Nat Bailey Stadium turns 75 years old this summer and the Vancouver Canadians are promising a season-long party for the baseball diamond’s diamond anniversary.

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The Toronto Blue Jays’ high-A farm club in the Northwest League began its 2026 campaign Friday with a visit to the Tri-City Dust Devils. The C’s home opener at the venerable Nat goes Tuesday, when the Eugene Emeralds come to the town.

10 things to know as the Vancouver Canadians kick off a new season Back to video

Every Tuesday home game this season will be a 75th anniversary celebration, and the C’s have a special commemorative uniform that they’ll wear for those contests. As well, fans can get a regular hot dog at Tuesday home games for a mere 75 cents.

It’s a big birthday year but the Nat might look a little younger, too. It’s been on a workout program of sorts. After more than a year of construction, there’s a building down the first base line, which houses the C’s new clubhouse along with cafeteria, batting cages and other player-focused amenities. It’s all part of Major League Baseball upping facility standards for its farm clubs.

There’s a viewing area on top of the building, but it won’t be open for fans until June 9. You can get tickets for that new setup, along with anywhere else in the ballpark, through the C’s web site.

Here are 10 other points to ponder about the C’s upcoming season.

WHAT’S NEW FOOD WISE?

Originally known as Capilano Stadium, the ballpark was renamed after Nat Bailey in 1978 following his death to honour his contributions to baseball. He bought the triple-A Vancouver Mounties in the 1950s and helped raise the profile of pro ball in the region.

He’s also the founder of White Spot restaurant, which he started in 1928 by transforming his 1918 Model T into a travelling lunch counter and selling grub at Vancouver’s Lookout Point every Sunday. 

Fittingly in this anniversary season, White Spot and the C’s are teaming up to put a Triple O’s in the concourse at the Nat, where fans can get burgers, chicken strips and milkshakes. 

“Baseball and burgers just belong together,” White Spot executive Trent Carroll explained in February when the concept was first announced.

Also on the Nat menu this season are three-foot nachos, giving the ballpark’s three-foot hotdog a partner in crime. No word yet on whether they will sell them as a package deal. If they do and you manage to finish both, you should get your name posted on the scoreboard before you get a free ride to Vancouver General Hospital.

CAN WE EXPECT A JIM ROBSON TRIBUTE? 

The C’s aren’t divulging details just yet, but they are promising this season that they’ll honour Robson, the beloved broadcaster who died in February. He was 91. 

He’s best known for his work with the Vancouver Canucks but he did play-by-play for various sports, including baseball in the 1950s. He was regular in the stands at the Nat in recent years, too.

HOW MUCH FREE SWAG CAN YOU TAKE HOME?

The C’s put out their promotions calendar in February and they’re promising a giveaway for “at least two of the six games of each homestead,” meaning that fans can hit a Hall of Fame-worthy .333, when it comes to taking home a memento from the anniversary season.

Items include an opening night magnet schedule (April 7), Chief Wasabi poncho (April 26), a Nat Bailey Stadium miniature replica (April 28), kids jersey (May 31), Chief Wasabi keychain (June 13), C’s pirate hat (July 12) and C’s cowboy hat (Aug. 1). There also five pennants honouring the eras at the Nat (May 12, May 26, June 30, July 7, July 28).

There’s, of course, the widely popular bobbleheads, too, with C’s turned Blue Jays Addison Barger (June 9) and Trey Yesavage (Aug. 25) getting collectible figurine treatment this time around.

WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO FIND OUT IF A GAME IS RAINED OUT?

The C’s offer up a text alert that gives weather-related updates as well as information for things like flash sales. Find out more about it on their website. 

WHAT CAN MANAGER JOSE MAYORGA TAKE FROM HIS TIME IN THE WBC?

Mayorga, 33, is back for his second season at the helm of the C’s and he’s coming off managing Team Panama at the World Baseball Classic. The squad featured big leaguers like Chicago Cubs catcher Miguel Amaya and New York Yankees infielder Jose Caballero and their 1-3 record included a 4-3 victory over Canada. Panama did not advance to the quarterfinals. Cuba, Puerto Rico and Colombia were also in their group.

Mayorga is a former Philadelphia Phillies farmhand catcher and he’s been managing in the Toronto system since 2022.

WHAT BIG BATS WILL BOOST THE OFFENCE?

Arjun Nimmala, 20, is starting a second straight season at the Nat and the shortstop is the top Vancouver player on the MLB Pipeline’s Blue Jays’ prospect list, coming in at No. 3. Baseball America has him at No. 2 on their Toronto list. 

He’s the No. 74 prospect in all of baseball according to MLB Pipeline to start the season and No. 62 for Baseball America.

The 6-foot, 190-pound right-handed hitter played a team-high 120 games last season with Vancouver, and hit .224, with 13 home runs and 61 runs batted in, to go with 17 steals. He’s one of 16 players on Vancouver’s 31-man opening day roster who have been with the team for one of the past two years. 

