MLB Postseason Ties to Alberta

It’s October, which means it’s time for Major League Baseball playoffs.

The Toronto Blue Jays are out of it.

The Montreal Expos are long gone.

And it feels like Calgary pitcher Mike Soroka and the Chicago White Sox have been out of the playoff hunt since spring training.

What’s an Alberta baseball fan supposed to do? Who do we have left to root for? Well, believe it or not, there are plenty of links between the province and the teams in the MLB postseason this year.

Here’s a rundown of some of those ties:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

CLEVELAND GUARDIANS

The Guardians boast a Canada-heavy lineup that includes the Naylor brothers – first baseman Josh and catcher Bo – as well as pitchers Cade Smith and Erik Sabrowski.

Since making his MLB debut with the Guardians on Sept. 4th, Sabrowski has been phenomenal as a reliever. The St. Albert southpaw and former two-way star with the Edmonton Prospects has pitched in eight games and picked up a save during his 12.2 innings on the mound. In that time, he has racked up 19 strikeouts, allowed six hits, walked just four batters and not allowed a run, earned or otherwise. The Absolute Human Performance product has sent the likes of Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman back to their dugouts in frustration and bolstered an already strong Cleveland bullpen. Not bad for a guy who recently recovered from two Tommy John surgeries in succession.

Helping guide Sabrowski and the other arms on the Guardians is pitching coach Carl Willis. The former major leaguer is no stranger to Canada. Willis pitched for two seasons (1988 and 1995) with the Vancouver Canadians in the Pacific Coast League (PCL). He also played Triple-A ball with the Edmonton Trappers in 1989. That season Willis went 5-7 with five saves in 36 games as both a starter and relief pitcher. The righty logged 112.1 innings, had a 3.69 ERA, and recorded 47 strikeouts for the Trappers.

Cheering on Willis, Sabrowski and the rest of the Guardians will be Matt “Tugboat” Wilkinson, who is coming off a great campaign split between Single-A and High-A. Wilkinson was a 10th-round pick of the Guardians last year and the 21-year-old split this season between the Lynchburg Hillcats and Lake County Captains. During his first full season of professional baseball, Wilkinson went a combined 8-6 over 24 starts with 174 strikeouts in 118-plus innings. The lefty pitcher – who trained at Dawgs Academy and starred in the Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) with the Okotoks Dawgs – helped the Captains capture a Midwest League championship and he was named a 2024 High-A All Star.

HOUSTON ASTROS

The coaching staff of the Astros features several former players who climbed the minor-league ranks in Alberta.

Hitting coach Alex Cintron played one game of rookie-level ball with the Lethbridge Black Diamonds in 1997 before returning for a full season with the club the following year. As the everyday shortstop, the Puerto Rican batted .264 with 41 runs, 34 runs batted in (RBI) and 11 doubles in his 67 games for Lethbridge that season. Cintron went on to play 680 MLB games with the D-backs, White Sox, Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals and ultimately landed a coaching gig with the Astros.

Manager Joe Espada joined the Triple-A Calgary Cannons for 79 games in 2001. With the PCL team that year the middle infielder batted .300 with 61 runs, 20 doubles, 30 RBI and 13 stolen bases. Espada never played in the majors but he was a third base coach with the Florida Marlins and New York Yankees prior to becoming the bench coach of the Astros. He took over as Houston’s manager in 2024.

Gary Pettis handles third base coach duties for the Astros and has since 2015. He has won two World Series titles with Houston in that time. The California outfielder played in 1,183 MLB games with the California Angels, Detroit Tigers, Texas Rangers and San Diego Padres. When he was with the Halos, Pettis played for their top affiliate in Edmonton. As a member of the Trappers in 1983, he suited up in 132 games and led the club in runs (138), stolen bases (52) and walks (81). Pettis returned to Alberta’s capital for an eight-game conditioning stint in 1987.

Top outfield prospect Jacob Melton is unlikely to see playoff action with the Astros this fall, but he’s knocking on the door for playing time in Houston. Melton suited up in 50 games with the Okotoks Dawgs and helped them win a WCBL title in 2019. This year the lefty slugger was getting comfortable at the Triple-A level with the Sugar Land Space Cowboys.

DETROIT TIGERS

Andrew Jay (A.J.) Hinch guided the Detroit Tigers to an unlikely playoff berth this year. The skipper – who won a World Series ring with the Astros during the 2017 season and was later suspended for a year for his role in Houston’s sign-stealing cheating scandal – landed on his feet with the Tigers in 2021.

As a minor-league catcher, Hinch was a key contributor for the Edmonton Trappers in their pursuit of a PCL championship in 1997. During the regular season that year, he batted .376 with 24 RBI in 39 games with the Trappers. He had some even bigger moments during their playoff run, which ended with a second straight league title.

Hinch’s manager on that team was Gary Jones, who joined the Tigers as the third base coach in 2023 and is now listed as a “Major League Coach” for Detroit. The Texan managed the Trappers for three seasons between 1995 and 1997, claiming a pair of championships in those years. Jones won a World Series ring as third base coach for the Chicago Cubs in 2016.

