The Welland Jackfish are set to defend their Canadian Baseball League (CBL) Championship (formerly IBL) beginning next week.
The only question is where will they finish in the regular season standings?
The Jackfish currently sit in second place, just one half game up on both the Hamilton Cardinals and Guelph Royals.
Weland has two games left, Hamilton three and Guelph one.
In what could be a first-round playoff matchup, the Cardinals handed the Jackfish back-to-back losses in the Rose City this week.
Ethan Mann homered in Thursday’s 5-2 loss. The Welland first baseman leads the team in homeruns with 14 and is tops in the league with 65 RBI.
However, after that the team’s bats have not been producing. Something Jackfish manager Brian Essery addressed to The Niagara Independent.
“We have to figure something out offensively. Mann continues to provide our offense. Collectively we have to start producing at the plate,” said Essery.
Mann sports a .395 batting average – good for fourth in the league. Is third in hits with 73, and fifth in doubles with 14.
Two other Welland hitters are regular names on the ‘league leaders’ list.
Jonah Weisner and Japanese import Daiki Abe both have 70 hits apiece. Abe also has a league-best three triples, tops in stolen bases with 39, second in walks with 34 and third with a .473 on-base percentage.
Pitching ,and in particular starting pitching, has always been a strong trait for the Jackfish but nly one name makes the pitching leaders list as the Dominican Dominator Deivy Mendez is third in league saves with six.
Welland welcomes the Toronto Maple Leafs Saturday night in their regular season home finale, then visit the London Majors Sunday, and could still finish anywhere from second to fourth place.
The Majors clinched the regular season pennant with Thursday’s Jackfish loss.
The Barrie Baycats are the other team in the CBL playoff mix.
The fourth and fifth seeds, as of now Guelph and Barrie, will face off in a single-elimination, win-or-go-home game hosted by the higher seed.
The winner claims the final semifinal spot, where one versus four, and two versus three will play best of seven series in the both the semi-finals and final series.
The Brantford Red Sox, Kitchener Panthers, aforementioned Maple Leafs and Chatham-Kent Barnstormers failed to qualify for the playoffs.
Welland is offering 2026 playoff tickets for free if fans either renew or purchase 2027 Season Memberships.
Rod Mawhood is a lifelong Niagara native who has had the pleasure of working in all three mediums – Radio, Print and TV – for over 20 years. His first announcing gig was with the then St. Catharines Stompers. Since then he’s worked in radio and TV in Toronto, and currently is the announcer for the Niagara IceDogs and Niagara River Lions.
Rod also covers the Buffalo Bills for FOX Sports and the Buffalo Sabres for NBC Sports.
