Royals to start season with May long weekend 3-in-3
GUELPH – The Guelph Royals are to jump right into their regular season when the Intercounty Baseball League’s 2023 season begins in May.
While the IBL’s season is to start with its traditional game in Toronto May 14 with the Maple Leafs hosting the defending champion London Majors a few days ahead of the remainder of the schedule, the Royals are slated to begin their campaign with three games in as many days on the Victoria Day weekend.
The Royals are to play the Hamilton Cardinals at Hamilton on the Friday night (May 19), host the Kitchener Panthers the following afternoon and then play the Leafs at Toronto on the Sunday afternoon.
Kitchener and the Brantford Red Sox are also to play three-in-threes that weekend while Hamilton, Welland Jackfish and Toronto are to play three times in four days with games on the Thursday night prior to the long weekend.
Teams are again to play 42 games apiece during the regular season.
While Guelph’s regular season is scheduled to begin May 19 at Hamilton, it’s slated to wrap up Aug. 20 at Toronto.
The opening weekend trio of games for the Royals is the first of four three-in-threes on their schedule.
Guelph’s home schedule includes 14 Saturday games and seven Tuesday games. The first four Saturday home games are to start at 1 p.m. while all the other games on the schedule carry 7:30 p.m. game times. First Saturday night game is set for June 17.
Longest homestand scheduled for the season is three games as they’re to host Hamilton Aug. 5, Barrie Aug. 8 and Kitchener Aug. 12. Of course rescheduled games due to rainouts could change that.
Most consecutive road games is also three, something they’re scheduled to do twice during the season. They’re to play at London July 9, Welland July 13 and Brantford July 14 while the second trio of consecutive road games is to see them play at London Aug. 1, Kitchener Aug. 3 and Hamilton Aug. 4.
Guelph’s schedule also includes back-to-back games against the same opponent six times. They’re to play in Welland May 25 and host the Jackfish May 27, play in Barrie June 1 and host the Baycats June 3, host the London Majors July 8 and play in London the following day, host the Brantford Red Sox July 18 and play in Brantford July 21, play at Hamilton Aug. 4 and host the Cardinals Aug. 5 and complete their regular season with games against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Hastings Stadium Aug. 19 and in Toronto Aug. 20.
Guelph finished in a three-way tie for first place with London and Welland with a 31-11 record, but lost a playoff game for first place to London and then was ousted by seventh-place Hamilton 3-2 in the best-of-five quarter-finals.
The Royals were 19-2 at Hastings Stadium in the regular season and they carry a pair of regular-season win streaks into the 2023 season. They won their final nine regular-season games last year and also won their last 14 home games of the regular season.
While the league is to operate with eight teams again this year, the membership is to grow to nine with the addition of a yet-to-be-named Chatham-Kent team for the 2024 season.
Guelph Royals 2023 Schedule
May 19: at Hamilton Cardinals, 7:35 p.m.
May 20: vs. Kitchener Panthers at Hastings Stadium, 1 p.m.
May 21: at Toronto Maple Leafs, 2 p.m.
May 25: at Welland Jackfish, 7:25 p.m.
May 27: vs. Welland Jackfish at Hastings Stadium, 1 p.m.
May 28: at Kitchener Panthers, 2 p.m.
May 30: vs. Brantford Red Sox at Hastings Stadium, 7:30 p.m.
June 1: at Barrie Baycats, 7:35 p.m.
June 3: vs. Barrie Baycats at Hastings Stadium, 1 p.m.
June 9: at Brantford Red Sox, 8 p.m.
June 10: vs. London Majors at Hastings Stadium, 1 p.m.
June 11: at Toronto Maple Leafs, 2 p.m.
June 13: vs. Welland Jackfish at Hastings Stadium, 7:30 p.m.
June 17: vs. Hamilton Cardinals at Hastings Stadium, 7:30 p.m.
June 18: at Welland Jackfish, 1:05 p.m.
June 20: vs. Barrie Baycats at Hastings Stadium, 7:30 p.m.
June 24: vs. London Majors at Hastings Stadium, 7:30 p.m.
June 25: at Kitchener Panthers, 5:15 p.m.
June 27: vs. Brantford Red Sox at Hastings Stadium, 7:30 p.m.
July 1: vs. Toronto Maple Leafs at Hastings Stadium, 1 p.m.
July 2: at Hamilton Cardinals, 2:05 p.m.
July 6: at Barrie Baycats, 7:35 p.m.
July 8: vs. London Majors at Hastings Stadium, 7:30 p.m.
July 9: at London Majors, 1:05 p.m.
July 13: at Welland Jackfish, 7:25 p.m.
July 14: at Brantford Red Sox, 8 p.m.
July 15: vs. Kitchener Panthers at Hastings Stadium, 7:30 p.m.
July 18: vs. Brantford Red Sox at Hastings Stadium, 7:30 p.m.
July 21: at Brantford Red Sox, 8 p.m.
July 22: vs. Toronto Maple Leafs at Hastings Stadium, 7:30 p.m.
July 25: vs. Welland Jackfish at Hastings Stadium, 7:30 p.m.
July 27: at Barrie Baycats, 7:35 p.m.
July 29: vs. Hamilton Cardinals at Hastings Stadium, 7:30 p.m.
August 1: at London Majors, 7:35 p.m.
August 3: at Kitchener Panthers, 7:30 p.m.
August 4: at Hamilton Cardinals, 7:35 p.m.
August 5: vs. Hamilton Cardinals at Hastings Stadium, 7:30 p.m.
August 8: vs. Barrie Baycats at Hastings Stadium, 7:30 p.m.
August 12: vs. Kitchener Panthers at Hastings Stadium, 7:30 p.m.
August 16: at London Majors, 7:35 p.m.
August 19: vs. Toronto Maple Leafs at Hastings Stadium, 7:30 p.m.
August 20: at Toronto Maple Leafs, 2 p.m.
- Guelph Sports Journal