Signed, Healed, Ready to Deliver

It’s been a tough couple of years for Calgary’s Mike Soroka.

The Atlanta Braves ace has torn his Achilles tendon twice, requiring three surgeries, all while navigating the restrictions around COVID-19.

He got back onto the field in 2022, albeit briefly, and believes he’s finally in line for a “normal” off-season heading into the new year.

Alberta’s 2022 Pro Connections

The 2022 baseball season is officially underway.

Scouring the rosters of all Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball teams, there is certainly no shortage of connections to Alberta on the field.

We’ve compiled a list of players who were born here, trained here or played here with the Western Canadian Baseball League.

Celebrating Baseball Alberta’s 2021

It wasn’t the usual banquet with all the fixings, but the Baseball Alberta annual awards ceremony still had a celebratory air to it.

While “unprecedented” feels like one of the most over-used words of the past couple of years, 2021 will certainly go down as one that officials won’t forget any time soon.

We recap the awards, some of the speeches and what Baseball Alberta president Jon Oko had to say in this story.

Soaking It All In

We take a look at the World Series celebrations of Albertans Mike Frostad and Mike Soroka.

Both men helped the Atlanta Braves achieve baseball’s ultimate goal.

What to Expect From Soroka in 2021

Perhaps the most telling predictor of Mike Soroka’s 2021 season cannot be found in glossy magazines, websites devoted to the Atlanta Braves, or online fantasy baseball tools.

Maybe baseball watchers should look to Frederic Horowitz, Margaret Brogan and Robert Herzog for answers.

Opening It Up

The last time we saw Calgarian Mike Soroka take the mound for the Atlanta Braves, he was breaking new ground.

It was Game 3 of the National League Division Series (NLDS) against the St. Louis Cardinals – an exciting 3-1 victory for Atlanta – and Soroka struck out seven batters through seven innings while surrendering no walks, just two hits and one earned run.

It’s been a long time since that game at Busch Stadium on Oct. 6, 2019, and it feels even longer with the COVID-19 pandemic that has cancelled and postponed baseball games at all levels this year.

What to Expect from Soroka in 2020

The 2019 Major League Baseball (MLB) campaign was a revelation for Calgary pitcher Mike Soroka.

A quick look at his accomplishments from last year shows that. He was a National League (NL) Rookie of the Year runner-up; he finished sixth in NL Cy Young voting; he won the Tip O’Neill Award, which honours Canada’s best baseball player; he pitched a three-up, three-down inning in the MLB All-Star Game; and he was a finalist for the Lou Marsh Award, given annually to the nation’s top athlete. Those are just the Coles Notes on a season filled with impressive firsts for the young man.

So, what can we expect from the 22-year-old during his sophomore season?

Alberta’s All-Decade Squad

‘Tis the season for year-end and decade-end lists.

We decided to put a different spin on those lists with a roster of Alberta’s baseball talent to suit up between 2010 and 2019.

From an MLB phenom to college stars to women’s national team stalwarts, take a look at who we think deserves recognition for their performances.

Soroka Just Getting Started

It’s a frightening scenario for opposing batters next season: an improved Mike Soroka on the mound in 2020.

In some ways, that hardly seems possible.

The towering right-handed pitcher from Calgary is coming off a storybook rookie season for the Atlanta Braves that saw him post a 13-4 record, 2.68 earned run average (ERA) and 142 strikeouts over 174.2 innings.

Historic Performance

We are still buzzing from Calgarian Mike Soroka’s historic outing for the Atlanta Braves in Game 3 of the National League Division Series (NLDS) against the St. Louis Cardinals.

The former Calgary PBF Redbirds pupil pitched seven innings of one-run baseball, allowing just two hits and no walks. The 22-year-old also struck out seven batters and, while he didn’t personally get the win, Soroka set the table for a dramatic ninth-inning comeback that earned the Braves a 3-1 victory.

During the Busch Stadium performance, the righthander put himself in the record books for several reasons.