Un, Deux, Trois For Quebec As It Three-Peats As Frontier League Champions
Un, Deux, Trois For Quebec As It Three-Peats As Frontier League Champions
Here’s a look back at all that went down during the Quebec Capitales’ epic and historic Frontier Championship Series win, earning their third-straight title
The Frontier League runs through Quebec City.
A powerhouse ever since it stepped into the league several years ago, the Quebec Capitales have been the cream of the crop in one of North America’s top professional independent baseball leagues for years.
But the title that the Canada-based ballclub secured over the weekend — off of a walk-off homer, no less — was especially special.
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Already back-to-back Frontier champions, the Capitales’ third straight championship win makes them stand alone among their competition and firmly puts Quebec into dynasty territory, joining many other iconic sports teams in history as squads who have three-peated.
Enjoy it (again), Quebec. No one in the Frontier over the past three seasons has proven capable of touching you in the postseason.
Here’s a look back at all that went down during the Quebec Capitales’ epic and historic Frontier Championship Series win as the season wrapped up Saturday night:
Québec Est Magnifique
Being down 1-0 to the Wild Things to start the best-of-five Championship Series, the Capitales’ run at a third straight Frontier League title was in a bit of danger. But with many players on its roster who had been at this point before — and prior experience with its back against the wall, considering that it had to come back from 1-0 down against the Ottawa Titans in the East Division Series — Quebec was unfazed, unbothered and undeniable.
Answering Washington’s 5-2 victory in Game 1 with a powerful 11-6 win in Game 2 in which they scored nine runs in the first three innings to blow the Wild Things away, the Capitales’ 8-6 performance in Game 3 led to Quebec pushing Washington to the brink.
With Game 4 at the Stade Canac and a raucous crowd in Quebec City ready to ignite for a history-making title, things were looking up for the Capitales — until they found themselves in a 6-1 hole entering the eighth inning.
A bases-loaded situation for Quebec in the eighth gave the hosts some hope, but it was only able to get one run across off of a walk as left fielder Tommy Siedl struck out to end the inning. The Wild Things added more pressure in the top of the ninth as they got runners to second and third base, but the Capitales held firm and didn’t allow further damage.
With league saves leader Gyeongju Kim coming out for the bottom of the ninth to try and finish the job and get Washington to a Game 5, his strikeout to get Quebec’s first batter out made it appear that things were going to go smoothly. But the Capitales answered with a one-out single with two walks to load the bases, and when Kim threw a wild pitch to advance every runner up a base, the rally was officially on.
Kyle Crowl smashed a sacrifice fly to bring Quebec within two, and though Brendan Nail came on in relief to try and get the final out, it was simply the Capitales night. Justin Gideon reached base on a single to put two runners on, and with Anthony Quirion up to the plate and Nail battling him all the way down to his final strike, the first baseman blasted a pitch over the left field wall for a walk-off, series-winning homer.
A legendary ending to a legendary season.
Dynasty With A Capital(es) D
With the Capitales dramatic Game 4 winner, they officially solidified themselves as being the holders of the most dominant stretch of play in Frontier League history.
Not bad for a team that has only been playing in the Frontier as a standalone ballclub for three seasons.
Brought over from the Can-Am League in its merger with the Frontier prior to the (eventually canceled) 2020 season, Quebec wasn’t even able to be its own entity until 2022. The COVID-19-caused closure of the U.S.-Canada border throughout much of 2021 led to the Capitales merging with the Titans and Trois-Rivières Aigles to form Équipe Québec, a squad that spent half its season on the road and the other half back in Canada.
Once the Capitales were finally able to have a serious chance at being themselves and building a winning ballclub, dominance came with them.
Quebec finished tied with the Wild Things for the best regular-season record in 2022, taking down both Ottawa and the Schaumburg Boomers in the playoffs en route to being the Frontier’s first Canadian champion since the London Werewolves in 1999.
It then became the first back-to-back champion in the league since the Boomers did it from 2013-14 when the Capitales repeated, once again securing the league’s best regular-season record and taking down a pair of opponents in the postseason to get to the title. But Quebec had more in mind for 2024 — like becoming the first-ever club to three-peat in Frontier history.
Another 60-plus win season saw the Capitales get back to the playoffs as the East’s No. 1 seed, securing yet another first-round bye with it. You know the rest from there, but across its time in both the Can-Am and Frontier it was Quebec’s 10th league title overall — a culture that signifies that the Capitales have been playing winning baseball for awhile and they have no signs of slowing down.
The James Bradwell Show
It wouldn’t be right to wrap up Quebec’s season in this piece without mentioning James Bradwell, who only ended up having one of the best seasons on the mound that you’ll find anywhere in professional baseball worldwide this year.
The 6-foot-5 right-hander from North Vancouver, British Columbia was unstoppable in the circle for the Capitales as the former Trois-Rivieres hurler erupted into Quebec’s ace, going 12-0 across 18 starts and 23 appearances with a 2.72 ERA and 97 strikeouts in 109⅓ innings pitched. An easy selection for the Frontier’s Pitcher of the Year award entering the postseason, he became Quebec’s second pitcher in its Frontier era to win the honor after Miguel Cienfuegos also did it in 2022.
Bradwell started twice in the postseason, getting tagged in Game 2 of the East Division Series against Ottawa for three runs off of five hits in 3⅓ innings in a game that the Capitales won anyway and earning the win in Quebec’s crucial Game 2 victory against the Wild Things in the Championship Series (5⅔ innings, two earned runs, six hits allowed, six strikeouts) one which got the Capitales back on their feet and the series tied at 1-1 after a series-opening loss.
Without those 12 winning pitching performances from Bradwell in the regular season, Quebec’s push for its third No. 1 seed for the playoffs in a row would’ve been a lot more unstable, but the Capitales were able to ride their top starter all the way to a dominant display and an East-best 64 wins in all.
He was one piece of a stacked squad all around, but without Bradwell instilling a sense of calm whenever his number was called, the Capitales’ three-peat dreams would’ve undoubtedly been a lot harder for them to achieve.
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