Coming on the heels of a 2025 season that saw several Canucks break through at the major-league level, the World Baseball Classic couldn’t have arrived at a better time for Team Canada.
Riding momentum built by debuts of Owen Caissie and Denzel Clarke, along with strong seasons from Josh Naylor and others, Canada delivered its best WBC showing yet, advancing to the tournament’s second round for the first time.
It continued a changing of the guard for baseball in the country. Between Opening Day in 2025 and the arrival of a new season here in 2026, Canadian baseball has gone from bidding adieu to retiring MLB standouts Joey Votto and James Paxton to welcoming the next generation of talent born north of the border.
Now, as the 2026 regular season opens, Canadians sprinkled across the majors have the opportunity to keep the ball rolling.
From established stars furthering their standing in the game to young, touted prospects looking to claim a spot in the bigs for good, there are a number of intriguing storylines set to play out among Canada’s stars of summer. Here are five worth following as MLB returns to action this week.
Can Owen Caissie build on WBC success in Miami?
No Canadian boosted his stock at the WBC quite like Owen Caissie.
Entering the season ranked as the 42nd-best prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline, the 23-year-old from Burlington, Ont., was a consistent force in the middle of Canada’s order, collecting four extra-base hits and five RBIs with a 1.241 OPS over five games.
The WBC has consistently served as a launching point for young stars across baseball, and Caissie will hope to use his strong showing in the red and white as a springboard into his debut campaign with the Miami Marlins.
Caissie got his first taste of major-league action last summer with the Chicago Cubs, appearing in 12 games in the heart of a playoff race. But with a crowded outfield in Wrigleyville, playing time was hard to come by for a prospect getting his feet wet.
While he struggled in his 27 plate appearances with Chicago, Caissie was one of the most productive hitters in the minors last year. The left-handed slugger earned International League all-star honours after smacking 22 homers and 28 doubles in 99 games with a .937 OPS for triple-A Iowa.
But entering 2026 with the Marlins after an off-season blockbuster, Caissie figures to have a clear path to everyday reps in a corner outfielder spot, where he could emerge as a dark horse in the NL Rookie of the Year race if he hits the ground running.
What does a full season of Denzel Clarke look like?
The Athletics arrive in 2026 as a popular sleeper pick to take a step forward, thanks to a lineup stocked with impact bats. But another reason the A’s could make a push for the post-season is a full year of production from Denzel Clarke.
Clarke burst onto the scene in 2025, following a late-May recall, dazzling fans with spectacular catches and home-run robberies that will undoubtedly feature heavily on highlight reels for years to come.
Unfortunately, his rookie year was cut short at 47 games by an adductor strain that sidelined the 25-year-old for the final two months.
When Clarke was on the field, however, he produced defensive metrics at a Gold Glove-calibre rate while slowly making progress at the plate. Among all centre-fielders to rack up at least 10 outs above average (OAA) in 2025, Clarke was the only player to have logged fewer than 400 innings at the position.
Offensively, the injury couldn’t have come at a much worse time for the Pickering, Ont., native. In the final two weeks before hitting the injured list, Clarke slashed .298/.340/.574 with nine extra-base hits and cut his strikeout rate by more than eight per cent.
If Clarke is able to carry some of those gains forward with the bat while remaining a game-changing presence in the outfield, he could cement himself as a long-term piece of the Athletics’ core.
How does Cade Smith handle closing duties in Cleveland?
Since breaking camp with the Cleveland Guardians in 2024, Cade Smith has developed into one of the premier late-inning arms in baseball. Over his first two MLB seasons, the Abbotsford, B.C., native led all relievers in fWAR, struck out 207 batters in 149 frames and surrendered just five home runs.
But this season, Smith faces a new challenge.
With Emmanuel Clase out amid betting allegations, Smith will be Cleveland’s closer right from Opening Day in 2026 for the first time in his career.
Smith filled the role admirably down the stretch in 2025, ending the year with 16 saves while allowing just one run and no walks in his final 13 outings of the season before working a trio of scoreless innings in the post-season.
The 26-year-old doesn’t overcomplicate things on the mound, leaning primarily on a two-pitch mix that gets results. Smith used his fastball 69.9 per cent of the time and his splitter 21.2 per cent in 2025, both of which generated elite whiff rates.
Now entrenched as the guy in the Guardians’ bullpen, the six-foot-five righty will be a focal point of opponents’ game planning in 2026. But if Smith continues to dominate in his full-time ninth-inning role, he will firmly establish his place among the game’s elite closers.
Can Nick Pivetta pitch Padres back to the post-season?
After years of high-strikeout stuff paired with home-run issues, Nick Pivetta finally put it all together in 2025 with the San Diego Padres.
Pivetta finished sixth in NL Cy Young voting, making 31 starts while posting a 2.87 ERA and a career-best 190 punchouts. But where the right-hander truly made strides was in limiting the long ball. The 33-year-old entered 2025 with a career 1.53 home runs allowed per nine — a mark he trimmed to 1.09 in his first season with the Padres.
The move to Petco Park was a clear boon to Pivetta’s results, as he carried a 2.36 ERA and 0.79 HR/9 at home, numbers that bumped to 3.55 and 1.49 on the road. Regardless, Pivetta was a consistent presence atop a Padres rotation that desperately needed front-line production from one of its starters.
Not only was Pivetta important to San Diego’s 90-win regular season, but he got his club off to a solid start in Game 1 of its wild-card series against the Chicago Cubs. The Victoria, B.C., native became the all-time Canadian leader in playoff strikeouts, adding nine to his career total over five innings of two-run ball.
With the calendar now flipped to 2026, San Diego will again lean on Pivetta to pitch like an ace as it navigates the loss of Dylan Cease. And with an opt-out looming in his contract at season’s end, Pivetta could position himself as one of the top starters on the free-agent market if he replicates his 2025 success.
Which Canadians are next in line?
After Clarke, Caissie, Liam Hicks, Jonah Tong and Tristan Peters all made their MLB debuts last summer, a new wave of Canadians in the high minors is knocking on the door in 2026.
Tong will be at the forefront of that next wave, hoping to get the call early in the season. Among last season’s group to debut, he’s the lone player set to begin the year in the minors. The six-foot-one righty will look to earn his way back to the New York Mets by refining his arsenal following an uneven five-start cup of coffee in Queens down the stretch.
The 22-year-old from Markham, Ont., was MLB Pipeline’s Pitching Prospect of the Year in 2025 after recording 179 strikeouts over 113.2 innings with a 1.43 ERA across two levels. Should he rediscover that form in triple-A to start the year, Tong — the No. 48 prospect in baseball — figures to be the first name the Mets turn to if a pitching need arises.
Beyond Tong, it will also be worth keeping an eye on Mitch Bratt (Arizona), Garrett Hawkins (San Diego), Eric Cerantola (Kansas City) and Adam Macko (Toronto).
All four pitchers are set to begin the year in triple-A and are on their respective teams’ 40-man rosters, putting each in position to debut sooner rather than later and further extending Canada’s growing presence in the majors.
