championship Final Series gets underway with Game 1 at 7:05 p.m. tonight at Currie Field in Regina.

Wilson: WCBL Championship preview - Regina Red Sox vs. Sylvan Lake Gulls