2025 Preview – An Alberta Dugout Stories Article
Published April 28th, 2025
Article Written by Ian Wilson
No team was hotter than the Sylvan Lake Gulls heading into the postseason.
The Lake Boys rattled off 10 straight wins and finished the 2024 regular season with a Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) record 44 victories as they entered the playoffs.
Sylvan Lake disposed of the Brooks Bombers in the opening round best-of-three series with two straight wins, yielding just one run in those contests.
From there, the Gulls defeated their biggest rivals – the Okotoks Dawgs – in the first game of the West Division championship series and appeared to be in cruise control on their way to the WCBL final. But then the Dawgs did what they do. They held on for a 3-2 win in the second game and, after falling behind early in Game 3, Okotoks punched back with a 10-4 triumph at Gulls Stadium.
The Dawgs went on to win their third straight WCBL championship, and the Gulls and their fans were left nursing another gut punch. The playoff exit marked the third straight year that Sylvan Lake was eliminated by Okotoks. Despite their best regular season in franchise history, the Gulls were still left trying to figure out how to beat their southern foes.
Any road to a WCBL championship seems certain to go through Seaman Stadium at some point.
Can the Gulls slay that beast and get past their top rival in 2025? That’s the question that the brain trust in Sylvan Lake must answer if they hope to achieve what they desperately want, which is to see the Gulls name on the Harry Hallis Memorial Trophy that is given annually to the WCBL champs.
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