As signs of spring slowly appear the North Saskatchewan River Baseball League becomes a priority and baseball fever sets in across the Northwest.
Last season, the league had 15 teams and the 2011 version of the NSRBL will continue with 14 teams and a 13-game schedule meaning all teams will play each other once.
The league will once again include the North Battleford Beavers, Wilkie Brewers, Unity Cardinals, Unity/Wilkie Midgets, Kindersley Raiders, Standard Hill Lakers, Mervin Flyers, Meadow Lake White Sox, St. Walburg Reds, Lloydminster Meridian Twins, Border City Blue Jays, Lloydminster Expos, Lloydminster Juniors and Lloydminster Midget Twins.
The Edam Blue Sox were the one team to pull out from last year, as it was announced at the NSRBL annual general meeting Sunday they would take an indefinite leave of absence. For now, some former Blue Sox intend to drive down the road and suit up with Mervin.
The playoff format will once again be the same with the top eight teams making the playoffs and three rounds of best-of-three series starting at the end of July.
The NSRBL regular season will start following the May Long weekend and it is anticipated this league will once again be competitive and feature some of the best midget, junior, senior A2, A and AA teams in the province.
Last season, 11 teams from the NSRBL entered provincials and the consensus at the meeting was that most of those teams are interested once again in making a run at provincials. It is already known Meadow Lake will be hosting senior A2 provincials the first weekend in August.
A new website was developed for the league last season and was a big hit with over 18,500 visits. The NSRBL is well-supported in the nine communities and in just eight weeks the Lloydminster Meridian Twins will be set to defend their league championship.
