2025 WCBL coach of the year
looking forward to 2026 season
By Darren
Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex
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| Joe Carnahan throws out a ceremonial first pitch on July 28, 2023. |
In the spring of 2023, Carnahan had been out of the WCBL for an extended stretch after resigning as the head coach and general manager of the Swift Current 57’s in September of 2020. He was contacted by Berries president Steve Hildebrand and Berries director of baseball operations Mark Campbell about coming up to Saskatoon to become the expansion team’s first ever head coach.
During
those talks, Carnahan’s confidence grew that the team’s management wanted to
run the franchise the right way and give the incoming head coach the resources
he needed to succeed. On July 5, 2023, the Berries announced that Carnahan was
hired as the team’s new head coach.
“It was
pretty much a no-brainer to come up here just to have the opportunity to work
with this organization and just kind of help start a team from the ground up,”
said Carnahan. “It was just a great opportunity that you couldn’t pass up on.”
Having
built a legendary career in the WCBL in Swift Current, Carnahan’s arrival in
Saskatoon gave the Berries a huge shot of instant credibility. The product of
Ashland, Wisconsin, played for Swift Current from 2001 to 2007 and helped the
team win league championships in 2001, 2005 and 2006.
Carnahan
was named the circuit’s most valuable player in 2002 and 2005 and was playoff
MVP in 2001 and 2005. During those years, teams in the WCBL, which was then
known as the Western Major Baseball League, could have players that had
graduated from playing at post-secondary institutions.
Starting in
2008, Carnahan became Swift Current’s head coach, and he guided the team to
league championships in 2010, 2016 and 2017. Carnahan was named the league’s
coach of the year four times, when he was the skipper in Swift Current.
In coming
to Saskatoon, Carnahan said the biggest unknowns regarded what the fan support
would be and how the Berries operations would look on a day-to-day basis. Both
exceeded his expectations. While the Berries were an expansion club in 2024,
Carnahan expected the team would make some noise that season in the WCBL.
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| Joe Carnahan, left, shakes hands with Matthias Trondson on May 28, 2024. |
“It is set
up to win, and that was our expectation right away. I am just fortunate enough
to have built a lot of relations throughout my baseball career to help get some
guys up here right away that can compete at a high level and just kind of set
the foundation as far as the culture and the expectation baseball wise.”
The Berries
did stumble out of the gate to a 3-8 start in 2024. Under Carnahan’s watch,
they improved rapidly and finished the regular season with a 31-26 record to
place Saskatoon sixth in the 12-team circuit. They turned Cairns Field into the
hotspot place to be that spring and summer in Saskatoon attracting an average
of 1,931 spectators for their 26 regular season home dates.
In the
post-season, the Berries advanced to the WCBL’s East Division Championship
Series falling in the best-of-three set 5-3 in a series deciding Game 3 to the
Moose Jaw Miller Express. During that campaign, centre-fielder Carter Beck, who
was raised in Carnduff, Sask., rose to star status.
In the
Berries 14-1 Game 1 victory over the Express at Cairns Field in the East
Division final, Beck became the first Berries player to hit for the cycle. He
was named the WCBL rookie of the year and most outstanding Canadian player in
2024.
Carnahan
was pleased with how far the team came in that campaign.
“We
definitely had a rough start,” said Carnahan. “A lot of times in this league or
summer leagues it is a matter of when you actually get the most or all of your
guys up right away.
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| Joe Carnahan takes part in a media scrum on May 28, 2024. |
“We started
playing a little bit better, and we made a little bit of a run in the playoffs
and wish we could have got a little bit further. Moose Jaw played us well, and
we just couldn’t get by them.”
Last season
in year two of the franchise, the Berries hit the ground running returning a
number of key players including Beck, Ethan Menard, Jalen Freeman, Bailey
Sorensen, Cory Wouters and Colin Plain. The Berries would set a new WCBL record
for regular season wins topping the circuit with a 46-9 record. The old record
of 44 wins was set in 2024 by the Sylvan Lake Gulls.
Saskatoon
proceeded to down the Miller Express 2-1 in a best-of-three East Division
semifinal series. The Berries claimed a 16-12 victory in a series-deciding Game
3 with Beck hitting a grand slam in the bottom of the 10th inning.
In the East Division final, the Berries went to a series-deciding Game 3 against the Regina Red Sox. The Red Sox claimed a 6-2 victory and advanced on to win the WCBL championships.
Carnahan would be named the WCBL coach of the year due to the outstanding regular season the Berries had. It marked the fifth time he claimed that honour in his career and the first time he did so guiding the Berries.
He said the
Berries heartbreaks in the East Division final show how the level of play in
the league goes up in the post-season.
“To win a
championship in any league is hard,” said Carnahan. “You have short series in
the playoffs, your best of threes.
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| Joe Carnahan, left, shakes hands with Carter Beck on Aug. 11, 2024. |
“It was a
good series with them, three good games. They just came out on top, but we were
right there. If something goes one way or another a different way, we might
have come out on top, but tip your hat to them.”
The Berries will begin their third season on
May 28 when they travel to Weyburn to take on the Beavers. Saskatoon’s home
opener will be Saturday, May 30 at 4 p.m. at Cairns Field against the Beavers.
Going into the 2026 campaign, the Gordie Howe
Sports Complex is working in partnership with the Berries and the Sask
Entertainment Group to install 352 new seats as part of new stadium seating
sections on the field behind home plate at Cairns.
The Berries will also host the
2026 WCBL All-Star Weekend on Saturday, July 18 and Sunday, July 19, which
marks the first time that festivities around the circuit’s all-star game will
run over two days. Festivities start at 4 p.m. on July 19 and include a bunt
contest, a little league home run derby, a WCBL home run derby and a live
concert by Jordyn Pollard. The WCBL All-Star Game is slated for 1 p.m. on July
19 and a post-game autograph session will follow.
Carnahan is
looking forward to what is in store in year three for the club.
“Every year is bigger and better and there is always something new added,” said Carnahan. “This year we have the all-star weekend.
“We also
have the seating expansion at Cairns (Field), which will be nice. We have a
good group of guys coming back as well and a bunch of new faces. It is always
exciting to see a bunch of guys from all over North American and beyond come
together for a short three months to three and a half months season and kind of
see how they jell and work together as a team and just be around each other
every single day at the park.
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| Joe Carnahan, centre, works from the Berries dugout on Aug. 10, 2025. |
For more information about the Saskatoon Berries and their upcoming WCBL season, feel free to check their website at www.saskatoonberriesbaseballclub.ca.
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