The Thunder Bay Border Cats open the 2026 Northwoods League season on the road today when they start a four-game trip with the first of a two-game series in Iowa against the Waterloo Bucks. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05pm ET on the Memorial Day holiday in the United States. Lefthander Carson Small (Pensacola State CC) will make the opening day start for the Border Cats, who will continue their first road swing on Wednesday and Thursday in Wisconsin, against the La Crosse Loggers.<\/p>\n
Under the direction of second-year manager Joe Ellison, the Cats are coming off a 40-30 record last season, which placed the club with the ninth best overall mark in the 26-team league. The current roster for the 2026 campaign features 14 returning players and a total of 20 Canadian born players.<\/p>\n
Returning pitcher Makaio Cisneros (Pensacola State CC) is the scheduled starter for the Border Cats home opener this Friday, May 29th, at 7:05pm, versus the Eau Claire Express. The righthander, from Whitby, Ont., appeared in six games last season and was 1-0 with a 2.42 ERA while racking up 29 strikeouts in 26 innings pitched.<\/p>\n
A post-game fireworks show will follow Friday’s home opener and the first 500 fans thru the Port Arthur Stadium gates receive a 2026 Magnetic Schedule courtesy of Official Parcel Service and Roach’s Taxi. The stadium ticket office is open weekdays from 11:00am to 3:00pm and fans can also purchase tickets online at www.bordercatsbaseball.com\/tickets.<\/p>\n
### The Thunder Bay Border Cats open the 2026 Northwoods League season on the road today when they start a four-game […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":16908,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,41,52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-permanentslider","category-team-news","category-update-ticker"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nThe Thunder Bay Border Cats are a proud member of the Northwoods League. The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Entering its\u2019 33rd season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in history with 26 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires, and front office staff, nearly 2400 NWL alums have been drafted and over 410 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time All-Star and 2016 Roberto Clemente Award winner Curtis Granderson, three-time Cy Young Award winner and two-time World Series Champion Max Scherzer (TOR), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist and Brandon Crawford and World Series Champion and Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale (ATL). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and 2019\/2021 Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (BAL) and 2023 World Series Champion, MLB All-Star, MLB Gold Glove, two-time Silver Slugger winner and two-time All-MLB first team shortstop Marcus Semien (NYM). League games are viewable live on FloSports.tv.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"