The Saskatoon Berries have been an instant hit ever since they sprouted onto the Western Canadian Baseball League scene in 2024.
The Berries made the playoffs in their inaugural season with a 31-25 regular season record, and after beating Medicine Hat in the semi-finals, Saskatoon lost to the Moose Jaw Miller Express in the Eastern Division Final. The second-round exit put a terrific first season to bed, that saw Saskatoon sell an extraordinary number of Berries hats, and the second most tickets of WCBL teams.
Re-picked into the basket for 2025, the Berries are off to spectacular start this season with a stellar 13-2 record, led by a few berry blasters in the lineup.
After losing 9-0 in the season opener to Weyburn, Saskatoon has averaged over 10 runs a game to slug their way into early season success.
Berries outfielder Ethan Murdoch has been the top offensive threat through 15 games, currently top five in the WCBL in runs, runs batted in, and first in the league in home runs with five. It's a tight home-run-race on the Berries roster as Cory Wouters has four in 12 games, and Carter Beck has three homers in only nine games, each coming in the Berries massive 22-4 win in Moose Jaw on June 6.
Any good team also needs strong pitching, and the front of the Berries rotation each has an ERA under 5 after three starts. Starter Matt Whitney leads the league in wins with three, Alex Chumrau in a second-place logjam with two wins to his name. When the games have been close, three different Berries pitchers have picked up saves, that list highlighted by Texas native Clay Mixon who has 11 strikeouts in 5.2 innings pitched.
Murdoch, Wouters, and Beck are all Saskatchewan born talent, joining Cam Marshak, Nathan Houston, Adam Beamin, Merek Yeager, Jackson Hodgson, Dallen Rude, Colin Plain, and Carter Kopp on the Berries roster as local players. Outside of that a few more Canadians make up the roster joining a swath of international talent coming from college baseball just like the Saskatchewan group.
After the city went nearly a decade without junior baseball — leaving all the fun to Regina, Moose Jaw, Weyburn, and Swift Current — the newest team out of Saskatoon has been a more than welcome addition to the summer landscape.
If the uniforms and team moniker aren't enough to rope fans in for a game, a six-game win streak and 9-1 record in their last ten might be enough to get out to the ballpark.
See the Berries swing for the fences Tuesday and Wednesday at home against the Sylvan Lake Gulls, the first pitch set for 7:00 PM each night at NexGen Patch at Cairns Field in Saskatoon.