In his fourth year as President of the South West Baseball League, Aaron Tycoles is proud of many things, including how many teams are in the league, how good the teams are and the fact the future is bright for many of the teams going forward.
"It's been very exciting," Tycoles says when talking about the growth of the league over the past four seasons. "My involvement goes back, I think I started as a player back in 1998, had a little brief period where I went to the Manitoba Senior League, but the (South West) League has always been important. At one point, we were down to three teams, so to get up to 11, which is the most we have ever had this year, it's just great. The two Brandon teams have added a little bit extra to the league. It's been good to see and most games are pretty competitive overall, it's really good to see."
In both the North and South Division, there are tight races with every game having a little extra meaning, and it's that parity that makes Tycoles believe any team can capture the championship. "Looking at that North Division, you can go from second with a chance of making provincials all the way to missing the playoffs in the span of just a couple games if you lose the wrong couple of games. The middle of that division has been great. In the South, between two and four, they're closely grouped together, so it's been great to see. The overall parity in the league has stood out, even with a couple young teams that are maybe struggling a little bit at the bottom, but at least they are not winless for the season, they've got a couple wins under their belt. It's very positive."
Those young teams and many young players are a prime example of why Tycoles believes the league is in a strong place not just now, but going forward. "Obviously, the minor ball numbers have been up and down post COVID, but you're seeing them going in a positive direction. I know in the Rivers team for example, that's where I live, they've seen an infusion of youth this year with a group of kids that have had success in minor ball. That's where Souris is at with a really young team and you're seeing young guys starting to populate other teams like Hamiota, Deloraine, Boissevain, they're bringing in younger guys, Wawanesa, too. It's great to see we have young guys coming in and hopefully all 11 teams can remain on solid footing. Not really sure if other communities will be close to having a team but the main thing now is keeping the 11 we have strong going forward."
Being a baseball lifer, Tycoles knows that these teams mean a great deal to their respective communities and it's a big reason why the organizations are successful. "It's so great to see. The vibe around the ball diamonds are a lot different when you have a senior team, you can tell when there is a senior game going on. My daughter had a practice in Rivers recently and all the cars are driving by the girls having their practice and everyone was wondering what was going on, well, the Comets were in town. It becomes a social outing, we see the same people coming to games all the time. I've been in Boissevain the last couple of years and Deloraine one year to present the league championship trophy and you see it's a gathering spot for people in the community. They support their local players and support their local teams, it becomes important for the communities and it's always great to see the fans come out and support it. It becomes a big part for the town and the players."
Senior ball players having a place to keep playing the sport they love, that at the core of the South West League is something that Tycoles really cherishes and it means a lot to many. "It's awesome. For me, I grew up in Reston, I was a fan of the Reston Rockets, watched my dad play for the Reston Rockets, you hope one day you'll get a chance to play for them and when it happens, it's pretty cool. The game of baseball adds to the life long friendships of those guys, it's so important and for the young guys to come in and be around guys that have played college baseball and they learn so much more when they play with those older players. Guys thrive and love it and they keep playing. Even now, there's a few guys in their mid-40's still playing and you do that because you love the guys you're playing with and love the game. It's great to have a place to keep playing the game you love, that's for sure."
As the regular season hits the home stretch, Tycoles says anyone can win it all and at the end, he believes no matter who represents the South West Baseball League at provincials, they're going to make some noise. "It's going to be interesting to see how things play out in those first couple of rounds. I think everybody knows Oak River and Boissevain are pretty strong, but there are good enough pitchers on some of those other teams that will push them, that's for sure. Some of those middle series will be interesting and it'll be fun to see. Hopefully it stays competitive all the way through. For the three teams that are going to head to provincials in Winnipeg and the one team that will head to the A provincials in Carberry, hopefully our league has success and we can bring back a provincial title or two. We'll see how it finishes up here."
The full schedule for the remaining South West Baseball League games can be found here: South West Baseball League - Schedule