The Intercounty Baseball League is dead. Long live the Canadian Baseball League.

Established in 1919, the nine-team semi-pro league that includes the Toronto Maple Leafs , who play home games at Christie Pits, is making major changes for the 2026 season and beyond.

Not only is the league changing its name, it’s also going fully professional.

“Semi-pro doesn’t mean anything; it’s just kind of this weird, fake, made-up thing,” Maple Leafs manager and former Blue Jay Rob Butler told the Star. “This makes it actually legitimate. There is now a level of pro to it. If I was a kid coming up and found out that the Toronto Maple Leafs were a professional-level team, it doesn’t matter what the pro level is, I’m more excited to play there now.”

The league feels it’s in a strong position to ma

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