Apr 17, 2021 4 min read

The Frontier League’s grand plan for a 16-team circuit will have to wait another year.

Citing travel restrictions and the closure of the U.S./Canada border, the league announced Saturday night that the Trois-Rivieres Aigles and expansion Ottawa Titans will not play in 2021, and that a team from the Province of Quebec will be formed by the Aigles and Quebec Capitales and play at least the first half of the season in the United States.

“With the continued closure of the U.S/Canada border and the uncertainty of when it will reopen, the Ottawa Titans, in conjunction with the Frontier League, have agreed to make 2022 our inaugural season,” Titans vice-president Regan Katz said in a release. “This was not an easy decision, but we believe it is the right decision. We thank our staff, players, coaches and manager for their commitment to the Ottawa Titans and look forward to seeing them on our field next May.”

The Frontier League had expanded by merging with the now-defunct Can-Am League in late 2019. The merger brought Quebec, Trios-Rivieres and three East Coast teams — the New York Boulders, New Jersey Jackals and Sussex County Miners — to the Frontier League. The league did not play in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and Ottawa was added as an expansion team for 2021.

With border restrictions still in place last week, the league told the three Canadian teams they had seven days to decide if they would play all of their games, through at least July 1, in the United States. Ottawa and Trois-Rivieres declined.

“After having to suspend our 2020 season, we were excited to play 2021 with our full 16 teams and to bring the tremendous market of Ottawa into the Frontier League,” deputy commissioner Steve Tahsler said in a release. “Unfortunately, the continued and understandable impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are causing us to change our plans. Our three Canadian members have proven to be tremendous additions and great partners. We look forward to resuming a full league schedule in 2022.”

The Quebec team will be Canadian players from the Titans, Aigles and Capitales’ current rosters along with the remaining players under contract to Quebec. Non-Canadian players on the Ottawa and Trois-Rivieres rosters will be subject to a dispersal draft among the other 13 teams. The dispersal draft will be held Thursday.

Quebec will spend the first half of the season on the road and visit each of the 13 other ballparks, beginning May 27 at Gateway. Should the border open, they will play home games at Stade Canac in Quebec City and Stade Quillorama in Trois-Rivieres. Up to 27 home games are possible. If the border is not opened by July 23, then all remaining games will be played at the opponent’s ballpark.

“It is a situation completely out of our control,” said Trois-Rivieres president Rene Martin. “There is no perfect solution, but the possibility of maybe presenting some professional baseball while preparing for 2022 is the best scenario for us.”

What this means for the Wild Things is that they will play in a three-team division and have three additional home games.

Washington will be in the Can-Am Conference’s Northeast Division with New Jersey and Sussex County. The Quebec team will play in a three-team division with New York and Tri-City. The Midwestern Conference remains the same with Gateway, Florence, Southern Illinois and Evansville in the West Division, and Lake Erie, Joliet, Schaumburg and Windy City in the Central Division.

The dates of the Wild Things’ home games from the original schedule remain the same but the opponents will be different. The road schedule dates also remain the same with the opponents changing as well.

An updated schedule will be made available Monday, but a version of the league schedule was leaked Saturday night on Twitter. It has Washington opening at Florence for two games May 27-28, going to Lake Erie for three games May 29-31 and returning to Florence for two more contests June 2-3. The home opener, according to the schedule on social media and other sources, will be against Quebec June 4-6 and will be part of a nine-game homestand. The Wild Things will play 15 home games in an 18-game stretch from June 4 to June 24.