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| Ottawa Titans | |||||
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| Information | |||||
| League | Frontier League (North Division) | ||||
| Location | Ottawa, Ontario | ||||
| Ballpark | Ottawa Stadium | ||||
| Founded | 2020 | ||||
| Playoff berths |
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| Colours | Red, white, black | ||||
| Mascot | Cappy | ||||
| Ownership | Sam Katz, OSEG, Jacques J.M. Shore | ||||
| President | Regan Katz | ||||
| General Manager | Martin Boyce | ||||
| Manager | Bobby Brown | ||||
| Media | Ottawa Citizen Ottawa Sun CTV News Le Droit Radio-Canada Sportsnet TSN TSN 1200 TVA Sports RDS Sports Illustrated CKDJ-FM FloSports | ||||
| Website | ottawatitans | ||||
The Ottawa Titans (French: Titans d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Titans Baseball Club (French: Club de baseball des Titans d'Ottawa) are a professional baseball team based in Ottawa. They compete in the Frontier League (FL) as a member of the North Division in the Atlantic Conference. Since 2022, the Titans have played their home games at Ottawa Stadium, originally known as RCGT Park. The Titans have made it to the playoffs two times in franchise history.
Founded in 2020, the Titans played their inaugural season in 2022 due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario. They became the city's seventh professional baseball franchise succeeding the Eastern League's Ottawa Wanderers, the International League's Ottawa Giants, Ottawa Athletics and Ottawa Lynx, the Intercounty Baseball League's Ottawa Fat Cats, as well as the Can-Am League's Ottawa Rapidz and Ottawa Champions. The franchise is one of the expansion teams of the FL, following their merger with the Can-Am League in October 2019.
History
After the 2019 season, the Can-Am League merged with the Frontier League and five of the six teams remaining in it joined the latter league. The Champions were not invited to take part. Miles Wolff, the former Can-Am League commissioner, failed to find a buyer for the team, and it folded operations. The Frontier League decided to expand to Ottawa in September 2020, granting a franchise to a group led by Sam Katz, the former mayor of Winnipeg and owner of the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball; Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, who owns the Ottawa 67’s junior hockey team and the Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League; and local lawyer Jacques J.M. Shore. Following a contest, the team was named the Titans.
On October 6, 2020, Ottawa announced Steve Brook as the team's inaugural manager. Brook previously managed the River City Rascals in the Frontier League from 2010 to 2019. He led the Rascals to a 488–373 record over his nine seasons at the helm including the 2010 and 2019 championships. In December 2020, Ottawa announced the team name as Ottawa Titans a result of a name-the-team contest, and the team colours in the tradition of Ottawa sports franchises such as the Ottawa Redblacks, Ottawa 67's, and Ottawa Senators.
The continued closure of the Canada–United States border, unfortunately resulted in pushing the Titans’ first game in the FL to the 2022 season. Ottawa, Québec, and Trois-Rivières were replaced on the 2021 schedule by Équipe Québec. Équipe Québec used the Canadian players from the Ottawa Titans, Québec Capitales and Trois-Rivières Aigles to craft the base of their roster and spent the first half of the season on the road, before returning to Canada in late July. Équipe Québec split home games between Stade Canac in Quebec City and Stade Quillorama in Trois-Rivières.
On July 30, 2021, Équipe Québec hosted the New York Boulders at Stade Canac and won the game 10–8 in front of a full house of 2,800 spectators, the maximum number allowed during sanitary measures.
On September 12, 2021, Équipe Québec qualified for the playoffs, and they faced the Washington Wild Things in the best-of-five divisional round. The crowd of 3,750 gathered at Stade Canac during Game 3 represented more than 900 people than the number allowed due to sanitary measures, and Québec were able to pull a 3–2 win over the Wild Things. They however lost Game 4 and 5, which ended their very unique season. Équipe Québec finished the season 1st place in the Atlantic Division with a record of 52 wins and 44 losses with an average of 2,288 fans in 24 home games, including the playoffs.
In October 2021, Bobby Brown was hired as the Titans manager for the 2022 season, after Steve Brook, on a one-year contract, became the Gateway Grizzlies manager.
