History
After the 2019 season, the Can-Am League merged with the Frontier League and five of the six teams remaining in it joined the latter league. The Champions were not invited to take part, but it was not immediately clear if they would fold or go on hiatus as owner Miles Wolff, the former Can-Am League commissioner, looked to sell the team. He could not find a buyer, however, and the team folded operations. Eventually, the Frontier League decided to expand to Ottawa anyway, announcing in September 2020 that the league would be granting a franchise to a group led by Sam Katz, the former mayor of Winnipeg and owner of the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, and Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, who owns the Ottawa 67’s junior hockey team and the Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League; the league considers this to be an expansion team and not to have any connection to the Champions.
In September 2020, the ownership group led by former Winnipeg Mayor and the American Association's Winnipeg Goldeyes, Sam Katz, Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (who owns the Canadian Football League's Ottawa Redblacks and the Ottawa 67's of the Ontario Hockey League), along with local lawyer Jacques J.M. Shore struck a deal with the city of Ottawa to bring the Frontier League and Titans to Ottawa for the 2021 season.
In December of 2020, following a name-the-team contest that saw over 1,200 entries and 700 unique names, the Ottawa Titans were born. The league considers this to be an expansion team and not to have any connection to the Champions.
On October 6, 2020, Ottawa announced Steve Brook as the team's inaugural manager. Brook previously managed the River City Rascals in the Frontier League from 2010 to 2019. He led the Rascals to a 488–373 record over his nine seasons at the helm including the 2010 and 2019 championships. In December 2020, Ottawa announced the team name as Ottawa Titans a result of a name-the-team contest, and the team colours in the tradition of Ottawa sports franchises such as the Ottawa Redblacks, Ottawa 67's, and Ottawa Senators.
The continued closure of the Canada–United States border, unfortunately resulted in pushing the Titans’ first game in the FL to the 2022 season. Ottawa, Québec, and Trois-Rivières were replaced on the 2021 schedule by Équipe Québec. Équipe Québec used the Canadian players from the Titans, Capitales and Aigles to craft their roster and spent the first half of the season on the road, before returning to Canada in late July. Équipe Québec split home games between Stade Canac in Quebec City and Stade Quillorama in Trois-Rivières. [1]
On July 30, 2021, Équipe Québec hosted the New York Boulders at Stade Canac and won the game 10–8 in front of a full house of 2,800 spectators, the maximum number allowed during sanitary measures.
On September 12, 2021, Équipe Québec qualified for the playoffs, and they faced the Washington Wild Things in the best-of-five divisional round. The crowd of 3,750 gathered at Stade Canac during Game 3 represented more than 900 people than the number allowed due to sanitary measures, and Québec were able to pull a 3-2 win over the Wild Things. They however lost Game 4 and 5, which ended their very unique season. Équipe Québec finished the season 1st place in the Atlantic Division with a record of 52 wins and 44 losses with an average of 2,288 fans in 24 home games, including the playoffs. A full reset was done by the front office to immediately shift focus to the 2022 season. [2]
In October 2021, Bobby Brown was hired as the Titans manager for the 2022 season, after Steve Brook, on a one-year contract, became the Gateway Grizzlies manager.
On May 13, 2022, baseball in Canada’s Capital returned for the first time in 598 days with an Ottawa Titans decisive 10-6 road victory over the Joliet Slammers. With a season-high nine games on the road out of the way to begin the season, the team returned home for their much-anticipated inaugural home opener on May 24, 2022. [3] Led by local standout Evan Grills’ eight innings of scoreless baseball, the Titans put a bow on their home opener festivities with a 2-0 victory over the Evansville Otters in front of a crowd of 3,458. Grills posted a single-season high 15 strikeouts in the win. [4]
On June 11, 2022, Jake Sanford quickly emerged as a star on the expansion Titans by tying a league record with 10 RBIs in a 13-0 win over the Empire State Greys. A key contributor, Sanford led the 2022 edition of the Titans with 22 home runs and 73 RBIs.
Before the all-star break, the Titans had cooled off a bit but posted a respectable 35-23 record. The team sent an East Division-high five representatives to contribute to an 8-1 East win over the West all-stars at the mid-summer classic on July 17th at Wild Things Park. Jake Sanford, AJ Wright, Zac Westcott, Kevin Escorcia, and Evan Grills all represented the Titans proudly with the nomination.
At the end of the season the Titans won seven of nine during their final homestand to finish the season 56-39, including a franchise record crowd of 4,582 on Fan Appreciation Night against the Trois-Rivières Aigles.
On September 2, 2022, The Titans qualified for the playoffs for the first time in franchise history with a 4-1 victory over their rival Québec Capitales, guaranteeing themselves a berth in the Wild Card round. On the road, the Titans slugged their way to a decisive 8-2 victory to advance to the Division Series on September 7th against the New York Boulders. Despite Tyler Jandron’s complete game shutout in Game 1 at home on September 9, the Titans bowed out of the postseason in a winner-take-all third game to the eventual champions from la belle province. [5] The Titans finished their regular season with a total attendance of 112,727 for an average of 2,210 fans per game.
On May 12, 2023, the Titans brought a record of 4,777 fans on their home opener with a thrilling 17-7 victory against the Empire State Greys, seeing new faces and returning veterans start the season on a high note. The lopsided affair saw fan-favourite Jackie Urbaez belt the club’s first grand slam in franchise history apart of a 10-run 4th inning. The Titans then lost 15 of their next 21 games.
Following a trade in early June, Sicnarf Loopstok helped the Titans get back in the playoff hunt belting a walk-off grand slam in his first Titans at-bat on June 2, 2023 against the club’s fierce rivals Québec Capitales. Loopstok went on to post a .298 average on the season with eight homers and 41 RBIs, suiting up in North America for the first time since 2019.
The Titans finished 6th place in the East Division of the Frontier League, with a record of 48–48. Although missing the playoffs, the Titans grew their average attendance by roughly 30% from the inaugural season. The club put a wrap on 2023 with a new record of 5,602 fans on hand for Fan Appreciation Day against the Trois-Rivières Aigles, helping the team win a franchise-best 32 home games.
On April 17, 2024, the Ottawa Titans assistant general manager Sébastien Boucher will have his number 18 retired by the club on August 18th at Stade Canac as part of their 25th anniversary season of the Québec Capitales. [6] [7]
The team made it to the playoffs again in 2024 and faced the Tri-City ValleyCats in the Wild Card Game. [8] They defeated the ValleyCats 5-2, but however lost to the Québec Capitales again in the divisional series 2 games to 1. [9] By the regular season's end, the Titans received two post-season awards given out by the FL. AJ Wright was named the 2024 Frontier League most valuable player, part of the league’s all-star team, while the team's broadcaster Davide Disipio received the Robert Ford Award, given annually to the Broadcaster of the Year. For a second consecutive year, the Titans increased their attendance by nearly 30%, eclipsing an average of 3,003 fans per game. The club saw crowds of 4,000 or more during several different occasions, shaping up for a strong milestone to enter the 2025 summer.
