ORLEANS — The Firebirds will have to slog through a tough schedule of back-to-back games to secure a playoff spot in the final days of the Cape Cod Baseball League’s 2024 regular season.
A twice rescheduled match with the Cotuit Kettleers had already taken up the only chance for a rest for the team this week when Monday’s game against Bourne had to be postponed despite hours of work to bring Eldredge Park’s infield into a playable condition.
With the season set to end on Aug. 4, the Firebirds now need to cram in seven games in a row to overtake the Harwich Mariners — who they are scheduled to face Thursday in a game that could decide who claims the crucial third place in the league’s East Division. The Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox have already clinched the division top spot, and the Chatham Anglers have a firm hold on second place.
The stakes are high, but Orleans’s Sue Horton, who will be heading into her 25th season as general manager next year, said protecting the young potential superstars of tomorrow’s big leagues has always been the priority.
“You just don’t want anyone to get hurt,” she said, talking about the close-call decision to put off the July 24 Kettleers match, which led to the calendar jam. “It was a shame. It wasn’t really heavy rain, but it was just enough mist and fog and drizzle, and it made the ground very slick. It’s not worth it.”
The original makeup date of July 28 was also rained out, that time by an indisputable deluge, leading organizers to slot it into the only available day: July 31. That created the marathon now testing the team’s endurance, scheduled to end on Sunday in a contest with Chatham at Eldredge Park. The delayed Bourne game did not have a makeup date scheduled at the Independent’s deadline this week.
Orleans Head Coach Kelly Nicholson has been part of Horton’s top team almost from day one, first as pitching coach before being promoted in 2005. The California native has seen a lot of rain in his 24 summers on the Cape and far worse situations, such as the 2009 season when 65 games had to be shifted because of weather. He said he takes an “it is what it is” approach to the schedule but believes postponements can reveal the strength of a team’s psychology.
“It’s not necessarily the best team who makes it in the end,” he said. “It’s who’s playing the best and who has the desire and will to advance and win this thing. Those kids who have that in their soul, who want to be here and want to win, are usually the last ones standing.”
How to Schedule a League
“It’s a bit of a jigsaw puzzle,” according to Cape Cod League Director of Broadcasting and Communications Shawn McBride. He said it was up to the commissioner’s office, led by former Orleans Head Coach John Castleberry, to figure out how to put a weather-wrecked schedule back together.
“We’re on a bit of a wet weather run right now,” he said. “The first two-thirds of the season were pretty good, but when Mother Nature’s dictating, you have to be flexible. We build in off days, and there are things that can be done like double-headers to keep the league on schedule. We have to get these kids back to school!”
McBride agreed with Horton that, while the players are competing at a high level, they have to do so “in conditions that minimize the risk to their safety.”
The league always has one eye on who could be the next Aaron Judge or Chris Sale, just two of the hundreds of Major League Baseball heroes who have played at least one summer on the Cape. Part of that is ensuring they remain fit beyond their time here.
Orleans had six players on the All-Star East team that lost 9- 8 to the West in last weekend’s game at Guv Fuller Field in Falmouth. Three pitchers, Itsuki Takemoto, Cody Bowker, and Callan Fang, were joined by Jack Gurevitch at first base, outfielder Ben Zeigler, and utility player Hudson Shupe.
Horton would not speculate on which of this year’s crop she expects to appear in an MLB shirt, but she suggested that even those who did not get an All-Star call-up would be worth keeping an eye on.
“There’s a couple that I think are going to be very fun to watch, and some that may be sleepers and surprise you,” she said. “You never know. That’s one of the fun parts of this league. Somebody jumps out of the pack that you didn’t expect.”
“It’s one day at a time, man, but I would bet on us,” said Nicholson. “From top to bottom, it’s a high character group. They enjoy being around one another, they like to compete, they love to win. They want to win the whole thing, right? We’ve just got to get in.”
