There was a time in this fair land when the baseball was not professional.
But now, Canada’s Intercounty Baseball League, a semi-professional league which began play in 1919, has turned fully professional and rebranded as the Canadian Baseball League for the 2026 season.
The league, which has nine teams in southern Ontario in the greater Toronto area from Barrie, north of Toronto, west to Chatham, and in Toronto itself, will start the 2026 season in the second week of May, 2026, playing a 48-game regular season schedule, six games longer than previous seasons.
“Fan interest in our League has exploded to historic levels,” said CBL Commissioner Ted Kalnins in a league-issued press release. “The quality of baseball has always been top-rate, with players drawn from across Canada, Latin America and Japan, but the main engine of our growth has been significantly enhanced fan experience, with fun in-game entertainment, contests, unique theme nights, and accessible players, all at a very affordable price for an entire family.”
Sixty-four players with either MLB or minor league experience played in the IBL in 2025, including former All-Star and World Series champion Fernando Rodney, who pitched for the Hamilton Cardinals.
The newly-renamed league will carry forward the history of the IBL. The league’s release announcing the rebranding noted that the Hanlan’s Point Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research had helped the league to consolidate historical information, artifacts, and photos over the previous year.
“Our history is what made our future possible,” Kalnins said in the league’s release. “Now, the Canadian Baseball League is ready to write the next chapter in the Canadian baseball story – one that will create an even better, more engaging, more memorable experience for our players, our communities, and most of all, our fans.”
