Excitement is in the air as the start of a quest for a third-straight WMBL title gets underway tonight for the Swift Current 57s.

The 57s knocked off the Edmonton Prospects in five games to win the championship last August, and look to repeat with a very different roster.

Two players remain from last season's team - pitcher Mitch Guiberson, and outfielder Matt Bondarchuk. Though, according to the President of the 57s, what's projects to be an exciting style of play will quickly introduce a swarm of new players to fans in the southwest.

"From what I'm looking at, there's going to be some power in the lineup, we've got some big guys coming up that can swing the stick," said Mike Mutlow. "There's going to be some speed too. We should have guys getting on, stealing bases, and then look out after that... if we get moving around on the base paths, I think it would be pretty exciting."

A notable addition to the lineup on the offensive end is Arlington, TX-born outfielder Bryan Benz, who just finished his redshirt-Junior season at Cumberlands University.

Benz bombed 20 homers and 62 RBI over 57 games this past college season, while batting .303 and getting walked 29 times.

The heavy-hitting Benz already has familiarity with the WMBL, having seen playing time with the Melville Millionaires during the 2016 season.

Playing ball in Swift Current, as well as Canada as a whole, will be a new experience for a large chunk of the roster, however. American-born players on the 57s hail from - excluding Guiberson's home state of Idaho - 15 different states ranging from Washington in the northwest to Alabama in the southeast.

It's a sign of the extensive work head coach Joe Carnahan and his coaching staff continually does in the offseason.

"Joe does a lot of recruiting - we won the championship last year on the 17th of August, and I think by the 19th he was recruiting," said Mutlow. "He works at it for six months straight until he gets the guys - he goes hard."

Familiar faces such as star outfielder Blake Adams do have the potential to return to the roster, however, but after a stellar 2017 season and steady collegiate career, that feels less likely as the the 2018 MLB draft approaches.

"There's a couple potentials, we'll see what happens in the draft - we've got three or four guys on our list that are probably going to get drafted into Major League Baseball," Mutlow noted.

After taking back-to-back WMBL championships, the excitement come late-May and early-June is almost instinctive in the fans, and appears to have rubbed off on players not yet familiar with the league just yet.

"The coaches all talk and the recruiters all talk, and once these players get to know the WMBL they start to talk about it," said Mutlow. "The fact that we win sure makes it a lot easier too that the guys want to come here and be a part of that potentially."

The reigning winners of the Harry Hallis Memorial Trophy host the Weyburn Beavers in the season opener tonight at Mitchell Field.

First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. and will be preceded by a celebration of Swift Current athletes and teams who also have seen championships and accolades this past year.