Québec Capitales

The Québec Capitales (French: Les Capitales de Québec and often referred to as the Caps) are a professional baseball team based in Quebec City. They compete in the Frontier League (FL) as a member of the East Division. The club is owned by Jean Tremblay, Pierre Tremblay, and Marie-Pierre Simard. Since their establishment, they play their home games at Stade Canac. Their mascot is Capi the Lion.

Founded in 1999, they are one of the oldest extant independent baseball teams across North America.

History
In 1999, the Capitales joined the Northern League (East Division) as an expansion team. The Capitales are one of three Canadian teams in the Frontier League. Starting operations in 1999, they are one of the most famous teams in the Frontier League. As a result, many Québec Capitales fans live throughout other regions other than Quebec City, which includes the Ottawa Valley, the Greater Montreal area, as well as the Mauricie region. As a result, Capitales' away games at Ottawa Stadium in Ottawa and Stade Quillorama in Trois-Rivières host a more neutral attendance. This is due in part to the Capitales fans in those areas, and those cities' proximity to Quebec City.

As of 2019, the Capitales were the most known and successful team in the Can-Am League on and off the field, having won the League championship more times (7) than any other team and being among the tops in attendance every season averaging over 3,000 fans per game since 2001. Since 2000, the Capitales have made the playoffs 18 times.

In 2006, the Capitales won their first championship in team history. Although the team had the second-worst record in team history they still qualified for last postseason spot with a 44–44 record. They defeated the top seed North Shore Spirit in dramatic come from behind fashion winning the last two games to win the series 3 games to 2. In the championship series, the Capitales took a 2 games to none advantage before the Brockton Rox came back to even the series. In the final and decisive game, the Capitales defeated the Rox on their home field by coming from behind and won by a score of 5–4 to win the Can-Am League Championship 3 games to 2.

In 2009 the Capitales became the first franchise in the reborn Can-Am League to win multiple championships and the fourth team in the entire history of the Northeast/Can-Am League to win more than one championship (joining the New Jersey Jackals, who won two Northeast League and two Northern League championships, the Albany-Colonie Diamond Dogs, who won the first Northeast League Championship and one Northern League Championship, and the Adirondack Lumberjacks, who won one Northeast League and one Northern League championship). The Capitales won the 2nd half regular-season championship and finished the season with the 3rd best overall record (53-41). The Capitales eliminated the Brockton Rox 3 games to 1 in the opening round. In a rematch of the 2005 championship, the Capitales got revenge by eliminating the Worcester Tornadoes 3 games to 1. In 2010, the Capitales obtained a second consecutive championship, passing by the Pittsfield Colonials 3 games to 1. In 2011, the Capitales won their third championship in a row (fourth in all) by defeating the New Jersey Jackals 4 games to 1. In 2012, the team again defeated the Jackals 4 games to 1, thus winning their fourth championship in a row. A fifth championship in a row materialized in 2013, the Capitales defeating again the New-Jersey Jackals 4 games to 3. In 2017, the Capitales captured their seventh championship in franchise history by sweeping the Rockland Boulders 3–0.

In 2020, the Capitales moved to the Frontier League following the merger of the Can-Am League with the Frontier League. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and extended closure of the Canada–United States border, the league announced that the Capitales (along with the Trois-Rivières Aigles) would be unable to compete for the 2020 season (which was later cancelled). The club later announced they intended to organize a separate league in Québec for the summer as an alternative, but these plans were eventually scrapped by both clubs.

The continued closure of the Canada–United States border, unfortunately resulted in pushing the Capitales’ 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 Capitales, Aigles, and Titans to craft the base of 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.

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. A full reset was done by the front office to immediately shift focus to the 2022 season.

On September 12, 2021, Équipe Québec qualified for the playoffs, and they faced the Washington Wild Things in the divisional round but lost 4–0 in game 5. 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. Équipe Québec finished the season with a record of 52 wins and 44 losses with an average of 2,329 fans in 24 home games, including the playoffs.

In 2022, in their first season in the Frontier League, as a local Quebec team, the Capitales are taking their first steps in this new league.

On September 19, 2022, the Capitales won their 8th championship in their history over the Schaumburg Boomers, in front of their supporters thanks to a victory in the 9th inning from Ruben Castro. Noise levels in the stadium allegedly reached as high as 110 decibels when the Capitales scored runs, but most notably, when Ruben Castro hit a walk-off double in the bottom of the 9th inning the previous day on September 18, when 4,428 fans were crammed into the stadium.

On September 17, 2023, the Capitales won their 9th championship in their history over the Evansville Otters. The 2023 season was also notable for the Capitales drawing 166,916 people to its ballpark for an average of 3,035, the highest total in franchise history.

Season-by-season record
Records as of September 17, 2023 1 : In 2021, Équipe Québec, a combination of the Capitales, Trois-Rivières Aigles and the Ottawa Titans playing in the Frontier League. With a record of 52–44, they finished first in the Atlantic Division, and lost the Division Series to the Washington Wild Things 3-2.

Broadcasting and stadium entertainment
Capitales games can be heard on CHYZ-FM, and all season games are available via the FloSports website. The play-by-play broadcaster is Pierre Blais, and the game commentator is Marc-André Lord. At many home games, the fans are entertained both outside and inside Stade Canac with myriad entertainers – live music, DJ music, giveaways and promotions. Between innings, the entertainment varies with on-field contests with their mascot Capi, youth games, t-shirt giveaways, promotions and many more. The team's public address announcer is Marc-Antoine Gariépy, and their in-game DJ is Daniel Sylvain, also known as Dan200 as his stage name. Dan200 has been working with the Capitales since 2006. Since 2019, he collaborates with the in-game host Yannick Tremblay, also known as  Pee Wee .

Notable alumni

 * Mitch Lyden (1999)
 * José Núñez (2001)
 * Darryl Motley (2002)
 * Jeff Harris (2003–2004)
 * Juan Melo (2004)
 * Marty Janzen (2005)
 * Éric Cyr (2006, 2008)
 * Éric Gagné (2009)
 * Pete Laforest (2009, 2010–2012)
 * Andrew Albers (2010)
 * Troy Cate (2010)
 * Steve Green (2010)
 * Max St. Pierre (2012)
 * Jonathan Malo (2012–2019)
 * Kalian Sams (2015–2018)
 * Yordan Manduley (2015–2019, 2022)
 * Jorge Reyes (2016)
 * Yurisbel Gracial (2016–2017)
 * Marcus Knecht (2016–2017)
 * Jordan Lennerton (2016–2018)
 * Matt Marksberry (2017)
 * Lázaro Blanco (2017–2018)
 * Josh Vitters (2018)
 * Tyson Gillies (2019)
 * Dustin Molleken (2019)
 * Jonathan de Marte (2019)
 * Scott Richmond (2019)
 * Andrew Case (2021–2022)
 * Gift Ngoepe (2021)
 * Evan Rutckyj (2021, 2023)
 * Jared Mortensen (2021)
 * Tristan Pompey (2022)
 * Greg Bird (2023)
 * Jesmuel Valentín (2023–present)
 * Juremi Profar (2023–2024)
 * Brandon Marklund (2024)

Attendance
As of September 3, 2023

* played with limited capacity (2,800 people)

** only counts Équipe Québec games played at Stade Canac