Robin Lund, of Peace River, Alberta, serves as the assistant pitching coach for the Tigers and Taber’s Dale Tilleman is a scout for the team.

KANSAS CITY ROYALS

The coaching staff of the Royals is flush with alumni from the Edmonton Trappers.

Bench coach Paul Hoover was a catcher and third baseman with the Trappers in their final season in Edmonton in 2004. The Ohio native played 69 games for the Trappers, who were part of the Montreal Expos family that season. He hit .289 with 20 RBI and 14 doubles. Hoover made it into 40 MLB games and suited up in another 1,140 contests in the minors. He served as the major league field coordinator with the Tampa Bay Rays when his playing days came to an end.

Assistant hitting coach Joe Dillon was on Edmonton’s roster for a brief time in 2002. The third baseman from California played in a half dozen games for the Trappers and collected three hits and five runs during that time. Prior to his arrival in Kansas City, Dillon was an assistant hitting coach with the Nationals and a hitting coach with the Phillies.

Damon Hollins is now the first base coach for the Royals, but in 2001 he roamed the outfield at Telus Field. In 69 games with the Trappers, the fourth-round draft pick of the Atlanta Braves batted .276 with 30 RBI and 29 runs.

Former MLB pitcher Chris Reitsma – the senior director of operations at Calgary’s Webber Academy – does scouting work for the Royals, as well.

In the broadcast booth, fans of the Royals can listen to Steve Stewart doing the play-by-play on the radio. Stewart was a broadcaster of Calgary Cannons games in the late 1980s.

BALTIMORE ORIOLES

Anthony Sanders, the first base coach of the Orioles, started his pro playing career in 1993 in Medicine Hat with the Blue Jays of the Pioneer League. He registered 44 runs, 33 RBI and a .262 batting average in 63 games with the Baby Jays.

The product of Tucson, Arizona toiled in the minors for 13 seasons and forced his way into a total of 13 MLB games with the Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays during his travels. He has worked as the O’s first base coach since 2020.

The Orioles also drafted right-handed pitcher Cohen Achen this year.

NEW YORK YANKEES

Lefty pitcher Edgar Barclay will be keeping a close eye on the postseason run of the Bronx Bombers this year.

The 26-year-old was a 15th-round draft pick of the Yankees in 2019, one year after he played in the Western Canadian Baseball League with the Edmonton Prospects. Barclay went 3-1 with a 2.54 ERA and 44 Ks in his eight games and 39 innings of regular season and playoff baseball for the Prospects during the 2018 season. Two of his starts were postseason victories that summer.

Since joining the Yankees, Barclay has ascended to the Triple-A level where he has served as a starting pitcher with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders of the International League over the last two seasons. He has gone 8-12 with 167 strikeouts in 187-plus innings at Triple-A.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES

Fans of Canadian baseball may look to Ontario manager Rob Thomson as a good reason to cheer on the Phillies, but there is an Alberta link to the squad, as well.

Ruben Amaro Jr. is no longer the general manager of the Phillies – a post he held from 2009 to 2015 – but he is still a big part of the baseball community in his hometown of Philadelphia.

In his playing days, Amaro Jr. was an outfielder who got his first taste of Triple-A action in Edmonton. He played 82 games with the Trappers in 1990 and led the club in stolen bases that year with 32 swipes. The Stanford University alum returned to the Trappers in 1991 and over 121 contests finished tops on the team in runs (95), hits (154), doubles (42), and extra-base hits (his 51 were tied with Lee Stevens).

He played 485 MLB games with the Angels, Phillies and Cleveland.

Amaro Jr. is now a colour commentator on Phillies TV broadcasts, a regular sports radio contributor and the host of The Phillies Show podcast.

Also in the system is Wesley Moore, a southpaw pitcher from Surrey, B.C. who trained at the Vauxhall Academy of Baseball in southern Alberta.

The undrafted free agent has been working as a reliever in the minor leagues, where he split his 2024 season between the High-A Jersey Shore BlueClaws and the Double-A Reading Fightin Phils. Moore appeared in 28 games this year and racked up 33 strikeouts over 17.2 innings of work. His career numbers in the minors include a 4-1 record, six saves and 2.33 ERA in 70 games and 81 innings.

Moore’s coach at Vauxhall, Les McTavish, also scouts for the Phillies.

LOS ANGELES DODGERS

Canadian baseball boosters are drawn to Dodger first baseman Freddie Freeman, whose late mother Rosemary grew up in Ontario. Freeman has suited up for Canada at the World Baseball Classic and professed his love for the country.

Alberta baseball fans of a certain vintage, meanwhile, can recall when Fernandomania swept through Alberta in 1991. Southpaw Cy Young Award winner Fernando Valenzuela pitched in both Calgary and Edmonton that summer. Injuries had taken a toll on “El Toro” by that point, but Valenzuela was eager to get his career back on track.

The Mexican started just seven games for the Trappers – going 3-3 with 36 Ks in 36.2 innings and a 7.12 ERA – but he was able to turn things around and put in meaningful innings with a handful of MLB teams in the 1990s.