Toronto’s 2023 first-round draft pick (No. 20 overall) out of a Florida high school, Nimmala was one of the youngest regulars in the Northwest League last season, and only left-hander Johnny King, 19, is younger than him with the current Vancouver group. 

The average age for position players in the loop last season was 22. 

Nimmala’s bat is his calling card, with MLB Pipeline explaining that “his power continued to show flashes of excitement,” stemming from his “vicious uppercut swing.”

He hit a homer last year on the road against the Dust Devils that C’s staffers guessed travelled 430 feet. Hearing that, Nimmala maintained “I thought it was farther. It was hit pretty well. It’s in my top five ever.”

He batted .266 in the first half last season with Vancouver and then slid to .179 in the second half. If he gets off to a good start and manages to maintain it for a few weeks, it’s easy to see him getting a promotion prior to midseason. 

Catcher Eduard Duran, 21, had a 22-game hit streak with Dunedin last May and finished the season in Vancouver after getting promoted in July. He’s No. 19 on MLB Pipeline’s Toronto prospect list. The Venezuelan hit .234 in his 34 games with Vancouver.

First baseman/outfielder Carter Cunningham, 25, hit 16 homers and drove in 59 runs to go with a .220 average in 102 games with Vancouver last season. He was a 2024 10th rounder from East Carolina University.

Outfielder Mathieu Vallee, 25, is the lone Canadian on the roster. The native of Saint-Eustache, Que., signed a minor league deal with the Blue Jays as a free agent in February. He played independent ball for Trois-Rivieres last season and hit .352, with one homer, 41 RBI and 83 stolen bases in 88 games last season.

WHO ARE THE MAIN MEN ON THE MOUND?

King is a 6-foot-3, 210-pound southpaw that Toronto picked out of a Florida high school in the 2024 third round who’s No. 4 on both MLB Pipeline and Baseball America prospect lists. 

Between the Florida Complex League and Single-A Dunedin in his pro debut, King struck out a 105 batters over 61 and 2/3 innings last season.

MLB Pipeline has King’s fastball touching 96 miles per hour at times and his curveball as his best secondary pitch, although they also believe it “projects to be a legitimate out pitch for him.” 

“Now, King’s focus is on his changeup. He knows, as the Blue Jays have been preaching, that a two-pitch lefty can only go so far, so this offering is crucial to his long-term ceiling, especially given the special potential he has with his heater and breaking ball,” the scouting report continues.

Vancouver’s pitching staff also includes Austin Cates, 22, is a 2024 seventh rounder out of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas who went 3-0 with a 1.95 earned run average in five starts with Vancouver a season ago and righty Aaron Munson, 24, is a 2023 19th rounder out of Angelo State University who was 3-2 with a 2.81 ERA in 30 relief appearances for Vancouver.

WHO COULD MAKE THEIR WAY TO THE C’S BEFORE YEAR’S END?

Toronto picked Mississippi high school shortstop JoJo Parker, 19,  in the first round (No. 8 overall) last summer and he’s already No.2 on their MLB Pipeline prospect list and No. 3 with their Baseball America one. He’s starting the season with single-A Dunedin and Baseball America believes the 6-foot-2, 200-pound lefty-swinging Parker showed the “best balance of hitting and power,” among the high schoolers in his draft.

It’ll be interesting to see if Toronto can synch up a Nimmala promotion with a Parker one, although there’s been suggestion already that Parker projects a third baseman eventually.

HOW DOES THE NORTHWEST LEAGUE WORK?

It’s a six-team circuit, with Vancouver joined by the Dust Devils (Los Angeles Angels), Emeralds (San Francisco Giants), Everett AquaSox (Seattle Mariners), Hillsboro Hops (Arizona Diamondbacks) and Spokane Indians (Colorado Rockies). The team’s play 132 games split into  two halves and the two first-place teams face off in the best-of-five league final at the end of the season.

With few exceptions, the teams play six-game series every week of the regular season running Tuesday through Sunday. Mondays are set up for travel days. That’s something that Major League Baseball wanted when it revamped the minors coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, to make things more regimented and structured for players.

First-half champ Everett beat second-half champ Eugene for the league title last season. Vancouver finished second in both halves, losing out on a tiebreaker to Everett the first half.

Vancouver’s won the Northwest League title five times. The first came in 2011, their inaugural year as a Toronto farm team after moving over from the Oakland Athletics system. The C’s went to the final in three straight years from 2022-24, and won it all in 2023.

WHERE HAVE YOU GONE BRENT LAVALLEE? 

Lavallee, 39, is the North Delta product who managed the C’s to those three straight league championship series. He managed the double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats last season and he received a promotion this winter from Toronto to director of position player development for the farm system. That means he’s expected to make regular visits to the Nat this summer to check in on C’s players. 

@SteveEwen

SEwen@postmedia.com