On May 13, 2022, the Ottawa Titans opened their inaugural season with a 10–6 road victory against the Joliet Slammers. After a nine-game road trip, the team hosted the Evansville Otters in its home opener on May 24, 2002, with an attendance of 3,458. The Titans won 2–0 with Evan Grills pitching eight scoreless innings and recording 15 strikeouts.
The Titans won seven games out of nine in their final homestand, ending on September 1. The next day, the Titans qualified for the playoffs on the road with a 4–1 victory over the Trois-Rivières Aigles, clinching the wild card spot. On September 7, the Titans defeated the New York Boulders in the wild card game by a 8–2 score to advance to the Division Series. The Titans lost to the Capitales de Québec, 2 games to 1, in the Division Series. The Titans had a regular season attendance of 112,727 for an average of 2,210 fans per game.
On April 17, 2024, the Ottawa Titans announced that their assistant general manager Sébastien Boucher will have his number 18 retired by the Québec Capitales on August 18 at Stade Canac as part of their 25th anniversary season of the team.
The team made it to the playoffs again in 2024 and faced the Tri-City ValleyCats in the Wild Card Game. They defeated the ValleyCats 5–2, but however lost to the Capitales again in the divisional series 2 games to 1. By the regular season's end, the Titans received two post-season awards given out by the FL. AJ Wright was named the 2024 Frontier League most valuable player, part of the league’s all-star team, while the team's broadcaster Davide Disipio received the Robert Ford Award, given annually to the Frontier League Broadcaster of the Year. For a second consecutive year, the Titans increased their attendance by nearly 30%, for an average of 3,003 fans per game. The club saw crowds of 4,000 or more during several different occasions, shaping up for a strong milestone to enter the 2025 summer.
Rivalries
Ottawa Titans vs. Québec Capitales
The Titans have developed strong rivalries with three fellow Frontier League franchises, with whom they frequently shared divisions and competed in postseason play. The oldest is with the Québec Capitales, who first faced the Titans as the Ottawa Champions in 2015. The teams met two times in the playoffs in the past three seasons. Featuring the two largest cities in Canada and two of the largest fanbases in the league, the rivalry is sometimes dramatized as being emblematic of Canada's English and French linguistic divide. In addition, both teams' mascot own the same name (Cappy for the Titans; Capi for the Capitales), which added an important part to the rivalry.
Ottawa Titans vs. Trois-Rivières Aigles
Both teams compete in the North Division. There is only a three-hour drive from Ottawa to Trois-Rivières via Quebec Autoroute 40 and Ontario Highway 417. As of the end of the 2024 season, Ottawa leads the all-time regular season record 54–53.
Ottawa Titans vs. Tri-City ValleyCats
The team's other rivals are the Tri-City ValleyCats. They meet frequently during the regular season and faced each other in the 2024 East Division Wild Card Game. The rivalry is symbolic due to multiple brawls and player ejections during the 2022 and 2023 season. On August 24, 2022, Carson McCusker of the ValleyCats got hit by pitch twice by Evan Grills, which caused both benches to start clearing. One day later in the 4th inning, McCusker hit a solo home run to left field, who then was mocking of the Titans catcher Tyrus Greene when crossing the home plate, which caused both benches to clear once again. McCusker and Greene were then both ejected from the game.
On July 20, 2023 at Ottawa Stadium, the Tri-City ValleyCats manager Pete Incaviglia got ejected for arguing balls and strikes in the 8th inning. Later, Jason Dicochea hit a walk-off 2-run home run off the left field foul pole to give Ottawa a 9–7 win over Tri-City in the bottom of the 11th inning, which caused all the ValleyCats players to join all the Titans players at home plate for a brawl.
On May 21, 2024, the Titans faced the ValleyCats on their home opener with a thrilling 7–6 victory. Third baseman AJ Wright hit a solo home run in the Titans' first pitch at home in the bottom of the first inning. Later, Ottawa walked off Tri-City in the bottom of the 9th inning with their new captain Jason Dicochea hitting a walk-off single to left field. The Titans then won the opening series 2–1 against the ValleyCats.
