League Playoffs for five consecutive seasons, the Yorkton Cardinals entered the 2014 season hoping to give the city playoff baseball in the WMBL for the first August in a half decade when the team was assembled leading up to the summer. Returning key contributors from the 2013 team as well as bringing in a mix of WMBL veterans and fresh new faces from other colleges, the Cardinals goal was accomplished when they finished above the defending champion Melville Millionaires for the last playoff spot in the East Division.
Ending the playoff drought, the Cardinals would be given a tough first round matchup as they would remain playing an East Division opponent in a best of five series with the regular season champion Regina Red Sox in a battle between first and third place in the East.
Finishing with a 19-27 record at the end of the regular season following a tough 3-7 stretch over the last ten games of the season, the bulk of which was spent on the road in Alberta, the Cardinals would be in tough as the series began at Currie Field on the weekend in playing a Regina Red Sox ballclub that finished 11 games ahead in the East Division during the regular season. Those problems would continue as a rain delay would push back Game One a day, forcing the Cardinals to adjust their routine after already being on the road.
Leading into Game One the Cardinals wouldn't have much of a problem in naming their starter for the team's first playoff game in five years, handing veteran starting pitcher Jeff Pool the ball for the first game of the series as the single season leader in innings pitched for the Cards would look to the ballclub proud in their return to the playoffs. Pool had an up and down 2-4 regular season, but sticking around with the Cardinals for multiple seasons was the easy choice to take the mound to begin the series.
Pool started the game in command as both starting pitchers would blank batters for the first two innings before the Regina Red Sox drew first blood on Pool, scoring two runs in the bottom of the third to take the lead. Regina would add one more in the bottom of the fifth before scoring four in the sixth to blow the game wide open in the series opener.
Pool would leave seeing seven runs cross the plate during his playoff start, giving up nine hits despite striking out 10 batters in what was a weird start for the Cardinals pitcher who sadly did not end his career in Yorkton on the high note he may have deserved.
With Pool out of the game in the seventh, Regina would turn the game into a blowout with a nine run inning on reliever Max Chadsey that was the final nail in the coffin of what was an eventual 16-2 final that turned Game One of the series into quite the statement win for the Regina Red Sox after the rain delay.
Regina would score 16 runs on 16 hits while the Cardinals would score just two runs on nine hits in the loss, giving up five errors in the field to further their troubles in a game that was an all-around disappointment for Yorkton who were looking to potentially steal homefield advantage before going back to Jubilee Park.
Instead the Cards were put into a Game Two in Regina where Yorkton would be looking to win to avoid the sweep as well as to potentially set up a situation where the Cardinals could win the series at Jubilee Park in a game that would be the turning point for both ballclubs in the first round, best of five series.
Jamie Whitehead would get the start, hoping to build off of his 2-3 regular season where he amassed a 4.15 ERA in nine starts.
Yorkton and Regina would trade early runs as the Red Sox would take the lead in the bottom of the second before in the top of the third Zach Mihic would score on a hit from Matt Collier to tie the game at 1-1.
In a low scoring game the turning point would sadly come in the bottom of the fifth as the Red Sox would break the deadlock with two crucial runs to go up 3-1 in a game that was dominated with pitching throughout as a talented and experienced Red Sox staff would shut down the Cardinals bats after getting the slim lead to hold onto their two run difference in a 3-1 final that would send Yorkton back to Jubilee Park needing two wins just to force a fifth game back in Regina.
The worst case scenario for Yorkton going into the weekend at Currie Field now a reality for the Cardinals following back to back defeats to begin the series.
In a must win Game Three the Cardinals would hand Cole Roark the ball as the starting pitcher, hoping that the third arm in the playoff rotation would be the pitcher to restore their playoff hopes with a big win in front of a home crowd at Jubilee Park on Monday night.
For a third straight game the Regina Red Sox bats would get going early on, scoring two big runs in the top of the second inning on Roark to go out in front at Jubilee Park and steal all of the momentum from Yorkton who were hoping on building off a strong home crowd which was silenced early by the Regina lead.
Regina would add two more runs in the top of the fourth inning and while Yorkton answered back with two of their own in the bottom of the inning, those two runs would be the final nail in the coffin of the Cardinals season as they could not come back from the 4-0 deficit in a 4-2 final to get swept by Regina in three straight games.
Despite the first round exit, coach John McVey was proud of the effort of the ballplayers who came to Yorkton this season in returning to playoff baseball.
"It hurts to watch these guys go out in the first round because they all put in a lot of effort in making sure that this team made the playoffs this season as a goal they wanted to accomplish," says McVey. "A lot of guys returned from the 2013 team and everyone embraced each other in the months we were here and all of these players hold a special place with me as a great group of young ballplayers."
Yorkton's season will go down as a success for a ballclub that hasn't been able to experience the postseason for a half decade up until this year where the Cardinals built a team that showed enough quality over the course of two long months to finish the regular season with a postseason berth, a stepping stone that will hopefully translate into more success in 2015 when Yorkton builds a new roster for another WMBL season.
Making the playoffs, the 2014 Cardinals will go down in ballclub history for bringing the team back to the postseason.
In 2015 they will hope to build on that accomplishment.