These days, Valenzuela is a Spanish radio and TV simulcast broadcaster covering the Dodgers.

MILWAUKEE BREWERS

The Brew Crew has some strong Alberta content.

Edmonton-born lefthander Rob Zastryzny has been bouncing between minor-league and major-league rosters since 2016. Now a member of the Brewers, the 6-foot-3 hurler has suffered from injuries much of the season. The reliever has been out since late July with elbow tendinitis and was transferred to the 60-day injured list on Sept. 12th. Zaztryzny won a World Series ring with the Cubs during his first MLB season.

Calgarian Jim Henderson pitched for the Brewers between 2012 and 2014 before finishing his playing career with the New York Mets. Henderson was an original member of the Calgary Dawgs, a high-end academy team that evolved into the Okotoks Dawgs Academy and WCBL franchise. In 2019, Henderson returned to the Brewers organization and worked his way up through the minors, this time as a coach. He was named the bullpen coach of the parent club in 2022 and 2023 and is now the assistant pitching coach for the Brewers.

Working alongside Henderson is bullpen coach Charlie Greene, who shares some links to Cowtown. The former MLB catcher played one of his final seasons in Calgary with the Cannons. Greene called Foothills Stadium home in 2002, when he played 99 games for the Cannons. The Miami, Florida native produced 80 hits, 34 runs, 41 RBI and 24 doubles that year.

Tyler Hollick, the general manager of the Okotoks Dawgs, also works as a scout for the Brewers.

SAN DIEGO PADRES

More Calgary links can be found in San Diego.

Major league coaching assistant Morgan Burkhart cut his teeth as a manager with the independent league Calgary Vipers between 2009 and 2011. The Missouri product guided the Vipers to a Golden League championship in his first season and posted an overall record of 155 wins and 95 losses during his tenure in Calgary.

Mark Grant, who is a TV colour analyst covering the Padres, pitched briefly for the Cannons. The righty from Illinois took the mound for Calgary on four occasions in 1992. He made the most of his three starts and 26 innings with the Cannons, turning in a complete game and a 4.15 ERA. Grant logged over 638 innings in the majors, most of them with the San Francisco Giants and the Padres.

And a Saskatchewan product with Alberta ties will be watching from the Padres’ minor league system. Biggar, Saskatchewan’s Garrett Hawkins spent the 2023 season with the High-A Fort Wayne Tincaps, going 0-2 with a 3.60 ERA in four starts before landing on the IL. What started as an oblique strain turned into the need for Tommy John surgery, leading the Vauxhall Academy product to miss the entire 2024 season.

San Diego also drafted Vicarte Domingo this year. The right-handed pitcher spent time with the Okotoks Dawgs in the WCBL and, more recently, the Edmonton Riverhawks in the West Coast League (WCL).

Meanwhile, former MLB pitcher Lou Pote – a coach with Dawgs Academy and the head coach of the Okotoks Dawgs in the WCBL – is a scout for the Padres.

NEW YORK METS

Hitting coach Eric Chavez broke through at the Triple-A level with the Trappers before establishing himself as an everyday third baseman for the Oakland Athletics.

The Californian, who is now a hitting coach for the Mets, moved from Double-A to the A’s in the 1998 season. In between both levels, Chavez suited up in 47 games for Edmonton. As a Trapper, he batted .325 with 11 homers, 40 RBI, 38 runs and 18 doubles.

Former long-time Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons was a fan favourite among baseball fans in Canada. He’s now the bench coach with the Mets but in between coaching gigs, “Gibby” had time to hit the banquet circuit for some speaking engagements. In 2023, his stops included Weyburn, Saskatchewan and Veteran, Alberta.

ATLANTA BRAVES

There was a time not so long ago, when Calgary baseball fans looked forward to the Braves qualifying for the postseason so they could watch Mike Soroka take the mound. Alas, those days are gone with him in Chicago now.

But there are some connections to Alberta, nonetheless.

Bullpen catcher José Yépez was an undrafted catcher who started his pro career with the Medicine Hat Blue Jays in 2001. He didn’t get to the big leagues as a player but he did play at Triple-A for six years. The Venezuelan has been a bullpen catcher with the Braves since 2017.

Joe Simpson has been a broadcaster for so long that it’s hard to remember that he played MLB baseball in the 1970s and 1980s. The Oklahoma native suited up in over 600 games for the Dodgers, Mariners and Royals. His final season was with the Trappers in 1984. That year he was a solid contributor through 135 PCL games. Simpson scored 73 runs, manufactured 73 RBI, stole 16 bases and smacked 19 doubles for Edmonton.

When Simpson graduated to the broadcast booth, he covered the Mariners for five seasons and then joined the Braves in 1992. He’s been with the Georgia team ever since and was inducted into the Atlanta Braves Hall of Fame in 2018.

Atlanta also drafted Mason Guerra, Titus Dumitru and Eric Hartman this year – all three played in the WCBL for the Okotoks Dawgs.