Raw power

CBC

5 days ago

The Vancouver Canadians' sushi race is on a roll that shows no signs of stopping.
Sushi racers approach the finish line at Vancouver's Nat Bailey Stadium on June 27, 2025. Team officials say the sushi race has become a key part of the ballpark experience.Ben Nelms/CBC
Written by Jon Azpiri Jul. 25, 2025
On an overcast Friday in June, a group of hungry young athletes took to the field at Vancouver's Nat Bailey Stadium, home to the Northwest League's Vancouver Canadians, to square off in a heated battle as thousands of fans cheered on. There was also a baseball game.
The sushi race, which pits runners dressed as anthropomorphic sushi, chopsticks and assorted Japanese foodstuffs against each other in a mad dash around the bases, took place during a break in play at the Canadians game against the Tri-City Dust Devils, just as it has at C's home games since 2008.
Over the years, the sushi racers have, in a strange way, become the face of the franchise.
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Rob Fai, the team's director of sales and marketing, notes most players who suit up for minor league affiliates like the Canadians are on the roster for a relatively short time as they work their way through Major League Baseball's farm system.
That can create marketing challenges for the Canadians, the Class-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, not faced by the NHL's Vancouver Canucks, whose players can spend years with the franchise and build roots in the community.
'We don't have a Luongo, we don't have the Sedin twins … we have sushi,' Fai said. 'They're the only staple.'
Sushi racers are in it to win it
Among the racers are Ms. B.C. Roll, Chop & Stix and the dastardly Chef Wasabi. There is also Sadaharu Soy, a giant bottle of soy sauce named after Japanese baseball legend Sadaharu Oh.
The sushi racers have distinct personalities. Ms. B.C. Roll is considered dainty and elegant while Chef Wasabi — a blob of Japanese horseradish donning a hachimaki, or Japanese headband — plays a villain, going to any lengths to win a race.
During the June event, the racers took off from first base with Sadaharu Soy jumping out to an early lead. Chop — the wife in the husband-wife pairing of chopsticks — was near the back of the pack as they made their way past second base, but found another gear after rounding third, passing Sadaharu Soy on the outside and breaking the tape at the finish line for the dramatic win.
After the race, the racers made their way back through the stands, high-fiving fans.
Mascot races like the one at Nat Bailey have become a staple in baseball parks across North America. The Milwaukee Brewers' sausage race, which features a bratwurst, chorizo, hotdog, Italian sausage and Polish sausage, is considered the granddaddy of all mascot races and dates back to the early '90s.
Back in 2008, the Canadians were under new ownership and staff brainstormed ideas for Vancouver's version of a sausage race. Sushi, a seemingly ubiquitous food in the city, seemed like a natural fit.
Former Canadians general manager Andrew Seymour said that in the race's early days runners weren't overly concerned with the final results.
'At the beginning, our biggest concern was, oh, let's not wreck the outfits because they have a significant price tag to them,' Seymour said.
As the costumes were cumbersome, efforts were made to ensure that none of the racers collided or 'lost their way' and there were rare occasions when a result was predetermined to fit with a particular promotion, he said.
'We honestly didn't imagine the success they would have,' he said.
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Fai said today's racers take it seriously.
'Let's just say those who don the costumes of the mascots are pretty competitive folk,' he said.
He said somewhere in the ballpark's offices is a chart that tracks the results of each sushi race. As the end of the season approaches, competition among racers near the top of the leader board can go up a notch.
The Canadians declined a CBC News request to interview the competitors, opting to place a cone of silence over the sushi racers to preserve the race's mystique.
'They talk with their feet,' Fai said.
Face of the franchise
The sushi race is nothing if not ridiculous, but team officials say the silliness serves a larger purpose.
While Major League teams receive revenue from broadcast rights, minor league teams rely heavily on gate revenue, making the fan experience at ballparks a key part of their business model.
A visit to Nat Bailey can include three-foot-long hotdogs, T-shirts shot into the crowd with a cannon and a performance of the chicken dance led by the team's other mascot, Bob Brown Bear.
'You're looking for these signature moments that really bring a family to the ballpark,' Fai said.
A Vancouver Canadians game is one of the most popular summer pastimes in the city. But how much do you really know about the team? Take a look behind-the-scenes into the challenges and triumphs of Minor League Baseball in Vancouver.
People around the team say those moments have largely stayed the same even as the team has changed hands.
In 2023, the Canadians were sold to Diamond Baseball Holdings (DBH), a private equity group that now owns more than 40 minor league teams. The Canadians are the group's only holding outside the U.S.
Tom Hawthorn, the Victoria-based author of Play Ball!, a new book that chronicles the history of baseball in Vancouver, said DBH has kept the fan experience at Nat Bailey mostly intact, and the team's front office is largely from B.C.
'Local people know what the local audience wants and it sounds like they seem to understand the importance of local content,' Hawthorn said.
Fai said one of the joys of working in the minor leagues is that they're allowed to take chances when it comes to promotions.
'Vancouver dictates what plays in the stadium,' he said. 'We've tried many things that didn't work and the sushi mascots, in particular, did and that's why they're here every year.'
Success doesn't appear to have gone to the sushi racers' cartoonishly large heads. Year after year, they compete in front of thousands and find time to greet fans before and afterward, and they do it all with a smile.
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'One thing I will say is Chef Wasabi is probably as big as any fixture in the stadium,' Fai said.
'So any player that's ever come through here has to go through Chef Wasabi if they want to be the most famous.'
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