Red Sox, Gulls to meet in WCBL finals starting tonight

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on August 14, 2025.

sports@medicinehatnews.com@MedicineHatNews

The Western Canadian Baseball League’s championship will spend the offseason in a new city.

The Regina Red Sox and Sylvan Lake Gulls meet in the WCBL finals starting tonight in Regina, with both clubs vying for the Harry Hallis Memorial Trophy. It’s the first season since 2021 when the Lethbridge Bulls were crowned champions, that the Okotoks Dawgs will not end the season atop the mountain.

The Gulls downed the Dawgs in the West division final, holding Okotoks to ‘just’ a three-peat. On the other side of the league, the Red Sox beat the Saskatoon Berries 6-2 on Tuesday to win the East division finals 2-1 and punch a ticket to the finals for the first time since 2019.

Brady Bye had two hits and three RBIs in the win Tuesday for the Red Sox as they out-hit the Berries 9-7.

The Gulls finished the regular season with a higher record than the Red Sox but will forego hosting Game 1 of the series, with the lengthy travel setting up a 1-2 schedule that has Game 1 tonight in Regina and Game 2 slated in Sylvan Lake on Friday, then if needed, a decisive Game 3 Saturday also at home.

This is the first WCBL finals appearance for the Gulls, coming in their fifth season in the league. They set a league record last season with 44 wins, losing to the Dawgs in the West final. This season they finished third overall in the league, second in the West, and overcame the Bulls and Dawgs en route to the finals.

In four playoff games, Sylvan Lake tallied 29 runs, 45 hits, 24 RBI, 65 total bases, 15 walks, eight doubles, two homers, five stolen bases, slashing a .317 team batting average.

Sylvan Lake pitchers worked a 1.75 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, holding opposing batters to a .243 average, recording 30 strikeouts and allowing just 10 walks through 36 innings.

Regina was winless in the WCBL playoffs since appearing in the 2019 finals, the second of back-to-back years they lost in the finals, falling to the Medicine Hat Mavericks in 2018.

The Red Sox, making good on first-round losses to the Mavs in 2022 and 2023, swept Medicine Hat 2-0 in the first round before overcoming the record-setting Berries in the East finals.

In the playoffs, the Red Sox have thus far tallied 37 runs, 57 hits, 32 RBI, 86 total bases, 14 walks, 10 doubles, five homers and eight stolen bases, to go along with a .297 team batting average.

Regina’s pitching staff enters the final with a 4.21 ERA, a 1.70 WHIP, a .297 opposition batting average, recording 37 strikeouts while allowing 22 walks through 47 innings.

The Red Sox and Gulls faced off just twice this regular season, with the Red Sox winning a June 22 doubleheader at Currie Field, taking both seven-inning contests 8-0 and 4-3.

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