Season-by-season records
| Ottawa Titans | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | W–L Record | Win % | Finish | Playoffs | |
| 2022 | 56–39 | .589 | 3rd in East | Won East Division Wild Card Game over New York Boulders 8–2 Lost Divisional Round to Québec Capitales 2–1 | |
| 2023 | 48–48 | .500 | 6th in East | Did not qualify | |
| 2024 | 53–42 | .558 | 3rd in East | Won East Division Wild Card Game over Tri-City ValleyCats 5–2 Lost Divisional Round to Québec Capitales 2–1 | |
| TOTAL | 157-129 | .549 | |||
Ottawa Stadium
Since 2022, the Titans play their home games at the 10,332-seat Ottawa Stadium just east of downtown Ottawa. Ottawa Stadium has a pedestrian bridge to get to the ballpark using OC Transpo's light rail system. The pedestrian bridge crosses over Highway 417 to connect the ballpark to the Transit Way and is named in honour of the late Canadian broadcaster Max Keeping.
Broadcasting and stadium entertainment
Titans games can be heard on CKDJ 107.9 and 94,5 Unique FM, with all season games available on flobaseball.tv via the FloSports website. The play-by-play broadcasters are Davide Disipio in English and Mikael Lafleur in French. At many home games, the fans are entertained both outside and inside Ottawa Stadium with myriad entertainers – live music, DJs, giveaways and promotions. Between innings, the entertainment varies with on-field contests with their mascot Cappy, youth games, t-shirt giveaways, promotions and many more. After each Titans' home runs, the team’s DJ sounds the home run horn, which is a Nathan Airchime K3L from a retired Via Rail train. The same horn is also used by the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League.
Current roster
| Active roster | Coaches/Other | |||
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Pitchers
Utility players
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Catchers
Infielders
Outfielders
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Manager
Coaches
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References
- ^ "Ottawa Titans: Team History". Ottawa Titans Baseball Club. 2025. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
- Kerr, Stephen (2022-05-24). "Quebec Capitales Finally Begin Frontier League Play". FloBaseball. Retrieved 2024-12-04.
- Editor, Q. C. T. (2022-05-02). "The Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph". The Quebec Chronicle Telegraph. Retrieved 2024-12-04.
{{cite web}}:|last=has generic name (help) - "Ottawa Sun". May 24, 2022.
- Colley, Mark (2022-05-25). "Pitcher Evan Grills dominates for Ottawa Titans in historic home opener". Capital Current. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
- "2022 Frontier League Schedule". Frontier League. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
- Ashmore, Mike (September 8, 2022). "2022 Frontier League Playoffs Continuing Season's Excitement". FloSports. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
- "2022 Frontier League". Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
- "Capitales de Québec: Sébastien Boucher deviendra un immortel". TVA Sports (in Canadian French). 2024-04-18. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
- Cadorette, Stéphane (2024-08-16). "Capitales: au tour de Sébastien Boucher d'être immortalisé". Le Journal de Québec. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
- Jhalli, Anil (2023-10-11). "Titans start 2024 Frontier League season on the road, play first home game on May 21". CityNews Ottawa. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
- "Titans earn walk-off win over Capitales in Game 1 of division series". Canadian Baseball Network. 2024-09-06. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
- "Jandron tosses complete game four-hitter as Titans get upper hand on Capitales". ottawasun. Archived from the original on 2022-09-10. Retrieved 2025-01-08.
- "Titans Strike First in Division Series with Walk-Off Win". www.ottawatitans.com. 2024-09-06. Retrieved 2025-01-08.
- "Three Titans Head to Quebec for All-Star Game". www.ottawatitans.com. 2024-07-15. Retrieved 2025-01-08.
- "Titans Stun ValleyCats, Take Huge Rubber Game". www.ottawatitans.com. 2024-08-26. Retrieved 2025-01-08.
External links
| Frontier League | |
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| East Division | |
| West Division | |
 Baseball in Canada | |||||||||||||||
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