Titans Join Canadian Premier Baseball League for 2020-21 Season
The Canadian Premier Baseball League welcomed the Titans Baseball Club as its newest expansion franchise on Thursday. Ontario’s top Elite loop embarked on an unprecedented expansion, boosting its teams from six to eleven for the 2020-21 season. The Titans were selected to join the province’s most prestigious league—a feather in the cap of a fledgling high performance baseball organization.
League President Chris Robinson welcomed the five new franchises and praised the original six franchises in his press release: “We have a strong belief in the product within the league that the original franchises have developed, and by adding five more exciting and reputable franchises, we look to make the league that much more competitive.”
Director of Player Development and Baseball Operations Lawrence Vera was pleased by the Titans’ promotion to the CPBL. He acknowledged the quality of the league and its implications for Titans players: “Having the Titans in the CPBL gives our players the opportunity to play against the best competition in the province.” Vera added that “Our players have their dreams set on attending post-secondary schools in the USA and Canada. Playing in the CPBL is only going to help them achieve these goals.”
The CPBL was established in Spring 2015 by five of the top Elite baseball organizations in the province—the Ontario Blue Jays, Toronto Mets, Great Lake Canadians, Ontario Nationals, and Team Ontario. All five left the PBLO and established a new 16U/18U loop that commenced play in Spring 2016. The CPBL added the Fieldhouse Pirates as its sixth franchise prior to its inaugural season. Jim Stewart, currently the Titans Coordinator of Marketing, Recruiting, and Communications, served as a Head Coach in the CPBL in its first season: “It was very balanced league and the CPBL produced so many MLB draft picks with their first crop of players."
The province’s top league has established a stellar reputation for producing high-quality baseball players. Many MLB picks, including Josh Naylor of the San Diego Padres, were taken from the CPBL in its first five seasons and hundreds of US College and Canadian University scholarships were earned by players from the six original franchises.
Coach Vera acknowledged the challenges of playing in such a superior league as an expansion franchise: “While the Titans organization is still young, we have made some explosive moves to ensure that our players are getting the most value for their investment. Joining the CPBL is one of those foundation-boosting moves. It adds another layer to our program that already had a robust development plan offered to our players.”
Joining the Titans as CPBL expansion franchises will be the Windsor Selects, Watson Elite Baseball Club (Ottawa), the Terriers Baseball Club, and the Ontario Royals (Oakville). This ambitious expansion transforms the CPBL into a truly province-wide league with teams based in Windsor (Selects), St. Mary’s (Nationals), London (Canadians), Burlington (Pirates), Oakville (Royals), Mississauga (Jays and Terriers), Toronto (Mets), Vaughan (Astros), Newmarket-Aurora (Titans), and Ottawa (Watson EBC).
See also CPBL PRESS RELEASE on July 9, 2021 “CPBL Expands to 11 Franchises”