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Canadian Baseball League
2015 Articles


End of an Era?

(CBL Newswire) - by Niko Jackoman for the Moose Jaw Melorist

With a well pitched victory by rookie pitcher Monte Abbott (11-2) versus long time division rival Yellowknife, the Moose Jaw Dragons cliched their 14th consecutive winning season. In the lead for much of the first half of the year the Dragons exploded out of the gate but were stumbling badly by the All-Star break and falling out of first place. The Dragons played a tough part of their schedule at a time when they were slumping and injuries to several key players sealed the deal it was not long before a winning record seemed like it would be difficult to achieve but after loosing the first two games in their final series with division leaders Saskatoon a team meeting was called and it worked. The Dragons won the next night 4-1 against the YellowJackets and then proceeded to reel off eleven victories in 12 games, outscoring the opposition 56 to 22, to clinch a winning record.

The only time Moose Jaw has not had a winning record was in the CBL's inaugural season 2001. Since then the Dragons have been one of the winningest franchises in the CBL. In fact Moose Jaw has a winning record against every other franchise in the Farmers League except for Cold Lake and no other team has a better won-loss record versus Cold Lake then Moose Jaw. The Dragons have made the playoffs nine times including seven seasons as FRM East Division Champions. After many seasons of playoff disappointments the Dragons finally won it all in 2011 in a thrilling seven game series versus the mighty Blues of Charlottetown bringing the CBL Championship home to Moose Jaw.

But all that appears to be coming to an end. In spite of the additions of four rookies to the roster this season the Dragons are one of the oldest teams in the CBL (although no longer the oldest). And what is worse is that there are a large number of players who may retire in the off-season. This is nothing new to Dragons fans as they have had to in recent season deal with the retirements of fan favourites like pitchers Ellis Nale and Elisha Rhymer and hitters Devontay Wisell, Champ Supino and Menachem Gamba. But now with six players on the active roster who are 40+ and another eight players who could potentially hang up the spikes this off-season it is the specific players who may hang 'em up that promises to make this a nervous off-season for Dragons fans. There is not a baseball fan in Moose Jaw who is not hoping that P Caden Sharif (295 Career Victories, 15 seasons in a row of 15+ victories) and 2B Langston Burrel (479 homers, 1146 extra base hits and 322 steals, 1949 consecutive errorless games at second base) come back for another kick at the can which would almost certainly crack the milestones of 300 wins and 500 homers respectively. The two have been team mates since opening day of Moose Jaw's inaugural season but will either be back next season.

GM Torin Stefanson said after the recent game in which Sharif picked up his 295th career victory, "When I looked at our team that first season I saw Caden Sharif and Langston Burrell standing beside each other in the center of the team photo and as the camera flashed I thought, 'How appropriate, these two young guys are going to be the core of this team for the next fifteen years.' and here it is fifteen years later and I go down to the club house and there they are, Langston and Caden, in the middle of the room with all the young guys gathered around. Langston is giving Daniel Chickering fielding tips and Caden is regaling Abbott, Luuloa, and Konerko with a story and I see that I was right. Now if I can just convince them to come back for one more season..."

So management is willing but as faces turn blue in Moose Jaw waiting for Sharif and Burrel's decisions the two lifetime teammates are not letting the cat out of the bag.

Former MVP Langston Burrel says, "It will all depend how I feel when I get home after the season is over. I realize that we may not make the playoffs again during my career and I have to decide if I am okay with that. Winning is addictive."

For his part former Cy Young and CBL Pitcher of the Year winner Caden Sharif will only say with a smile, "The fans want me back, the team wants me back, I want to be back but we will have to see if my back will let me come back."

So Dragons fans head down to the Weyr for the final two games of the season to catch what could be the final outings for these two great warriors.

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