The Border Cats’ season won’t be opening in late May as scheduled.
General Manager Tony DiPaolo says the Northwoods League made that decision because the state of Wisconsin has extended its order to stay at home until the end of May. That prevents any of the league’s Wisconsin teams from participating.
No new date has been announced, but DiPaolo says the league is “closely following” the situation in each of the six states it covers.
On top of Wisconsin’s extended “Safe at Home” order, DiPaolo admits the ban on non-essential cross-border travel and Ontario’s emergency order banning large gatherings are also stopping them from playing.
The Border Cats official is hopeful this year’s season can still happen if they can start playing by late June.
“If we can’t have 40 games, that’s the only time the league will look at cancelling the season. So that brings us to the end of June as a start date,” DiPaolo points out.
If the city is allowed to re-open Port Arthur Stadium, he says spectators could be seated two metres away from each other to maintain physical distancing.
“We hope that, obviously, this passes, and that we can resume some sort of regular life and bring baseball to Thunder Bay,” The General Manager says.
