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Boys of summer? Hopefully: Intercounty Baseball League eyes July opener

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The Intercounty Baseball League is delaying its planned first pitch to July in hopes of holding a viable 2021 season.

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Originally set to begin June 3, the historic loop is now targeting Canada Day or July 15 as possible start dates. Scenarios being considered will allow clubs to play 21 to 25 games rather than the usual 36-game regular season and if reasonable, permit some fans at diamonds.

“We’re operating on the assumption by the time July 1 rolls around, the world will be a different place,” IBL commissioner John Kastner said. “We realize now a June start was unlikely. With the increased rollout of vaccines, that gives us eight to 10 weeks (of runway). We’re hopeful a lot of the (COVID) restrictions will fall away when we start flipping pages on the calendar.

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“My goal is that we have baseball this year.”

Historically, the league crowns its champion around Labour Day Weekend. If they get to the field on time, that will be about when the regular schedule finishes.

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“We’re going to remain nimble as to what happens with the playoffs,” Kastner said. “We might make a decision on what they will look like inside of a 10-day window. It could be just four teams with a truncated playoff.  All ideas are good ones and flexibility is going to be a key for us on the path to victory in getting to play.” 

So far, all eight franchises have committed to participate this summer. Last year, six-time defending champ Barrie, Kitchener and Brantford opted out of planning for a shortened 2020 season, which was eventually scrapped.

“If we’re allowed to play legally, we’ll hang in there to the bitter end,” said London Majors co-owner and manager Roop Chanderdat. “We want to play. We owe it to the fans and players.”

The league has brought on Tim Rindlisbacher, who has served as team doctor for the OHL’s Mississauga Steelheads, as its chief medical officer of health. He served in a similar capacity with the Ontario Hockey Federation to help get kids back on the ice and was a consultant to the National Hockey League Players Association on its return-to-play plans.

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“He’s a great resource for us and is in regular contact with provincial doctors,” Kastner said. “He’ll design the return-to-play plans for all eight teams to fit their circumstances in each public health unit. Some communities are more stringent based on their rate of infection and vaccination levels.”

The league will not alter its rules for imports, allowing four per roster. But travel restrictions and economic factors could see clubs shy away from bringing them into Canada this time.

“That decision will likely be made for us,” Kastner said. “Some teams are holding out hope by August, it might not be a problem. You have players from the United States and a lot of them are already vaccinated. It’s also not unusual for players who are U.S. citizens to be already living here that would be considered imports.

“We’ll see how it plays out.” 

If they get a green light, every team will need at least a mini-training camp. The IBL has not held an official game for 19 months.

“The boys will need some time,” Chanderdat said. “You can’t just go right into games in this sport. Hopefully, we’ll get some outdoor practices and then move into a schedule.”

rpyette@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/RyanatLFPress

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