The Altona Bisons are gearing up for the Manitoba Junior Baseball League season that is fastly approaching.

The squad is looking for redemption after losing in the league final last year to the Elmwood Giants. Manager Curt Letkeman says they have a young team that will look very similar to last year's roster.

"Our core is pretty much made up of players who were in their first year last year and they're a year older now," Letkeman explains. "We expect a pretty similar lineup to what we had last year, and we're excited about the possibility of the same guys back with another year of experience."

The Bisons were home to three Portagers last season and those players will still be involved with the team in some capacity this year.

"Matt Boychuk is going to be playing," says Letkeman. "Ryan Botterill is playing AAA with Pembina Hills but he's going to make it whenever he can. Unfortunately, Tanner Boyle has got a shoulder problem so he might be out for the year as he is trying to recover. He had a nagging shoulder injury last year and it hasn't improved much after his year at school. So, he's decided to give it some rest, at least for the start of the year."

The Bisons hit the field for the first time as a team just a few days ago, Letkeman outlines what encouraged him from the first practice.

"The fact that the guys are hungry," Letkeman explains. "We made it to the finals last year but we were short-staffed in the last series as we lost four guys to colleges in the United States. So, the guys came back wanting to build on the success that we had last year, hoping to take it one step further and win the championship."

He says the playoffs are planned to end sooner this season which should allow them to have all their players throughout the full campaign.