The Vancouver Canadians 2015 schedule is out!
Image from CanadiansBaseball.com
The same eight teams are back again for another season in the Northwest League but three of the clubs have different major league affiliations. The Boise Hawks are now affiliated with the Colorado Rockies (formerly the Chicago Cubs), the Eugene Emeralds are now property of the Cubs (formerly the San Diego Padres) and the Tri-City Dust Devils are now partners with the Padres (formerly the Rockies).
The C’s will open the season on the road for a later-than-usual start date as they visit the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes Thursday, June 18. The home opener is set for Friday, June 26 against the team that dethroned the C’s as three-time league champions, the Hillsboro Hops. Spokane, the team the C’s defeated to reach the league final, will be in next for a three-game series that begins on Canada Day, Wednesday July 1. In another quirk of the schedule, the first half of the season will end in Everett Sunday, July 26 but the second half will also begin in Everett the next day on Monday, July 27 to continue a three-game series.
Spokane will be a popular destination for the Canadians in the second half. The Northwest League All-Star Game will be played there in the first week of August and the C’s will visit the Indians for back-to-back three-game series in the final two weekends of the month. The Canadians finish the regular season at home against Everett on the weekend of September 4-6. The best-of-three Northwest League Divisional Series is scheduled for September 7-9 and the Championship Final is slated for September 11-13. If the Canadians make it to the league final, they would have home field advantage as it would be the North Division winner’s turn to host Game 2 and 3 (if necessary).
Image from CanadiansBaseball.com
The other big news is the seating capacity at Nat Bailey Stadium will be increased with the addition of 200 seats behind the left field wall (known as “The Porch”) along with more box and reserved grandstand down the left field line. The one drawback will see the bullpens will be moved behind the outfield fence instead of in foul territory. Hitters will find this change more to their liking as the fences will be pushed in 20 feet to 315 feet down the left field and right field lines. Even though it is just 385 feet to dead center, the 16-20 foot wall at Nat Bailey makes it a notorious pitcher’s park so it’ll be interesting to see how many more balls will leave the yard next season and beyond.
Of course, that will mean ticket prices are going up to help cover the cost of the new seats. The price for 10-game Nat Packs is now $120.00 and for 15-game packages, it’s $165.00. Order forms can be found here.
I wish we had a full-season team here in Vancouver, or at the very least, have an independent league-type schedule when the season begins in late May. The off-season for live baseball in Vancouver is too long as it is. June cannot get here fast enough for my liking!
C's Plus Baseball | A Vancouver Canadians Blog 