Welcome to the HarbourCats blog

Back in May of 2009, I started the Victoria Seals Baseball Blog. Shortly thereafter, longtime friends Bubba and Darth jumped on board and all of a sudden we had a team of seasoned baseball fans pumping out blog posts. At the time we had no idea if the concept would go anywhere, but we were pleasantly surprised at the results.

Not only did the blog exceed our expectations, but so did the Victoria Seals. The city of Victoria embraced the team and over 200,000 Seals tickets were sold in 2009 and 2010. The grand old dame, Royal Athletic Park, received much-needed upgrades and it returned to its glory days of the 1950's. New heroes like Josh Arhart and Jamar Hill energized the city and it became fashionable to head out to the ballpark on a summer evening.

HarbourCats V logo

Sadly, out of nowhere, it all fell apart. The Seals folded in November 2010 and Victoria baseball fans were both saddened and angry that their team could be taken away in the blink of an eye. The city of Victoria was blamed by some, but others believed the real culprits were many miles away in the league office in Northern California. Two other well-run franchises in the league, the Calgary Vipers and Edmonton Capitals, would eventually cease operations following the 2011 season.

Immediately after the demise of the Seals, rumours swirled about other leagues that might setup shop in Victoria. Our hopes were realized in June of this year when the official announcement came: Baseball is coming back! Frankly, we couldn't be happier. The West Coast League is a stable outfit, team ownership is first class, local government is much more supportive and the front-office is staffed by experienced professionals. The last two summers have been quiet at Royal Athletic Park, but I firmly believe local baseball fans are in a better position now than they were back in 2010.

Of course, we'll be doing another baseball blog. We're reinventing ourselves as the Victoria HarbourCats Baseball Blog and we're very excited about the future. We hope that our loyal followers will remain with us and that new fans will come on board. However, our approach will be much the same: we'll bring you analysis, opinions and coverage that you won't find anywhere else. We'll give you a heads up on who to watch when you come to the ballpark, tell you why we think the team is playing so well (or poorly) and throw in some irreverent commentary that will hopefully make you chuckle. We can hardly wait for opening day.