Lethbridge Bulls looking for redemption in 1st round of WCBL playoffs

The Lethbridge Bulls will have a shot at redemption when the first round of the 2019 Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) playoffs kick off Thursday when they face the Medicine Hat Mavericks, the team that ended their 2018 post-season campaign.

Last year, the Mavericks eliminated the Bulls four games into the five-game series, but Lethbridge enters Thursday feeling confident they can pull off the payback win.

“The last couple games that we’ve played them have been really close,” said Bulls’ first baseman Kaleb Warden.

Warden has been a catalyst for the Bulls’ offense all year, leading the WCBL with 66 RBIs and sitting second in homeruns with 12.

In his final year of eligibility with the Bulls, the first basemen believes they have a legitimate shot at making some noise in the playoffs.

“I really do feel like that,” he said, “I feel like we have the pitching, I feel like we got hitters — the majority of the hitters are back from last year — and they didn’t bring very many guys back from last year, so that kind of helps.”

Bulls’ head coach Jesse Sawyer echoed the sentiment.

“They were really good last year,” said Sawyer. “I think we have a better team this year and a better chance to go in there and kind of take care of business.”

“I’ve been around this league a long time. We’ve played Med Hat a lot. It’s always a good rivalry.”

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The 2019 regular season saw some changes throughout the league, including an extended season.

“They added eight games to the schedule,” said Sawyer, “so it was long. We did a good job. We had a couple cold stretches but we were pretty consistent throughout the year and the west was a battle every night.”

The playoff format has also been altered since last year; making the change from a five-game series to just three.

The winner of the Bulls’ series will face the winner of three games between the Okotoks Dawgs and Edmonton Prospects, who managed to squeak into the post season with just one more win than the Fort McMurray Giants.

Playoff seeding — and home field advantage — came down to the final game of the regular season for the Bulls and Mavericks, both in action Tuesday night. The Bulls came away with a 3-1 win over the Brooks Bombers, while Medicine Hat dropped an 11-1 game to the Okotoks Dawgs. The loss locked up second place in the west for Lethbridge (31-25), with the Mavericks (30-25) finishing half-a-game back.

The Bulls see a huge advantage to playing Game 1 — and if necessary, Game 3 — at their home field, Spitz Stadium.

“It would be really cool to win tomorrow night and then go win at Med Hat,” said Warden. “Just kind of like a slap in the face from last year… that would feel really good.”

“But you know, if it happens to get pushed to game 3, then we win it here.”

Game 1 begins Thursday night at Spitz stadium at 7:05 p.m. before Game 2 heads to Medicine Hat Friday night. If necessary, the Bulls and Mavericks will play a series-deciding game in Lethbridge on Saturday night.