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Yasiel Puig played his first game this weekend in the preseason of the Canadian Baseball League (CBL) with the Toronto Maple Leafs, marking the official start of his new phase in professional baseball in North America after seven years away from Major League Baseball, as reported by the Facebook page Selección de Béisbol Cuba.
Previously, the same player announced his destination with the message “New beginnings, new stages”, a phrase that captures the moment the 35-year-old Cuban baseball player is experiencing just weeks before one of the most challenging periods of his life.
Puig signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs in April on a contract described as "the largest in the team's history," although no figures have been disclosed.
Keith Stein, the club's executive director, spared no praise when introducing him: he called him "the most exciting player in men's baseball not currently playing in MLB" and stated that he is "better than many in MLB."
The preseason debut precedes the official Opening Day of the CBL, scheduled for May 10, 2026, when Toronto will host the Kitchener Panthers at Christie Pits at 2:00 p.m., marking the league's first game as a fully professional circuit.
The CBL is the rebranding of the historic Intercounty Baseball League (IBL), which operated as a semi-professional circuit in Ontario for more than 106 seasons before transforming in November 2025.
The new league expanded its schedule from 42 to 48 games, set a monthly salary cap of CA$30,000 per team, and scheduled its season to last until August 30, 2026, with an All-Star Game on July 12 at Fergie Jenkins Field.
Puig's return to professional baseball in North America comes, however, at a time of great judicial uncertainty.
On February 7th, a federal jury in Los Angeles found him guilty of obstruction of justice and lying to federal authorities, in a case connected to an illegal gambling network led by Wayne Nix, a former minor league pitcher.
According to the investigation, Puig placed at least 900 illegal bets in 2019, accumulating losses exceeding 280,000 dollars, and lied to federal investigators in January 2022 about his knowledge of the operation.
In 2022, Puig pleaded guilty to false declaration, agreeing to a fine of $55,000, but later retracted that plea claiming "new substantial evidence" and stating, "I want to clear my name. I should never have accepted pleading guilty to a crime I did not commit."
The team acknowledged the legal issues surrounding their new figure but stated that they conducted "thorough due diligence" and believe that Puig is on the "right track."
Since his last MLB season with the Cincinnati Reds in 2019, the Cuban player has competed in Mexico, South Korea, and Latin American winter leagues, without managing to make a return to Major League Baseball.
Her sentencing is scheduled for May 26, 2026, just 16 days after the CBL Opening Day, and she faces a potential sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison.
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