Goodbye, Intercounty Baseball League — hello, Canadian Baseball League.
After over 100 years as the IBL, the organization consisting of nine franchises in southern Ontario is now known as the CBL.
The change comes along with the new designation as a fully professional league, a move that comes after years of speculation and a long history as a semi-pro enterprise.
In 2025, the IBL saw a record 249,590 fans attend games, with multiple teams setting franchise records for singel-season attendance. Barrie also saw a reported 39 per cent increase in spectators.
The growth of the fanbase is a key reason why confidence in the changes is high among brass.
“Fan interest in our league has exploded to historic levels,” league commissioner Ted Kalnins said in a news 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 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."
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With the league becoming fully professional, that would make the Baycats Barrie's first-ever professional sports team.
“This is a great move in the right direction to help ensure baseball is growing in this country and continues to grow for many years to come," Baycats president Josh Matlow said in a separate release. "It also allows great opportunities down the line to play professional baseball for some of these young kids and collegiate athletes in some of their own backyards”.
Even before the new designation, it was felt that the league now known as the CBL was the best professional league in the nation. That was exemplified by 64 former MLB or MiLB players being rostered during the 2025 season.
Among those were five former major league players that appeared in IBL games, including Frank Garcés and Willy Garcia who each played for Barrie. However, Hamilton's signing of Fernando Rodney was undoubtedly the biggest pull factor for fans leaguewide.
The league has also developed current major-league talent, such as Liam Hicks, who suited up for Guelph in 2018 before appearing in 119 games with the National League’s Miami Marlins in his rookie season.
A key difference heading into the 2026 season will be that teams won't be able to easily bring back players who are actively playing college baseball in the United States, as it would require those players to renounce their amateur status and could affect MLB Draft eligibility.
However, Canadian university players will be able to compete in both 22U programs and the CBL, as U Sports eligibility rules allow participation without impacting amateur standing. This is a measure that the CPL and CEBL also take advantage of when it comes to drafting players and filling play time requirements of young Canadian players.
“For the IBL to go pro, it allows the league to work together to grow the footprint of baseball in not only Ontario, but Canada,” Matlow added.
Many teams, including Barrie, have been scouting internationally during the offseason with the league upping the limit of import players to eight.
Other changes are yet to be announced, but the league has confirmed that six games will be added to fill a 48-game regular season schedule and the postseason structure will change. There will also be a modest monthly salary cap in place.
With the extra games added, the first round of the playoffs was removed to allow time to finish the schedule during summer. Meanwhile, only five teams will make the playoffs, with the fourth and fifth-seeded teams to play each other in a one-game playoff to advance to the semifinals. After that, the semifinals and IBL Finals will both be best-of-seven series.
The Baycats have finished lower than fifth in only two of the team's 24 seasons (2001, 2003).
The league also says that while games will continue to be streamed live on YouTube as mandated, they will also be available along with other League content on Roku, FireTV, Apple TV, iOS and Android apps.
League branding will continue to look familiar to fans, with the only notable visual change coming in the wordmark due to the name change. The red circular logo with the white swinging player silhouette will stay in place.
With over 100 years of history, keeping the legacy of the Intercounty Baseball League will remain a priority. League staff dug up a large amount of historical information over the past year and those efforts will continue with assistance from the Hanlan’s Point Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), among other partners.
The history of the Intercounty Baseball League will continue to be carried forward in every respect. For the last year, numerous efforts were undertaken to research and consolidate historical information, photos and artifacts associated with the IBL’s lengthy history. Among other partners, the Hanlan’s Point Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) has been assisting with this project which will continue to be a league priority.
“Our history is what made our future possible,” Kalnins added. “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.”
