From coast to coast, baseball left its mark on sports fans north of the border in 2025.
While the Toronto Blue Jays dominated headlines with their breakthrough campaign, capturing the country’s imagination with their run to Game 7 of the World Series, the Vancouver Canadians continued to operate as one of the sport’s top minor-league organizations. And the club was honoured as such on Wednesday.
Vancouver, the Blue Jays’ high-A affiliate, was named a winner of Baseball America’s Bob Freitas Award, which honours the top clubs across each level of MiLB.
The Worcester Red Sox earned the triple-A award, and the Rocket City Trash Pandas took home the honours in double-A.
Canada’s lone remaining affiliated minor-league team, the Canadians led the Northwest League in attendance for the fourth straight season in 2025, drawing 277,990 fans to Nat Bailey Stadium in the heart of Vancouver.
Despite not advancing to the championship series for the first time since 2021, the Canadians boasted a 75-57 record over the course of the full season, pacing the six-team circuit with a plus-169 run differential. The winners of the first and second halves face off in the Northwest League Final, and with Vancouver finishing second in both, it was unable to play for another title.
Among the team’s top contributors was Blue Jays 2023 first-round pick Arjun Nimmala, who took the field in 120 games, hitting 13 home runs, 29 doubles and stealing 17 bases.
A pair of franchise records fell during the 2025 campaign, as well. Third baseman and 2024 fourth-rounder Sean Keys set the Canadians’ single-season home run mark, leaving the yard 19 times in 119 games.
Meanwhile, right-handed starter and 2024 fifth-rounder Jackson Wentworth broke the record for strikeouts and innings pitched in one year, punching out 116 batters while logging 124 frames of work.
Of course, breakout rookie Trey Yesavage also made a brief stop in Vancouver on his way to World Series stardom. The 22-year-old made four appearances with the Canadians — just one at home — and struck out 33 in 17.1 innings while allowing just three earned runs.
Yesavage was just one member of the Blue Jays’ AL pennant-winning squad to have pitched on the West Coast on their way to the big leagues. Addison Barger, David Schneider and Mason Fluharty all played for the Canadians in recent seasons, and manager John Schneider served three seasons as the skipper in Vancouver.
This is the second time the Canadians have earned the Bob Freitas Award, previously winning it in 2011 — their first season after becoming a Toronto affiliate.
The Canadians are currently in the midst of renovating Nat Bailey, the first phase of which was completed before the season began. The second phase, however, continued beyond Opening Day and is set to provide improved amenities for Vancouver players and staff.
But even with changes coming to their home park, Bailey credited the community for the organization’s success.
“I see brand new ballparks coming on and I see amenities they have. I can’t help but be jealous of that,” Bailey said. “But our stadium is the Vancouver Canadians. It’s an old-school ballpark in the middle of a neighbourhood … It’s seen a lot of fans, and a lot of baseball.”