The North Central Alberta Baseball League, once known as a predominantly rural league, lost another country based club following the 2018 regular season but just as quickly picked up yet another Edmonton area franchise. Eight Sturgeon County communities once boasted having a club playing in the NCABL. Horse Hills, Namao, Gibbons, Morinville, Alexander, and Redwater have not fielded teams in the past twenty years. The Town of Legal lost their club within the past decade. Now, the Sturgeon Paladins playing out of Bon Accord have pulled up stakes leaving the County of Sturgeon without any representation in the NCABL. The loss of the Paladins has further strengthened the view that the NCABL has adapted very well to the demographic shift which began almost twenty years ago and which has seen a dramatic growth of baseball within the larger Edmonton metropolitan area while the rural presence has almost totally disappeared.

This season, The Parkland Twins will launch their inaugural season from their base in Spruce Grove. This will return eight franchises to the NCABL producing a 21 game schedule which was recently released by the League (go to schedule/regular season). Quality of play has not suffered as a result of this geographic shift as improved coaching and superior playing fields have positively impacted play within the NCABL. The League does believe that several communities within the County of Sturgeon have the resources needed to bring back baseball to its former position of summer dominance, but time will tell if the potential to do so will in effect translate into reality. Sturgeon County is where it all began and the Town of Morinville in particular holds the distinction of being the official seat of the North Central Alberta Baseball League in addition to housing the only sport specific Hall of Fame in Alberta. These historical facts alone should encourage community leaders to revisit the possibility of returning the game to the place of its birth in north central Alberta.