It may be the eve of winter in Central Alberta, but all that means is the baseball season is creeping closer and closer.
There are just over 200 days until the Sylvan Lake Gulls kick off the 2025 Western Canadian Baseball League season, but the team now has its schedule set.
The Gulls will start the season on May 29th with their Sea of Gold home opener against the Edmonton Baseball Team.
What has become an annual tradition at Gulls Stadium will also return in 2025, as the team will have its Hawaiian Luau on July 26.
The 56-game schedule for the Gulls includes a six-game home streak from June 24–29, a special bonus game on June 3 where Gulls Field will host Edmonton as the home team, and the WCBL All-Star Game hosted in Okotoks on Satruday, July 19.
Also new for 2025, following a successful 80’s Night last season, we’re taking things back another decade with Disco Fever 70s Night to start out the month of August. They will also host a special Community Heritage event during the doubleheader on Sunday, July 27, where we’ll honour the rich cultures that make our community unique.
The Gulls will also play in the WCBL Rural Roots Game, a celebration of the communities that helped grow baseball and the Western Canadian Baseball League in Alberta and Saskatchewan. The inaugural game takes place on Sunday, June 8th at 3:30 p.m. at Doug Lehman Field in Oyen.
The Gulls will take on the Lethbridge Bulls as the league honours the 30th anniversary of the Saskatchewan Major Baseball League (SMBL) champion Oyen Pronghorns. The SMBL evolved into the Western Major Baseball League (WMBL) in 2001 after more Alberta teams became a regular part of the circuit and it was rebranded as the WCBL in 2019. Former WMBL president Doug Jones is the mayor of Oyen.
Sylvan Lake will face Okotoks for the first time since the Dawgs eliminated the Gulls from the 2024 playoffs for two games at Gulls Field on June 4th & 5th before traveling down the road to Seaman Stadium for another clash on June 6th. The two teams also play on June 10th in Okotoks, July 9th in Sylvan Lake and July 23rd at Seaman Stadium before closing out the regular season with a home-and-home series on Aug. 3rd and 4th.
"We're very excited to announce the 2025 schedule. It promises special days and nights at the ballpark, as well as the thrill of competition between intense rivals as teams chase down playoff spots," said WCBL President Kevin Kvame.
"We look forward to building upon the record-setting attendance we experienced in 2024 and cannot wait to see the best fans in baseball return to our ballparks."
The Western Canadian Baseball League postseason gets underway on Wednesday, Aug. 6th.
The 12-team WCBL consists of an East Division and a West Division, each of which has six teams. The top four teams from each division will qualify for the playoffs.
Conference semi-final series will open the postseason, followed by conference finals. Those matchups are both best-of-three series.
The WCBL Championship Finals will pit the best team in the West Division against the top squad in the East Division for the right to lift the Harry Hallis Memorial Trophy. This is also a best-of-three series.
