If you ever wondered why a city the size of Vancouver doesn’t have AAA-standard pro baseball anymore, a look at the weather of the last week will give you a pretty good idea. The UBC Thunderbirds learned the harsh reality of early season ball in the Pacific Northwest the hard way, with most of their home games cancelled due to weather.

But on the upside, at least the break in play gives us a chance to catch up on things, and thanks to some fancy camerawork by HawkerRob (tip your hawkers!), that includes a chance to see how UBC handles drainage while they’re responsible for the upkeep of the outfield.

Some teams have high-priced Super Sopper machines that sponge up excess groundwater with a few passes of the field. Others have high-tech underground drainage systems that suck water down and recycle it for later use. Others have, well, a tarp.

So what does UBC have?

That’s right. They dig a trench and crack open a sewer lid. 

Of course, it would be easy to mock such a system, but the truth of the matter is, when this ballpark was last upgraded (or maintained), cracking open a drain pipe and losing half your infield dirt down a sewer was considered cutting edge stuff!

Unfortunately, Nat Bailey Stadium hasn’t been upgraded (or maintained) since 1953.

But that’s about to change. With new ownership involved with the Vancouver Canadians, we’re going to see something Vancouver baseball fans have never seen before - an actual plan. And that plan involves actual money being spent on actually good things, like a new underground outfield drainage system. And, perhaps, a roof that won’t crush 600 people in the event of an earthquake. And clubhouse showers that won’t suddenly start spewing boiling hot water whenever a player flushes a toilet.

Yes folks, the Vancouver Canadians are entering a new realm of professionalism and efficiency, the likes of which we’ve never seen before!

Look, I said "are entering", not "have entered"…